All One Language Again? - 17
Or does God intend to keep what He has changed?
I’ve heard it said about Pentecost, that God reversed the curse when the disciples of Jesus were given the ability to speak in foreign tongues so that all who were visiting Jerusalem from various nations could understand them in their own language. I may have preached it myself?
This is what we actually read in Acts 2:1-12:
1When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
It is quite incredible. Most of the disciples were Jews from Galilee. They hadn’t studied foreign languages in order to teach people from other nations. This was a work of God’s Spirit. The disciples who normally all shared the same tongue were now each speaking in a different language. And the reason was so that people present, from all over the world, would hear God being magnified by Jesus’ disciples in their own language.
Did the disciples language change forever? No. They reverted back to their normal language. This glossolalia1 happened for a moment. It took place for a specific reason. The reason was to send forth the gospel of the Son of God to the nations, prior to the Apostles’ arrival.
Indeed. At Pentecost God did not restore people’s tongues to that one original language of Noah and sons, that unified language spoken by all previous people to Adam and Eve in the garden. So if God intended to reverse the curse of many languages, His plan must have been to reverse it by slow drip.
Slow drip makes some sense. After all, Jesus taught that the leaven of His kingdom would work through the loaf slowly. Perhaps, God’s greatest glory is found in the time He takes for the knowledge of Him to cover the Earth as thoroughly as the waters cover the sea.
But there is also a good possibility that God never intends to return mankind to a universal language in the inter-Advental2 period. It is probable that a universal language does not even serve the greatest good.3
When Jesus returns at His second Advent, won’t there still exist many languages and nations to receive Him? Is it not to God’s glory that all nations flood to Him now? Isn’t it more beautiful that a multitude of different peoples and different languages worship Him?
Pentecost is better understood as the day that God salted the nations with the gospel by converting people from across the globe in one setting. Pentecost also served to prepare those different nations for future conversions when the Apostles and the Evangelists would arrive.
No. The Holy Spirit on Pentecost did not reverse the curse. He did not erase the different languages at all. He could have. But He didn’t.
That being the case, men will always be divided by language. And this means that there is appropriateness to things that make us different. And so the Apostle Paul could confidently exclaim:
“26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us…” (Acts 17:26-27)
God made people distinct and separate and we can appreciate His handiwork. No one should be quick to dismiss his or her family roots. However, ancestry must be looked at for what it is: God given. He made the divisions. He determined the times and places, etc. Man is allowed no place for pride.4 We must never forget that all descend from the same fathers: Noah and Adam.
Glossolalia is from Greek glōssa, “tongue,” and lalia, “talking.” Heard as utterances approximating words and speech but unrecognizable by those who do not know the language being verbalized.
The period of history between Christ’s first Advent (His conception in Mary and life as fully man on earth) and His second Advent (His Second Coming following His rule from the right hand of the Father. At this coming the Resurrection occurs; it is followed by the Final Judgment and the Eternal State.
What could be more glorious than to read Revelation 7:9-10 where it says, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Instead, we should consider the principle of 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”