Deuteronomy 28:49, "The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand."
There are a number of verses throughout the Old Testament that parallel this one. For example, Isaiah 28:11, "For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue, the Lord will speak to this people." Paul also quotes this verse to the same end in I Corinthians 14:21, and then adds in verse 22, "Thus, tongues are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers." That is, to unbelieving Jews. Yet, where do we see the promotion of "tongues"? In church worship services!
The purpose of these verses, if I may paraphrase, is for God to tell Israel, "If you refuse to listen to Me, then I will continue to speak to you, but through languages that you do not understand." This was a judgment. It is as the parent who continues his warnings to an errant child, even as that child puts his fingers in his ears to keep from hearing.
I refer to these verses as the defense of my belief that glossolalia, commonly referred to as "speaking in tongues," is not a blessing, and is not intended for today's Church.
Hearing someone else speak in an unknown tongue is a final step in God's bringing discipline against a wayward believer or church. When a professing Christian hears other people speaking in tongues, that means that either he or his entire community has provoked the wrath of God and may soon anticipate some form of judgment. This is not a good thing!
7 comments:
Do you speak in unknown tongues?
No one speaks in unknown tongues, John. Notice what happened in Acts 2:7-11: "[Jews from every nation under heaven] were amazed and astonished, saying, 'Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.'" They heard the Christians speaking in THEIR OWN LANGUAGES, not in random gibberish.
Lots of groups speak in tounges
Chris, it’s a beautiful experience
Read acts
They always speak in tounges
Tongues was a special and temporary gift given to the Assembly of God during the Apostolic era as a sign of the new covenant and the salvation of the ethnoi (nations) as equal members of the new Israel of God in Messiah Jesus. It was also a reminder that the nation of Israel not the elect chosen in Messiah from the foundation of the world but the old covenant nation as a distinct chosen nation was ended. The final destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem also marked the end of the Jewish nation. The gift of tongues played an important role in facilitating this transition from the old covenant to the new covenant for the sake of Jewish believers. Therefore tongues was a blessing to the nations but was a curse and a sign of Gods rejection of nation of Israel. This tragic consequence of the nation refusing their promised Messiah is explained unmistakably by Paul in Romans 11. Our Lords words recorded in Luke, behold your house is desolate.... confirms this as well. Matthew 23:38.
Interesting, Chris. As I ponder your message and interpretation I wanted to address your final statement: "Hearing someone else speak in an unknown tongue is a final step in God's bringing discipline against a wayward believer or church. When a professing Christian hears other people speaking in tongues, that means that either he or his entire community has provoked the wrath of God and may soon anticipate some form of judgment. This is not a good thing!"
Actually, it is a good thing, in my view. As Isaiah 26:9b says: For when Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Righteousness is what we desire, Correct?
Post a Comment