ISS:Are Tongues for Today?  by Anthony D. Burch

The Open Forum is a unique Bible-centered program which is aired
week nights coast-to-coast over the Family Radio Network. The
host of the Open Forum is Mr. Harold Camping, President of Family
Stations, Inc. The Open Forum is a live talk radio program where
the caller can ask Mr. Camping questions on any topic. Mr.
Camping then tries to relate the caller's question to the Bible.
None of the calls are pre-screened, so this live format provides
for an interesting program.

One of the issues that comes up regularly on the program is the
question, "Are tongues for today?" This question comes in many
forms, but basically Christians want to know if the gift of
tongues is a valid gift today.

As with many doctrines this is not an easy issue. In fact, many
listeners write into Family Radio desiring more information on
this topic. This is why this pamphlet was prepared to answer
questions such as: "Is it true that the gift of tongues is
evidence that one has been baptized in the Holy Spirit?", "What
was the purpose of the gift of tongues?", or "Are not the
charismatic gifts a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32?".

Over 600 transcripts of Open Forum programs were researched to
provide the materials for this pamphlet. The questions and
answers are actual edited excerpts from Open Forum programs. They
have been compiled to shed light on this important subject.

Sincerely,

Anthony D. Burch

Bible Instructor

Family Radio School of the Bible

THE OPEN FORUM : Are Tongues for Today?

Caller: I'd like to ask a question about baptism in the Holy
Spirit, if you could explain how it works, as far as speaking in
tongues is concerned? Could you give some scriptures backing up
the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I understand that the Holy Spirit
is a free gift of God, upon accepting Jesus Christ. And so I just
wondered...why would a person have to be specially baptized in
the Holy Spirit? And I'd like to take my answer on the radio.

Mr. Camping: Our caller has raised a question concerning what
the Bible means by baptism in the Holy Spirit, and how that might
relate to tongues. Actually, there is no relationship.... Let's
first of all talk about baptism in the Holy Spirit. In the Old
Testament God used four signs which pointed to salvation.

First, there was circumcision, which indicated that as the
foreskin of a person's body was cut off, so we must have the
foreskin of our hearts cut off. We must be cut away from our
flesh and its sinful lusts. Jeremiah 4:4 tells us, "Circumcise
yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men
of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth
like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil
of your doings."

Another expression that was used was the burnt offering. They
would offer a meal offering or an animal sacrifice as a burnt
offering, that was pointing to Christ, Who became our burnt
offering. Hebrews 10:5-7 teaches:

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said,
"Sacrifices and offerings thou has not desired, but a body
has thou prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin
offerings thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Lo, I
have come to do thy will, O God,' as it is written of me in
the roll of the book."

A third Old Testament sign was the shedding of blood of a
turtledove, or a lamb, or an ox; this pointed to the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the fact that Christ would endure
the wrath of God for our sins. Hebrews 9:22 says, "Indeed, under
the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."

A fourth sign that was used in the Old Testament was that of
water ablutions, again to ceremonially indicate that a person had
been cleansed of his sins. For example Aaron and his sons were
washed when they were consecrated as priests (Lev. 8:6). Now that
particular sign, the washing in water, was picked up by God as
the language that would speak about what salvation constituted
following Pentecost.

Actually, there was a shift, a very slight shift, in the impact
of salvation after Pentecost. Basically, salvation was not
changed. In order to be saved, one had to have his sins washed
away, one had to become born again, one had to become a new
creature in Christ. He had to experience the resurrection of his
soul. And the Holy Spirit, Who is eternal God, would be given to
the person who had become saved.

Beginning with Pentecost, God added one additional dimension to
His salvation program and that was that every Christian was to
proclaim God's Word. Every believer was now qualified to share
the Gospel. At Pentecost God began His work to evangelize the
world, and in His program to evangelize the world, He would
utilize every born again believer, by qualifying him when he was
saved, to be a witness. God utilized different terminology in
talking about salvation. Christ began to talk about being
baptized in the Holy Spirit. Believers were saved just as they
were in the Old Testament; the only difference was that every
believer was now qualified to share the Gospel.

