“WHOM SHALL HE TEACH KNOWLEDGE? AND WHOM SHALL HE
MAKE TO UNDERSTAND DOCTRINE? THEM THAT ARE WEANED
FROM THE MILK, AND DRAWN FROM THE BREASTS. FOR PRECEPT
MUST BE UPON PRECEPT, PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT; LINE UPON
LINE, LINE UPON LINE; HERE A LITTLE AND THERE A LITTLE. FOR
WITH STAMMERING LIPS AND ANOTHER TONGUE WILL HE SPEAK
TO THIS PEOPLE”. Isaiah 28:9-11
Verse nine speaks of the maturity of the believer. Babies always want to do things their way, in their own understanding of the way things should be. God’s ways are not our ways. The passage goes on to describe God’s way of feeding us truth. Not all at once but in small, manageable servings. No human being could handle all of God’s truth, wisdom, and understanding all at once. It is beyond the comprehensive ability of any person. Any college course is proof of that. Imagine walking into a college classroom on the first day and having the teacher dump everything he or she knows about the subject on you in one hour and then saying to the class: “there will be a test in fifteen minutes”. If you were honest you would have to admit that this was not exactly what you were expecting.
“FOR HE KNOWETH OUR FRAME; HE REMEMBERETH THAT WE
ARE DUST”. Psalm 103:14
Almighty God actually wants us to learn his ways. Even back there, under the old covenant, he wanted his people to know and understand the whys and how’s of his kingdom and how it worked in their favor. God does not live in time but he knows that we do. We are limited in our ability to ingest understanding. If you read the rest of the chapter in Isaiah 28 you will see that we must be a willing participant and not grow impatient, looking for other sources of so called “truth”.
I want to zero in on verse eleven of Isaiah 28:
“…FOR WITH STAMMERING LIPS AND ANOTHER TONGUE WILL HE
SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE”. Isaiah 28:11
Here we are in the Old Testament, under the old covenant, where we have what seems to be the mention of speaking in tongues. Ask yourself this: if you’ve ever listened to someone speaking or praying or singing in tongues, does it not sound like stammering lips? A person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with a theory. I used to have a theory about tongues. Now I have an experience and I have weighed that experience against what the Bible says about it and I am happy to report that it does indeed line up with the word of God.
Joel prophesied in the Old Testament concerning an outpouring of the Spirit:
“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” Joel 2:28
This prophecy launches us into the sealing of the new covenant. We know from the Bible that the Holy Spirit is our “seal unto redemption” (Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit was poured out on the church in Acts 2. He appeared to them in the form of cloven tongues of fire and sat on each of them (vs3). And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance (vs4). They were accused of being drunk by some mockers (vs12), and Peter came to their defense claiming the event as the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (vs16). There were people present from every nation under heaven (vs5) who actually heard them speaking in their own native tongue which we assume they could not do before. So, while the apostles were speaking in other tongues, they were speaking actual languages understandable by those familiar with it. Keep in mind that they spoke “as the the spirit gave them utterance” (vs4). It was the will of the Holy Spirit that these men spoke in an understandable language. It therefore lays down the rule that any time we speak in tongues it must be as the spirit gives utterance in combination with our willingness to participate. It is evident that speaking in tongue does sound like foolishness to the hearers (vs13), and can’t be understood by mockers. Pay attention: if you mock the gift, then you mock the giver, who in this case is none other than God himself.
We all have an understanding of the way things are and how the world functions around us. We need that understanding to operate in our daily lives. For example, we understand that when we turn on the tap in the kitchen, water is supposed to come out. If no water comes out, we understand that something is wrong. Even though we have such understanding, and it can be of certain benefit in our daily activities, we are never to “lean” on our understanding. We are commanded to not put our faith and hope in the way things are as we intellectually comprehend them. A perfect example is the weather. Can a human being control the weather? Well, according to the apostle James the answer is a resounding yes!
“THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTOUS MAN AVAIL-
ETH MUCH. ELIAS WAS A MAN SUBJECT TO LIKE PASSIONS AS
WE ARE, AND HE PRAYED ERNESTLY THAT IT MIGHT NOT RAIN:
AND IT RAINED NOT ON THE EARTH BY THE SPACE OF THREE
YEARS AND SIX MONTHS. AND HE PRAYED AGAIN, AND THE
HEAVEN GAVE RAIN, AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH HER
FRUIT”. James 5:16b-18
This was just one of countless examples given to us in the Bible where ordinary people did extraordinary exploits by ignoring the common sense understanding of the way things should be. Likewise, when we pray in tongues, we leave behind that which can be understood with the mind. Praying in tongues is undoubtedly a very personal endeavor. It should be done often as an individual but curtailed while in a church setting. Paul goes into great detail regarding tongues in the fourteenth chapter of his first letter to the believers in Corinth. He says if someone speaks in an unknown tongue in church and no one interprets, the person speaking should be quiet (vs28). He also says he prays in tongues more than anyone else (vs18). When we pray in tongues, according to Paul, it is our spirit that prays apart from our understanding (vs14). While he does encourage praying with our understanding (vs15), praying in the spirit does merit equal importance for us in our personal lives. What does fasting from our own understanding in the form of speaking in tongues do for us as individuals in our private, daily lives? Well:
“FOR HE THAT SPEAKETH IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE SPEAKETH
NOT UNTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD: FOR NO MAN UNDERSTANDETH
HIM; HOWBEIT IN THE SPIRIT HE SPEAKETH MYSTERIES”.
1Corinthians 14:2
Some leaders in the church have argued that speaking in tongues meant nothing more than speaking in a language other than your own native language which you could not do before, so that the gospel could go out into the whole world. That theory really does sound foolish in light of the preceding scripture quote, does it not? These false teachers have married pride with ignorance and have, in my opinion, disqualified themselves for useful service unless they repent.
“HE THAT SPEAKETH IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE EDIFIETH
HIMSELF”. 1Corinthians 14:4
When I pray in tongues my spirit lifts me up to God and says: “here I am, just you and me, alone. Fill me up, Lord. Change me. Make my body and soul con- form to your image. Show me truth about myself. Show me things to come. Show me the truth about your word. Show me yourself. I love you, Lord. I want more of you, Lord. So I lay down my life to make room for you”.
Truth is we don’t know what to pray. When you pray in tongues you edify yourself. Your spirit, which knows the will of God, and which was made perfect when you were born again, will always pray the perfect will of God on your behalf. Praying in tongues is like being on cruise control on a superhighway to the throne. It requires no thought. Only participation. Paul was not the only one who taught on tongues in the New Testament:
“BUT YE, BELOVED, BUILDING UP YOURSELVES ON YOUR MOST
HOLY FAITH, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST” Jude 20.
Again, Jude confirms the act of praying in the spirit, or tongues, as self edification. The Holy Ghost moves in and unifies himself with our spirit upon adoption. Praying in the Holy Ghost, praying in the spirit, and praying in tongues are all synonymous terms. Jude and Jesus were more than likely earthly brothers inasmuch as their earthly mother Mary was concerned. Jude’s main concern in his epistle was to address the heresy of gnosticism. He says the following in verse 10:
“BUT THESE SPEAK EVIL OF THOSE THINGS WHICH THEY KNOW
NOT: BUT WHAT THEY KNOW NATURALLY, AS BRUTE BEASTS,
IN THOSE THINGS THEY CORRUPT THEMSELVES”.
Jude is coming against people who accept things which can only be known with their own understanding and openly mock spiritual things which they cannot comprehend with the intellect. I have heard, countless times, prominent pastors and teachers on radio and television mock and ridicule the gift of tongues, saying that it is not for the church today. “WOE UNTO THEM”, Jude says in verse 11.
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