In this article, we examine the prophesy of Isaiah and learn about the true nature and purpose for the gift of tongues.
By Pastor Dave Farmer
Paul states that in the Old Testament, there is a prophecy concerning tongues speaking:
1 Corinthians 14:21 Expanded Translation
In the Law [Old Testament canon] it is written [in Isaiah 28:11], “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord.
Paul is quoting Isaiah 28:11. This passage is of particular importance to our study, for tongues-speaking is identified as a "sign-gift," and Isaiah twenty-eight gives the nature and the purpose of the sign.
Isaiah reveals that the Northern Kingdom's apostasy will cause her downfall (Isaiah 28:1-8). Their failure to live up to covenant standards will bring about judgment. Covenant blessing (Deuteronomy 28:1-15) at this time had been withdrawn, and the Northern Kingdom was under the covenant's curse. In Leviticus 26, the cursing for disobedience is seen as five cycles. 1 Each stage of discipline becomes more intense. The fifth cycle was the most devastating:
Leviticus 26:27-33
27) ‘Yet if in spite of this, you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me,
28) then I will act with wrathful hostility against you; and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins.
29) ‘Further, you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.
30) ‘I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols; for My soul shall abhor you.
31) ‘I will lay waste your cities as well, and will make your sanctuaries desolate; and I will not smell your soothing aromas.
32) ‘And I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled over it.
33) ‘You, however, l will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.
This speaks of invasion, captivity, destruction, foreign occupation, and control of the Land. When Isaiah declared this message to the Northern Kingdom, they were under the fourth cycle of discipline. The midnight hour was about to commence. Historically, the Northern Kingdom came under the fifth cycle of discipline in 721 B.C. The Assyrians invaded the land, carried away the people, demolished the capital city of Samaria, and took control of the land. From that date (721 B.C.) forward, the Northern Kingdom was completely subdued and ceased to exist as a national entity. Restoration and complete resettlement of land belonging to the ten Northern tribes will not occur again until the Second Coming of Christ. The destruction that came was final.
Isaiah declares the reason why the Northern Kingdom will be judged. He states:
Isaiah 28:9-10 Expanded Translation
9) “To whom would He [God through the prophet Isaiah] teach knowledge [doctrine]? And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast?
10) “For He Says, ‘Order on order [precept on precept], order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there."’
The central problem which caused them to walk contrary to God was the daily neglect and intake of the Word of God. They had rejected the Word of God, the very thing that tells us how to walk with the Lord in a way that pleases Him. In every generation, believers need to grow in grace, and the Word of God is the only means of promoting that growth.
1 Peter 2: 2
But as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that ye may grow by it.
In the Law, God placed great emphasis on learning the Word:
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
1) “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it,
2) so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which l command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
3) “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4) “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
5) “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6) “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart;
7) and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
8) “And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
9) “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Covenant blessing depended on the Jews carrying out the words of the Law. But you cannot do what you do not know. You have to know before you can do it. Ignorance of the Law placed them under the curse of the Law. When Isaiah began to preach, he sternly rebuked them, but they closed their ears to his message of warning. The people of Isaiah's day did not want him to rock the boat. They were satisfied with the status quo. Isaiah saw where the status quo was leading and began to warn of coming judgment.
Isaiah wanted to teach the Word, but who would listen? Isaiah wanted to teach doctrine, but who wanted to learn? As he looks North and brings forth his fiery denunciation, he begins to look around the Southern Kingdom. There isn't much interest in what he says here, either. Therefore, he says, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:14)". Note that Isaiah was mocked by the rulers of Judah. They too were in the process of rejecting the Word of God. They too would soon lose their covenant blessings.
The Northern Kingdom will serve as an object lesson for the Southern Kingdom. Will Judah learn the lesson? NO! She will reject the Word of God and come under the fifth cycle of discipline. It will take another hundred and fifty years, but she will fall.
God gives Judah a sign. This sign would mark the fifth cycle of discipline. It would be a red alert. Note what the Apostle Paul states:
1 Corinthians 14:22 Expanded Translation
So then tongues are for a sign [a warning to Jewish unbelievers of the proximity of divine judgment and dispersion], not to those who believe, but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe.