We read this, for example, in the Gospels in Matthew, Luke and
John. The last time we read about it is in Acts 1:5, where Jesus
said, "For John baptized with water, but before many days you
shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit." That was speaking of one
of the Old Testament signs, because John the Baptist was a
prophet on the Old Testament side of the cross. God was saying
that before many days you will become qualified in My New
Testament program of evangelism to be a witness. You will be
filled with the Holy Spirit in the sense that you will be
qualified to be a witness for Me. This is a characteristic of
every New Testament believer.

When we are saved, we can speak of the fact that we have been
baptized in the Holy Spirit. The word "baptize" means to wash or
to cleanse, to purify. And therefore it denotes that our sins
have been washed away, and we have become identified with the
Holy Spirit, in His New Testament program to evangelilze the
world. We are filled with the Spirit from the time that we are
saved, and that is a phrase that simply says that we have become
qualified to be a witness. That is what baptism in the Holy
Spirit has to do with. It has nothing to do with miracles, signs
or wonders, or whatever.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth." And so we find in the Book of Acts, one illustration in
each of these places of a special miracle, to indicate that God
meant exactly this, that this is where the Word of God was to be
sent, in God's program to evangelize the world.

God's commitment to Jerusalem is the record in Acts 2 at
Pentecost. Acts 8 is the record of when the Samaritans believed,
and the spread of the Gospel into Judea. Acts 10 is the record of
when the family of Cornelius was saved. They were Romans, they
were Gentiles, living up in Caesarea. In Acts 19 we read about
the twelve Ephesians who were saved; and that is the evidence
that the Gospel had begun to go to the ends of the earth.

After God gave us this illustration in Acts, we never find
another outward miracle recorded in the Bible that occurs at the
time that a person is saved.

Now when we talk about tongues, we are talking about something
altogether different. In the letter of Paul to the church at
Corinth, in the l2th, l3th, and l4th chapters, we find that in
that early Church there was a phenomenon known as tongues, or
speaking in an unknown language. This was a gift that was given
to a few in the church at Corinth, including Paul, whereby
certain individuals would receive information from God in an
unknown language. It bears no relationship to baptism in the Holy
Spirit; this was not a gift that was bestowed upon them at the
time they were saved. This was simply a gift that did occur in
the church at Corinth.

The believers at Corinth who were given this gift were instructed
to pray that they might interpret. The purpose of interpreting
was so that this information that was given to them from God
might also be available to the whole congregation. This was a
possible phenomenon in that day, because God had not completed
the Bible as yet.

The Holy scriptures had then consisted primarily of the Old
Testament. Slowly, letters of Paul were being circulated among
the churches, but fundamentally, they had only the Old Testament.
God was still providing information in addition; Peter received a
vision, the Apostle John received visions on the island of
Patmos, Paul received visions, Agabus received a vision. This was
possible in that day because the Bible was not complete.

Around A.D. 95, God completed the Bible with the writing of the
Revelation of John. God is the author of the Bible, and in the
last chapter of the Bible He declared, in Revelation 22:18,19:

I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of
this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the
plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take
away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city,
which are described in this book.

And with that statement God closed off the possibility of any
further information coming from God outside of what He had
already written in His Word, the Bible. From that point on we
would never expect anyone to receive a vision from God, a voice,
a tongue, or whatever, because God would not violate His own
rules. God has declared, I have given you My Word now, the
revelation of My will. You are to study it, you are to be
obedient to it, so we are not to expect any phenomenon like that
which has occurred before the Bible was completed, when
individuals received visions, or when they spoke in a tongue.

There are people throughout the New Testament period, following
A.D. 95, who have declared that they have received a vision. Some
of these visions have been written up; they sound very glorious;
they sound very meaningful. There are people today who still
claim they receive visions, and there are people today who claim
that they speak in tongues.

Well, all of this activity may take place; but based upon what
the Bible declares, we know that it cannot be from God. It might
be out of their own minds. It might be hallucinatory. Our minds
are very tricky, you know. It might even be from an evil source,
so we must not expect this gift today.

Today anyone at all can be baptized in the Holy Spirit, if he
will recognize that he is a sinner, that he is under the wrath of
God because of his sins, and that there is no way that he can
help himself out of this terrible situation in which he finds
himself. If he will call upon God for mercy, if he will begin to
trust in what the Bible declares concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, then God will forgive his sins; if he will trust in the
Lord, he too can be saved. When he is saved, when he is born
again, then he has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. His sins
have been washed away, and he has become identified with the Holy
Spirit in His New Testament program to evangelize the world. More
than that, the Holy Spirit has taken up His abode within him.

