How Could Tongues be Prophecy?
Have you ever wondered how the tongues spoken on the day of Pentecost fulfilled "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy"?
Here's Joel's prophecy:
"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 handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."
Joel 2:28-29
Do you see anything in there about speaking in tongues?
I see prophecy, dreams and visions. I don't see tongues.
Unless... unless tongues qualifies as prophecy.
Think about it.
Prophecy is God using a human tongue, to speak His words.
And the way God used tongues on the day of Pentecost, was to speak divinely-inspired words to people, using the yielded tongues of his children. Their tongues were actually doing exactly what prophecy does!
This is what 1 Corinthians 14:5 says:
"... greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret..."
I love Algebra. Do you see the Algebraic equation in the above verse?
The first part of the equation is prophecy is greater than tongues. a > b.
Prophecy IS greater than tongues, unless you add interpretation!
If interpretation is added to tongues, that combination is EQUAL to the value of prophecy!
Therefore, a > b, but a = b + c !
Why?
Because prophecy is God supernaturally using the tongue of a human to speak to other humans.
And that's what the tongues on the Day of Pentecost did!
God arranged so that the tongues being spoken would be understood by the intended audience.
Which is the function of interpretation.
Which made the tongues of Pentecost actually do the same thing as what we call prophecy.
God predicted of those tongues, "your sons and daughters shall prophesy!"
Therefore, tongues that are understood, whether naturally, or by supernatural interpretation, are actually the same thing as prophecy. Because God is speaking.
And when God speaks, we'd better respect that!
I have heard of many people who saw tongues happen this way.
In my own church, years ago, a Korean woman was brought back as a war bride, to this valley. They lived in the upstairs of her husband's parents' home. This young woman knew no English. The only person she could communicate with was her husband, who was gone every day to his job. This woman was very lonely, and wondered if even God had forgotten about her.
Her mother-in-law was a member of my little country church, and as an old-fashioned Pentecostal, she would daily worship God in tongues.
One day, in her worship, the Spirit of God fell on her powerfully, and there in her home, she began to shout and proclaim things in a language she did not understand, as usual.
But the Korean daughter-in-law came running downstairs, excitedly! She listened open-mouthed, to her worshiping mother-in-law. Tears were running down the young lady's face. When the Spirit lifted from the older woman, the younger woman ran upstairs, and stayed there the rest of the day.
That evening, the older woman was able to learn from her son what God had done through her.
She had not only been speaking perfect Korean, but in the dialect of her daughter-in-law's home village. As she shouted and danced in the Spirit, her daughter in law heard God speaking: "I have not forgotten you. I am with you always. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. You are precious to me..."
This young lady's faith was renewed and her spirit strengthened, because her mother-in-law simply allowed God's Spirit to use her tongue, though she had no idea what He was doing at the time.
You see, many Christians who have no experience with tongues read the Word, and think they are experts on how tongues ought to be used. That mindset would have stopped this incident from ever happening. Because the going idea is that all tongues MUST be interpreted, or they must not be from God!
But that's not what the Bible actually says!
Do you want to dig into what the Bible actually says about it?
Come by next time!
~Mary Ellen
Here's Joel's prophecy:
"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 handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."
Joel 2:28-29
Do you see anything in there about speaking in tongues?
I see prophecy, dreams and visions. I don't see tongues.
Unless... unless tongues qualifies as prophecy.
Think about it.
Prophecy is God using a human tongue, to speak His words.
And the way God used tongues on the day of Pentecost, was to speak divinely-inspired words to people, using the yielded tongues of his children. Their tongues were actually doing exactly what prophecy does!
This is what 1 Corinthians 14:5 says:
"... greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret..."
I love Algebra. Do you see the Algebraic equation in the above verse?
The first part of the equation is prophecy is greater than tongues. a > b.
Prophecy IS greater than tongues, unless you add interpretation!
If interpretation is added to tongues, that combination is EQUAL to the value of prophecy!
Therefore, a > b, but a = b + c !
Why?
Because prophecy is God supernaturally using the tongue of a human to speak to other humans.
And that's what the tongues on the Day of Pentecost did!
God arranged so that the tongues being spoken would be understood by the intended audience.
Which is the function of interpretation.
Which made the tongues of Pentecost actually do the same thing as what we call prophecy.
God predicted of those tongues, "your sons and daughters shall prophesy!"
Therefore, tongues that are understood, whether naturally, or by supernatural interpretation, are actually the same thing as prophecy. Because God is speaking.
And when God speaks, we'd better respect that!
I have heard of many people who saw tongues happen this way.
In my own church, years ago, a Korean woman was brought back as a war bride, to this valley. They lived in the upstairs of her husband's parents' home. This young woman knew no English. The only person she could communicate with was her husband, who was gone every day to his job. This woman was very lonely, and wondered if even God had forgotten about her.
Her mother-in-law was a member of my little country church, and as an old-fashioned Pentecostal, she would daily worship God in tongues.
One day, in her worship, the Spirit of God fell on her powerfully, and there in her home, she began to shout and proclaim things in a language she did not understand, as usual.
But the Korean daughter-in-law came running downstairs, excitedly! She listened open-mouthed, to her worshiping mother-in-law. Tears were running down the young lady's face. When the Spirit lifted from the older woman, the younger woman ran upstairs, and stayed there the rest of the day.
That evening, the older woman was able to learn from her son what God had done through her.
She had not only been speaking perfect Korean, but in the dialect of her daughter-in-law's home village. As she shouted and danced in the Spirit, her daughter in law heard God speaking: "I have not forgotten you. I am with you always. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. You are precious to me..."
This young lady's faith was renewed and her spirit strengthened, because her mother-in-law simply allowed God's Spirit to use her tongue, though she had no idea what He was doing at the time.
You see, many Christians who have no experience with tongues read the Word, and think they are experts on how tongues ought to be used. That mindset would have stopped this incident from ever happening. Because the going idea is that all tongues MUST be interpreted, or they must not be from God!
But that's not what the Bible actually says!
Do you want to dig into what the Bible actually says about it?
Come by next time!
~Mary Ellen
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