Jesus, the Amen and the Beginning
by Terry Wane Benton
"These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God" (Revelation 3:14).
The Amen
Jesus is the Amen, the One who validates us. When we say “amen” at the end of a prayer, we are validating our support for that prayer. Jesus validates us. He is our amen when the world will affirm how wrong they think we are. Jesus is the only amen we need. Jesus also validates our prayers. We can pray in His name, and the prayer now has validation in His name. Jesus does not validate the unbelieving until they repent and believe obediently in Him. The Jews who denied Jesus were adversaries, enemies, and persecutors of the early disciples of Jesus, but Jesus’ miracles, teaching, and resurrection proved them wrong and gave amen to the side of the disciples. The Romans were often involved in appeasing the Jews (Acts 12:1-3) and attacking, killing, and harassing the Christians. The government might not validate, honor, and protect the Christians, but Jesus is the Highest validation we can have. He is the amen that trumps all our opponents. We don’t need any higher validation than Him.
The Faithful and True Witness
He is also the “Faithful and True Witness”. He is God and has seen God the Father in all his reality and glory. So, His testimony is true, and cannot be trumped by any unbeliever’s efforts to cast doubt in His reality. How can a non-witness trump a witness? Jesus was there, and they were not. He also is a true witness of the reality of resurrection and the reality of heaven. He was “demonstrated” to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection (Romans 1:4), and of course, He came from heaven and was seen ascending back to heaven. So, heaven is real! Who has greater testimony about such realities than Jesus? His testimony as a true and faithful witness trumps all words of doubt and unbelief.
The Beginning of the Creation of God
Jesus is also “the beginning of the creation of God” which means He was the One who began the physical creation (Genesis 1:1ff; John 1:1-4). Nothing was made without Him. But Jesus is also the author of the greater creation, the antitype of the physical creation, the spiritual creation, the church (II Corinthians 5:15; Ephesians 2:10; 4:24). To “begin” a creation means that He has a plan that will carry it to its intended climactic purpose. He did not abandon His creation and will not abandon His spiritual creation.
The Beginning and the Amen
He is the “author” and “finisher” of our faith, which means He is with us to help us finish our mission (Hebrews 12:2). Thus, He is the “beginning” and “the Amen.” The implication is that creations that are important enough to “begin” are important enough to sustain and see to the objective end. This is very satisfying to know that this is the One that is for us, so “who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Who are such enemies in comparison?
