One historic use of the word Amen is to affirm that whatever was said previously was in fact true and the Word of God. When a prophet would speak, those listening would weigh whatever was said against what they knew to be true about God based on what He had revealed to them. If the saying was true and affirmed by Scripture, they would say Amen, which can be translated as “let it be true”.
One of the reasons the religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanted him dead was his consistent use of the phrase “Amen, Amen I say to you..” before he began teaching. This was a big deal because Jesus wasn’t saying, “listen to me and then decide if what I say agrees with what God says”, but instead says “The following are the actual words of God…”
A good teacher would not claim to be authoritatively speaking the words of God. People wanted Jesus dead because He claimed to be God. Listening to a man who claimed to be God is foolish, unless he is right. Jesus the Christ was either God or a crazy man who should never be followed. I recognize that believing today that the historical person of Jesus really is who he claims to be can be seen as strange. But this is not nearly as foolish or naive as calling this same man a good teacher two thousand years down the road.