Caller: I am calling about a speaker that I heard. I felt that
he was kind of doing some semantical contortions with Scripture.
I agreed with some of what he had to say, but I think to say that
1 Corinthians 13:8 says that tongues, or prophesy, or knowledge
are no longer applicable gifts to this present age is simply
teaching something that is not there, because reading on down,
verse 9 says, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
part shall be done away." And it's obvious from verses 9 and 10
that what he is talking about is when we get to Heaven, because
in verse 12 he says, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but
then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even
as also I am known."

And it just seems to me so perfectly clear that what Paul is
talking about is that these gifts will pass away when we get to
Heaven, and there will not be any need of them there. There is
nothing whatsoever that says that the Church is not going to have
them here throughout the entire Church age; and further, in Mark
16 at the very close of that particular Gospel, we find Jesus
making a remark about the signs that follow them which Believe.
He says, "...In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

And so it just seems to me that to say that these gifts are no
longer with the Church is to ignore the total thrust of
Scripture.

Mr. Camping: Well, let me comment about this. I did not hear the
speaker, but I can look at I Corinthians 13.

Now in I Corinthians 13 God is simply indicating that tongues
shall cease. He does not say when they will cease. He gives no
intimation as to when they will cease. He simply says that
tongues will cease.

He also says that prophecy and knowledge will pass away; then He
goes on to discuss, in verse 9 through verse 12, about when
knowledge and prophecy will pass away. God does indicate that
they will pass away when we see Him face to face, that is, when
we get to Heaven. They will continue on this earth, but they will
pass away when we come into Heaven.

There is no suggestion in I Corinthians 13 as to when tongues
would cease. It is simply a declaration that they would cease at
some point in time. In the church in Corinth there were those who
did receive information from God, Himself in heavenly language.
This served to edify them personally, but they were admonished to
seek to interpret it, so that the information would also be
available to the congregation, so that the congregation would be
edified.

Now this was altogether possible in that day, because God
had not completed His word as yet. It was still the day when God
would speak with revelations coming from other sources than the
Bible. They really had only the Old Testament at that time, and
so we find the Apostle Peter receiving information by a vision,
the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul, and individuals in the church
at Corinth receiving information in this unknown language called
tongues, but then God completed His divine word.

In Revelation 22:18 God declared, "I warn every one who hears the
words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God
will add to him the plagues described in this book,". Now with
that statement God effectively is saying, now look, I have
completed My Holy Word. I have completed My revelation. If you
have received some divine truth by means of a dream, a vision, an
angel visitation, by a tongue, or whatever, it is not from Me. I
have given you My Word. If you are going to look for divine truth
from other sources than the Bible, then this is indicative of the
fact that you are still subject to the plagues written herein;
that is you are unsaved, and you are still subject to hell.

This I believe is what the Bible teaches about this particular
gift, or any gift relating to additional revelation after the
Bible was completed. Now it is true that the Bible speaks
about signs and wonders that will still come to pass. The Bible
speaks about signs and wonders in a number of places, and tongues
was a sign. We read this in I Corinthians 14. The word for sign
is the Greek word "simeon" which can also be translated miracle.
The Bible does speak about signs and wonders, particularly in
relationship to the end-time church; but ominously and
unfortunately, all of the references to signs and wonders near
the end of time are satanically related.

In Matthew 24:24 God declares, "For false christs and false
prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, to lead
astray if possible even the elect." In II Thessalonians 2:3,4 we
read:

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come,
unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he
takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be
God.

This verses tell us that the man of sin will take his seat in the
temple. This is actually a picture of Satan ruling in the Church.
He will come with signs and wonders of falsehood. God will make
those who follow the man of sin believe a lie, so they will be
prepared for judgment. God is not neutral in these matters.

In Revelation 13 it speaks about the beast that comes out of the
earth, and also a second beast. The second beast makes an image,
and he gives life to that image, and brings signs to come to
pass, even making fire come down from heaven. These are gospels
that Satan himself will design, so that he will enslave the
nations of the world to a higher degree than ever before. He will
attest to their genuineness, as he comes as an angel of light, by
coming with signs and wonders. He will make his gospel look like
it is genuinely of Christ. Satan is the big deceiver. This gospel
actually will not be of Christ.

