“Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God [Elohim], the faithful [Han-Emen] God [El], who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.” (Deuteronomy 7:9–10)

Emphasis here falls on His faithfulness. The Hebrew word “emen” will be recognized in its derivative rendered in the NT as “amen,” which Jesus used frequently. According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, “The meaning of the root is the idea of certainty. And this is borne out by the NT definition of faith found in Heb 11:1.”

If there is one thing that can be counted on in this world, it is that God is faithful. What He says is certain. When He makes a covenant, we can count on God to be faithful to fulfill the covenant. When He says He will keep His lovingkindness “to a thousandth generation,” He means it and it will happen. This is bedrock to the dispensational eschatological belief that God still has a plan for Israel that will be fulfilled at some future time. How do we know this? Because God made a covenant with Abraham and to His descendants, and with David, for a land and the reign of a king in David’s place.

God promises to reward those who “love Him and keep His commandments” and to destroy those who “hate Him.” The popular saying goes like this: “There are only two things in life that are certain: death and taxes.” But that is wrong; even more than death and taxes, God’s Word is certain.

The word “emen” describes God in two other places as well. “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deut 32:4). His work and ways, righteousness and uprightness are assured and fixed. They can be no other way, for God does not change (Ps 55:19).

“Ephraim surrounds Me with lies and the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is also unruly against God, even against the Holy One who is faithful” (Hosea 11:12). God’s holiness is certain, non-ambiguous. To every description of God, we can say, “Amen and amen.” For every word spoken by Jesus, we could rejoin, as He often did, “Truly, truly” (which is how some English translations render, “amen, amen.” When our hearts begin to doubt because of the words of others, let the words of Scripture ring deeply in us: “Their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God … Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar…” (Rom 3:3–4).

Faithful Lord, I trust in Your Word, which is true and never changing.