A sign is a supernatural manifestation produced by the power of the Holy Spirit. God, who is great in mercy, always gives ample time for repentance. Grace always proceeds judgment. Therefore, the Jews received signs which would warn them of impending doom - the curse of dispersion. Three signs in the Book of Isaiah would warn of maximum discipline: (1) the Virgin Birth, Isaiah 7:14; (2) the Death of Messiah on the Cross, Isaiah 53; (3) The Day of Pentecost when this particular prophecy was fulfilled.
The Jews did not recognize any of these warnings, and therefore, the fifth cycle of discipline was administered by the Romans in 70 A.D. In this passage, we have the prophecy of tongues-speaking as a sign:
Isaiah 28:11 Expanded Translation
Indeed, He [God] will speak to this people, Though stammering lips and a foreign tongue [Gentile language],
The Jews who walk by sight and not by faith always clamor for a sign (1 Corinthians 1:22). Speaking in foreign, Gentile languages not previously learned or studied will be the sign of coming destruction. How preposterous this must have sounded to the Jewish hearers of Isaiah's message. To think that God would use Gentiles to lead them to repentance was unthinkable. They were the covenant people; they were the custodians of divine truth! But this is precisely what gives tongues credence as a sign. The unusual events on the Day of Pentecost will alert the Jew that maximum discipline is around the corner.
Isaiah 28:21
To whom he said, This is the rest by which you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing; yet they would not hear.
In every nation, you have two groups of people: those who are born again and those who need to accept Jesus Christ as Savior personally. The Jewish nation in the time of the Lord Jesus was no different. The content of tongues-speaking will be the gospel. The "rest" of this verse speaks of salvation. The same concept is found in Matthew 11:28, "Come unto me all ye that are heavily laden and I will give you rest." The Jews rejected the Law, which would lead them to Christ. They rejected the Lord in the Hebrew language. Therefore, God will evangelize them in Gentile languages. They rejected the Lord in their own tongue, so now they will hear the Gospel in another tongue.
YET THEY WOULD NOT HEAR tells us that the majority of the Jewish Nation will reject the good news: "ye must be born again." The result will be the terrible judgment that fell on Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Therefore, tongues was a warning sign to the unbelieving Jews of Judah of the fifth cycle of discipline, which their leaders rejected and which plunged the nation into captivity. So, tongues as a sign-gift after 70 A.D ceased.
1. Isaiah warned the Nation of Israel that judgment would come.
2. The judgment of dispersion would be proceeded by clearly defined signs.
3. The sign of tongues-speaking was Jews being evangelized using Gentile languages.
4. The prophecy of Isaiah 28:11, quoted by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:21, gives the purpose and the duration of the Gift of Tongues.
5. The purpose of tongues was to warn the unbelieving Jews of the coming of maximum discipline if the nation did not turn to God.
6. The prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, and as predicted, judgment came in 70 A.D. when the Roman Legions destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple.
7. It is clear that tongues-speaking, as a sign-gift, was not needed after 70 A.D. Its purpose and usefulness had been accomplished.
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, to speak or not to speak in tongues is not the issue. The real issue for you is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But what are we to believe?
Jesus Christ came to earth to die for our sins so that we don’t have to.
1 Corinthians 15:2-4
lt is the good news that saves you if you firmly believe it, that Christ died for our sins. He was buried and he was raised from the dead [the proof] on the third day as the scriptures says”
This salvation is a free gift, so you don’t have to earn it.
Ephesians 2:8,9
8) For by grace you have been saved through faith [believing in Christ]; and that [salvation] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9) not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
Since it is based on faith, all we have to do is repent and believe. The good news is how God makes people right with Him and that it begins and ends with faith.
Would you pray a simple prayer and accept God's offer of salvation?
“Father, I agree with you. I am not perfect, and I need a Savior. I truly believe Jesus came to die for me, and l trust Him as my very own Savior. Thank you for giving me eternal life through Jesus Christ, my Lord.”
Romans 10:9–10
9) that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10) for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
12) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
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1 See the Five Cycles of Discipline in the Reference Section.