About the tongues

Most churchgoers think of tongues as a special language received from God as a result of longing for spiritual things. Before the resurrected Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem and wait for his Holy Spirit. In Mark's upper room on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus. And the disciples began to speak a language other than Hebrew. At that time, the Diasporas from various countries, including the Badaeans, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamians, and Cappadocians, who had gathered in Jerusalem to observe the Day of Pentecost, witnessed a strange sight. In Acts 2:11, “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”

At that time, when the disciples of Jesus spoke in tongues, there were two reactions from the listeners. First, the disciples of Jesus are from Galilee, how do they speak foreign languages? tongues means foreign language.

The second is that the disciples spoke of the great things of God. Many people (diaspora living abroad) are talking nonsense when they hear the great things of God from the disciples. So it was said that these people were drunk. The disciples gibberish about stories they cannot understand. These are words that are difficult for others to understand. This story tells the story of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, dying on the cross and resurrected to save mankind, and is a story about the Spirit. Those words were considered really drunk at the time. In Acts 2:17, Peter explained the story of the book of Joel to the people. 『And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

At the heart of what the disciples were saying to the people was not in the tongues of the different languages, but in the great work of God. So speaking in a tongue is not speaking in a foreign language that is not understandable, but talking about the great things of God. Even today's saints pray in tongues and say things they cannot understand, but the key is what kind of content they are praying about. Tongues are not in the language, which is a means of communication with God, but in the great work of God. The great work of God is not the work of the world, but the work of the kingdom of God. So, prayer in tongues is what the saints pray for, not for the world, but for the kingdom of God.

『For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.』“my spirit pray” is the main story of prayer for the kingdom of God. Worldly prayer is unfruitful in the heart because God cares about the spirit, not the flesh. In John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

『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.(kjv)』 It is expressed in the Bible to speak mysteries in spirit, which means spiritual secrets. The spiritual secret is in line with Ephesians 5:31-32. 『For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. It is a great secret that a man leaves his parents and associates with his wife, and the two become one flesh.

A person who speaks in a tongue tells the great secret of the kingdom of God, but people do not understand it.

Therefore, the meaning of tongues in the Bible is different from the tongues that people in the church think of today. Because speaking to people about the Spirit is as difficult as hearing a foreign language. That is why an interpreter (one who explains in detail) is needed.

『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.” When a saint tells people about the spirit, no one understands. So the believer speaks of God in the spirit.

What is the great mystery of the Spirit? The story of the Garden of Eden is like a play that takes place in the kingdom of God. Many spirits were deceived by Satan and wanted to leave God because they could become like God on their own without God. So, God created the material world and imprisoned sinful spirits in the ground. It is the human being that is trapped in the soil.

The spirit trapped in the soil is cut off from relationship with God, so the spirit is dead. However, to save them, God Himself became a human being and came into this world as Christ, He shed His blood on the cross, and rose from the dead to become the fruits of those who believe. Spirits sinned in the kingdom of God, but those who die with Jesus Christ on the cross will be resurrected with a spirit body so that they can return to the kingdom of God.

In this way, when a saint speaks to others about the Spirit, no one understands as if he were speaking in a foreign language. God raises the Spirit of God to those who repent. So, the spirit communicates with the Holy Spirit. However, when we talk about the Spirit like this, no one understands, so someone needs an interpreter. As two or three people explain the Spirit in a complementary way, the listeners can understand it.

Interpretation is a retelling of the story of the kingdom of God. The story of the kingdom of God is the great work of God and the great mystery. This becomes the revelation of God (Christ). The story of tongues and the revelation of prophecy are like two sides of the same coin.

To speak only in tongues, or to speak only revelation, would be imperfect. The great works of the kingdom of God and the revelation of Jesus Christ are always together. The kingdom of God and the revelation of Christ should be talked about together, because speaking one side is considered dissonance when playing an instrument.

Praying to God about the Spirit (in tongues) is a personal edification, because in order to obtain the salvation of the Spirit, we must know why man is in this world. But the prophetic revelation is the word of Christ. So, prophecy builds up the church. This is because the church is a member of the Holy Spirit. Saints are those who enter into Christ. Everyone who enters into Christ believes in the resurrection with Jesus Christ. In order to enter into Christ, the saints must be buried with Jesus Christ, who died on the cross.

Tongues and prophecy are inseparable. For speaking in tongues is a story of the Spirit, and prophetic revelation is a story of Jesus Christ. But God is talking about the spirit, but the people of the church are interested in the flesh. Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” He said. But the people of the church do not know about the Spirit, but they do not care. If the saints speak of the spirit, they are treating them as foreigners. To them, the story of the Spirit spoken by the saints only sounds to them in a foreign language (tongue).

『Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?』When we understand the spiritual story, we can also understand Christ. That is why the story of the Spirit and the revelation of prophecy must be told at the same time. But the reality in the church is not like that.

In the church, men and women represent those who have departed from Christ and God. The man is Christ who came to find his lost sheep, and the woman is the image of spirits who say that they will leave the kingdom of God and try to achieve their own righteousness. Thus, the woman is in the church, but represents one who has not entered into Christ. In 1 Corinthians 14:34, “Let your women keep silence in the churches.” These words are to sound an alarm to those who confuse their thoughts and speak erroneously, even without knowing the kingdom of God.

In 1 Corinthians 14:33, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints..

When all the saints speak in tongues or prophecies, they think they have received great power, but do not act like that, but thank God that they have received such grace, remember why the saints are living on this earth, and realize that they have left the kingdom of God. and to be quiet.

『And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.』 It is the wife, not the woman, who asks the husband. Her wife is a married man. That is, it symbolizes those who enter into Christ. So when people ask something, ask Jesus Christ. But the Bible points out that it is not right for women (those outside Christ) to talk about the kingdom of God without knowing it well in the church.