“Verily, Verily I say unto thee,” sounds quintessentially like the King James version of the Bible. “Verily” actually means “truly” and that is translated from the word “Amen” which is the Hebrew word for “truth.”
In the Gospel of Matthew, thirty times Jesus prefaces His comments with “Truly I say unto you.” Twenty- five times in John’s Gospel He precedes His remarks with “Truly, Truly I say this to you,” doubling the certainty of what He is saying. Jesus is the only one who speaks like this in all the Bible, and the reason is extremely significant.
If and when we say “Amen” it is usually in response to what someone has said or prayed. We may even double up on this response either for emphasis or for unnecessary repetition.
When Jesus says, “Truly, Truly I say to you” He is essentially saying the following…”You do not stand in judgment on my Word. I am not even waiting for your ‘Amen’ of confirmation. On my own authority, what I am telling you is the truth. This is the only authentication and approval these words need. This is true because I say it, not because you have some vantage point from which to assess these words. Let my ‘Amen’ calibrate everything that you consider to be the truth. It really makes no difference what you think.”
Only the living God would presume to speak like this. Our “Amen” should only be given in responsive submission to His words. When we listen to Jesus, we listen to Truth!
In the next few posts we will look at Christ’s “Amen, Amen” statements from the book of John, humbly seeking to fathom the depth of what He is saying. We begin with John 1:51.
“I am the only portal from the temporal to the eternal now.”