Revelation 16:13,14 states:

And I saw, issuing from the mouth of the dragon and from
the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false
prophet, three foul spirits like frogs; for they are
demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the
kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on
the great day of God the Almighty.

These verses speak about the beast and the false prophet coming
with signs to deceive, coming with miracles to deceive. Every
reference in relationship to signs and wonders near the end of
time relates to satanic activity. Now this is very serious. This
is very ominous. It indicates how careful we have to be today,
because I do believe, as do many others, that we are near the end
of time.

It is a day when we want to make absolutely certain that we get
divine truth only from the Bible. It alone, and in its entirety,
is the divine Word. Satan did not speak through the Bible.
Satan can speak in a lot of other ways. He comes with all kinds
of occult activities. He comes outside the Church through
witchcraft, Oujia boards, tarot cards, and so on; and in the
Church he also comes with occult activity. The Bible says that he
does. II Corinthians 11:14 says, "And no wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light,".

Therefore, we really want to be on guard, and make sure that the
only place where we're going to look for divine truth is the
Bible itself. Then we cannot be deceived.

Caller: I think certainly that Satan does go around as an angel
of light....granted; but I do not accept the premise, and I
cannot accept it, that all of the signs or wonders in the latter
times of the Church are from Satan. I cannot accept that. For one
reason, Joel 2:28 and following says, "And it shall come to pass
afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see Visions: and also upon the
servants and upon the handmaidens in those days I will pour out
my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the
earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be
turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great
and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
delivered...."

Mr. Camping: Yes, but you see, God is not talking there about
Judgment Day at the end of time, the great and terrible day of
the Lord, because right after that He says, and whosoever calls
upon the name of the Lord will be saved, or will be delivered.
Salvation does not come after Judgment Day. Salvation comes all
through the New Testament period.

When Christ went to the cross, that was the "great and terrible
day of the Lord"; that is when christ paid for my sins. He was
subject to Judgment Day at that time; that is when the sun was
darkened, and the moon did not give its light, and that literally
did happen. The sun was darkened. There was darkness over the
face of the whole earth for a period of three hours. This is the
language of Psalm 18, where God is speaking in dramatic terms
about the deliverance that would be provided by the cross.

The fact is, there was a great earthquake. The earth itself
reacted to the fact that Christ was on the cross. Now more than
that, in Acts 2:16, back there in A.D. 33 on Pentecost Day, Peter
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, quotes from Joel 2 and
declares the phenomena the Jews saw: the sound of th rushing
wind, the appearance of tongues of fire on the heads of the
disciples, and the fact that they were speaking in foreign
languages, was evidence that this is the time about which Joel
prophesied. In other words, now God is going to begin His program
to evangelize the world. The great and terrible day of the Lord
had come, and now whosoever calls upon the Name of the Lord will
be saved.

Now if we did not have Revelation 22:18, we could conclude that
Acts 2:17, "And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your young men
shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams," would
apply throughout the New Testament period, and we could still
dream dreams and see visions today. This would be so, because the
whole New Testament period is the last days; it is throughout the
whole New Testament period that whosoever calls upon the Name of
the Lord will be saved. We know that this is not the case because
that aspect of the prophecy was limited by the language of
Revelation 22:18. Several decades after Pentecost God declared
that we are not to add to the words of His book.

Now the other implications of that prophecy remain. "Whosoever
calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved." Every believer is
going to be a prophet. Now in the Old Testament the prophets were
only few and far between. They received their information from
God from two sources: from the written Word that was complete to
their day, and also by means of dreams or visions, in a more
exciting way.

In the New Testament, before the Bible was completed, the
prophets had the same experience. They had the Old Testament,
which was the written Word complete to their day, and
occasionally they could receive additional information through a
dream or a vision; but once the Bible was completed, this was no
longer possible. Today as believers throughout the New Testament
period, we continue to prophesy, that is, to declare God's Word,
which is really what prophesying is all about, but our source of
divine truth is only the Bible, because it is now the complete
Word of God. It is every part of God's revelation that He wants
us to know, so we don't have to be looking for divine truth from
any other source.

