March 13, Jesus is God's amen.

All the promises of God find their yes in Him.

That is why it is through Him that we utter our amen to God for His glory, second Corinthians

120. Prayer is the place where the past and future are linked repeatedly in our lives.

I mentioned this here because Paul links prayer with God's yes in this verse in a striking way.

In second Corinthians 120, he says with choppy Greek that comes through in choppy English,

that is why it is through Him that we utter our amen to God for His glory. Let's try to smooth that

out. Here's what he's saying. Therefore, because of Christ, we say amen to God in our prayers,

to show that God gets the glory for the future grace we are asking for and counting on when we pray.

If you've ever wondered why Christians say amen at the end of our prayers and where that custom

comes from, here's the answer. Amen is a word taken straight over into Greek from Hebrew without any

translation, just like it has come into English and most other languages without any translation.

In Hebrew, it was a very strong affirmation. See, Numbers 5, 22, the MIF 5, 13, 8, 6,

a formal solemn earnest, I agree, or I affirm what was just said, or this is true. Most simply,

amen means a very earnest yes in the context of addressing God. Now, notice the connection between

the two halves of second Corinthians 120. The first half says, all the promises of God find their yes

in Him. The second half says, this is why it is through Him that we utter our amen to God for

His glory. When we realize that amen and yes mean the same thing, here's what the verse says.

In Christ Jesus, God says His yes to us through His promises and in Christ, we say our yes to God

through prayer.