{"id":65624,"date":"2024-01-10T09:37:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T15:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=65624"},"modified":"2024-01-10T09:38:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T15:38:08","slug":"jesus-the-amen-and-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-amen-and-the-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus, the Amen and the Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n

“These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God<\/em>” (Revelation 3:14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Amen<\/h2>\n

Jesus is the Amen, the One who validates <\/b>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 <\/b>when the world will affirm how wrong they think we are. Jesus is the only amen <\/b>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 <\/b>that trumps all our opponents. We don’t need any higher validation than Him.<\/p>\n

The Faithful and True Witness<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Beginning of the Creation of God<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Beginning and the Amen<\/h2>\n

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 <\/b>is the One that is for us<\/strong>, so “who can be against us?<\/em>” (Romans 8:31). Who are such enemies in comparison?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Revelation of Jesus Christ\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[773,302,73,1516],"class_list":["post-65624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-amen","tag-creation","tag-jesus","tag-witnesses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23862,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-prayers-ended-with-in-jesus-name-amen\/","url_meta":{"origin":65624,"position":0},"title":"Why are prayers ended with “In Jesus’ name, Amen”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why, when we pray, should we close the prayer with, \"In Jesus name, amen\"? Answer: The word \"amen\" is a transliterated word from the Hebrew language. Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies defines it as meaning, \"Let it be granted, let it be done, and unalterably confirmed.\" It can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-have-to-say-amen-at-the-end-of-a-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":65624,"position":1},"title":"Do you have to say amen at the end of a prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the Bible say you must say amen at the end of a prayer? Answer: Many prayers are recorded in the Bible, but not all end with \"Amen.\" Hannah's prayer in I Samuel 2:1-10 Solomon's prayer in I Kings 8:23-53 Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9:4-19 Jesus' prayer in John\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29036,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-authority-do-we-have-to-lead-a-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":65624,"position":2},"title":"What authority do we have to lead a prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What authority do we have to lead a prayer? Where in the Bible does it talk about this practice? Answer: I Corinthians 14:26-33 tells us the importance of church services being orderly. People are not to be talking at the same time. In that same discussion, there is mention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56009,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-pray\/","url_meta":{"origin":65624,"position":3},"title":"Do You Pray?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall in The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia, September 30, 2007; via The Gospel Observer, December 30, 2007 The worshiper who would pray in the assembly must do more than bow his head and close his eyes. He must pray. \"Otherwise, if you bless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61767,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/amen\/","url_meta":{"origin":65624,"position":4},"title":"Amen","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Deuteronomy 27:14-26 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Deuteronomy 27:14-26 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What did it mean when the people said \u201cAmen?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Amen started as a Hebrew word \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was transliterated into Greek and then eventually into English \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Same pronunciation, but with an English spelling \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It also retained the original meaning. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a04.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Interestingly, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13776,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-protestants-say-the-rosary\/","url_meta":{"origin":65624,"position":5},"title":"Why don’t Protestants say the Rosary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm a Catholic, and if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a question about the Blessed Virgin Mary. Why is it that Protestants don't honor Mary as Catholics do?\u00a0 The rosary, for example, is very biblical, yet most Protestants don't pray it. Why is this? 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