Now, this of course is a fantastic guarantee for the New
Testament believer, that he won't be tripped up by Satan. He will
not be snared by Satan, because he is looking around for an
additional revelation of some kind. He knows that when he goes to
the Bible he has got all the revelation, all that God would speak
to mankind about. He can spend his time very patiently studying
the Word, searching the Scriptures, and knowing all the time that
this is the voice of God, this is the revelation of God. What a
wonderful guarantee God has given us!

Caller: A couple more problems. Number one, I see nothing in the
context of Revelation 22:18 which says that that verse is
applicable to anything other than prophecy of the Book of
Revelation itself.

Mr. Camping: You see, the book of Revelation is an integral part
of the whole Bible. If you add a chapter to the book of
Revelation, you have added it to the Bible. If you take away a
chapter, you have taken it away from the Bible. Whether you want
to understand the phrase "this book" to be the book of Revelation
or the whole Bible is really ultimately immaterial because the
Bible is one cohesive whole. It has one author. It is one book,
therefore the phrase "this book" ultimately refers to the Bible.

Caller: Could you explain the gift of prophecy talked about in 1
Corinthians 14? Also, what was the purpose of speaking in tongues
in the New Testament Church? How does that distinguish from the
gift of prophecy?

Mr. Camping: The word prophecy, in its widest intent in the
Bible, means to declare God's Word. We normally think of prophecy
as being able to know the future. But that's not really the
meaning of the word prophecy. It includes the fact that we may
have knowledge of the future, but in its widest sense it means to
be qualified to declare God's Word. 1 Corinthians 14:3 tells us,
"On the other hand, he who prophesies speaks to men for their
upbuilding and encouragement and consolation."

Beginning with Pentecost, every born again believer is given this
gift. He is able to declare God's Word. Where do we find God's
Word? In the days before the Bible was completed, a prophet, that
is, any believer, could have two sources from which to find God's
Word. One source was the written Word that he had in his hand,
which in those days would include the Old Testament.

In addition, from time to time someone would receive additional
revelation, through a vision, a dream, a tongue, or whatever. In
that sense he had a special gift of prophecy. In other words, he
was given the ability to receive additional truth from God, in
addition to what he had in the written Word. That possibility
ceased, of course, with the completion of the Bible. Revelation
22:18 says that we are not to add to the words of this book.

Now the gift of tongues actually was a part of the gift of
prophecy. Someone in the church at Corinth, where this gift is
particularly mentioned, would receive a revelation from God in an
unknown language. This served to edify him personally. Perhaps it
was something else. At any rate, it was information in an unknown
language. It was information from God.

Now when this was interpreted, it became the equivalent of direct
prophecy, because then it could be given to the whole church,
this could be declared to the whole church. The whole church
could be edified by it.

Now why the gift of tongues? Now that is a very, very ominous
question. Why did God give the church at Corinth the gift of
tongues? Why does God spend 3 chapters in the Bible on this
phenomenon of tongues? 1 Corinthians 14:20-24 teaches:

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking but be babes
in evil, but in thinking be mature. In the law it is
written, "By men of strange tongues and by the lips of
foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they
will not listen to me, says the Lord." Thus, tongues are a
sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy
is not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore the
whole church assembles and all speak in tongues, and
outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you
are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider
enters, he is convicted by all, and he is called to account
by all, the secrets of the heart are disclosed; and so,
falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that
God is really among you. .

Now thrust right into this whole account of the situation of
tongues; God has indicated its limitations and the desirability
of speaking in languages that people could know, and so on. But
now He says, "Be babes in evil." Now what a strange intrusion
here..."Be babes in evil (or in malice." What have tongues got to
do with evil? There is nothing that has been suggested before
about the fact that tongues were evil. These were legitimate
revelations from God. What is evil about that? Why does God say,
"Be babes in evil."

Well, the next verse offers us a clue as to what we're to do
now. "In the law it is written, 'By men of strange tongues and by
the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then
they will not listen to Me", says the Lord." Now the Law is the
Old Testament, and particularly the first five books. God is
instructing us to go to the Law and find out what it says there.

When we patiently search the Old Testament, we come to.
Deuteronomy 28. In verse 47 God is talking to Israel of old,
which is a figure of the New Testament Church. Immediately we see
a real connection between what we are going to read in
Deuteronomy 28 and what God is talking about in 1 Corinthians 14.

