In my first article in this series, I showed that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is integral to the Gospel and a primary ministry of Jesus, the glorified Lord. My second article concluded that there is a clear difference between the new birth and the baptism in the Spirit. The third article revealed that speaking in tongues is evidence that a person has received the baptism in the Spirit. This teaching will show one of the many advantages that come from speaking in tongues and why this is such an important gift.
Unity is paramount in any church, family, or nation. Without it things fall apart. With it, nothing is impossible. In Genesis 11 , when sinful rebellious people determined to make a great name for themselves instead of glorifying and worshiping God, the Lord confused their languages at Babel, which disrupted their unity, stopped their work, and resulted in the scattering of people throughout the earth into separate language groups. Since then the human race has continued on its quest to unify in order to make itself great apart from God. My opinion is that this is what drives the current fervor for globalism. In the Last Days, it seems that God will allow a final unified effort to throw off God’s rule and authority to temporarily flourish under the leadership of a person called the antichrist. This one-world government will be sinful mankind’s last stand against the government of God and will usher in the Second Coming of the true Ruler and Unifier, Jesus the Messiah King.
Even though God thwarted man’s self-centered unification efforts at Babel, he has been building his own unified kingdom.
On the first New Covenant Pentecost, the Spirit gave Christ’s disciples a new heavenly language that all those present understood, even though they were from many different nations and language groups. This was the reverse of what happened at Babel.
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Acts 2:5-8 (NASB)
The Gospel was understood that day by way of a supernatural gift of language that brought unity out of discord and people out of confusion and into the the kingdom of God. The gift of tongues undid the confusion of Babel, even if only temporarily.
Every time a Spirit-filled believer speaks in tongues, the confusion of Babel is once again undone.
Now God uses speaking in tongues to unify and empower those who are devoted to him and his kingdom. Isn’t it ironic that Satan seeks to split people apart over the “controversy” of speaking in tongues?
The devil always resists every important truth and work of God.
Speaking in tongues is so important that he has resisted its being received and practiced for centuries. Shouldn’t that, in itself, alert us to the importance of the gift?
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