Well, in Deuteronomy 28:47-49 we read:

"Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness
and gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all
things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord
will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness,
and in want of all things; and he will put a yoke of iron
upon your neck, until He has destroyed you. The Lord will
bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the
earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language
you do not understand,"

In other words, you were not satisfied with the salvation I
offered you, but you wanted your own kind of salvation program:
"therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send
against you. In hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of
all things. And He will put a yoke of iron upon your neck until
He has destroyed you."

Now notice. This is what the Lord is calling our attention to in
1 Corinthians 14. "The Lord will bring a nation against you from
afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a
nation whose language you do not understand, a nation of stern
countenance, who shall not regard the person of the old or show
favor to the young, and shall eat the offspring of your cattle
and fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; who shall not
leave you grain, wine or oil, the increase of your cattle or the
young of your flocks, until they have caused you to parish. They
shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and
fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all
your land; and they shall besiege you in all your towns
throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you."
It goes on and on, describing what they will do to Israel as they
destroy them.

Now God is saying to Israel in Deuteronomy 28:47-49 I have
offered you a wonderful, wonderful salvation. If you are not
satisfied, and you want to make it your kind of gospel, if you
want to make it the way you would like to have it, then I am
going to bring my wrath against you. My wrath will come through a
nation that I will raise up, a nation whose language you do not
understand. They will besiege you everywhere until they have
destroyed you.

That is horribly ominous, is it not? But, that is exactly what
God is referring to in 1 Corinthians 14, where He is talking
about tongues. God says here, "I will speak to this people and
even then they will not listen to Me," says the Lord. Now we know
that judgment came for the nation of Israel. They turned from the
Lord, from the salvation that God offered. God brought first the
Assyrians and then the Babylonians against them. We read in the
Book of Ezekial that Israel played the harlot with Assyria and
with Babylon. They adulterously ran after them and their gods,
and these nations destroyed them. They were nations whose
language Israel did not understand. We read this particularly in
Jeremiah 37 that God was going to bring the Babylonians
(Chaldeans) against them.

Israel disobeyed God, and they were judged as God had warned. Now
God is coming to the New Testament Church, to the Church of this
day, if you will. And He is saying watch out, watch out, if you
are not satisfied with the Gospel I have given you: that you must
walk by faith, not by sight; that you must put your trust only in
the Lord Jesus Christ; and you are not to look for something more
glorious than the Gospel that I am offering you. If you do I will
come against you with a nation whose language you do not
understand, and I will speak through this, even then you will not
listen to me.

He then concludes in verse 22, "Thus tongues are a sign (or a
miracle) not for believers, but for unbelievers." In other words,
it is a sign that God will use against the unbelievers in the
congregation. It is going to be used to destroy them.

Now I believe that God has set up a testing program. God does
this. God set up a testing program in the Garden of Eden, did He
not? Would Adam and Eve remain obedient to God? God was going to
test them, so He planted a tree. He said, "That tree you may not
eat of.", and that is precisely where Adam and Eve fell into sin.
They disobeyed God.

God set up a testing program in the church at Corinth. There is
the fact that there was a legitimate gift of tongues given to
some in the church at Corinth nothing wrong about it at all. It
was a gift of God, but it is recorded for us in the Bible, so it
remains as a testing program. God is now saying, I will come
against those who are not satisfied with the true Gospel, and
want more. I will assault them with a nation that comes with a
language you do not understand; in other words, a nation that
comes with tongues. Tongues will be used against the unbelievers.
This sign now begins to gain very ominous proportions, as we
think about the tongues activity of this day.

Let us be sure that we are completely satisfied with the Bible as
the divine Word of God. Let us be sure that we are not wanting
something more than what the Bible speaks of when it tells us how
glorious this salvation is that God has given us.

There are those who say, "Well, I am saved, but there is a lot
more that I want from God." Well, what is the matter with the
salvation that God has provided, if a person really is saved? The
only thing that we are going to receive pertaining to our
salvation is the resurrection of our bodies, and we can not
receive that until Christ returns. When we are saved God has
given us everything. He has made us His child, He has taken us
out of the kingdom of Satan. We have become born again. We have
been given the Word as the rule book of our lives. We are indwelt
by the Holy Spirit. We have been given everything. There is
nothing more. Let us be satisfied with this wonderful salvation
God has given.

