REGARDING SIGNS (TONGUES) AND MIRACLES

December 2015

Satyaraj

Some say that tongues and prophecy remain as gifts, and accompany the preaching of the Word. And that the Revelation is still to be fulfilled and completed when Jesus arrives in glory. However, the scripture says that the tongues are a sign for those Jews who did not believe.

Tongues are not for us gentiles. The perfect word of God is come and both the signs (including tongues) and miracles that we read about in the Gospels have ceased. The Revelation of God's mind to man is complete and there is no more new scripture.

1 Cor 13:8-10 "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. [9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. [10] But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away".

2Pet 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

1 Cor 14:21, 22 "In the law it is written (Isa 28: 11-22), With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe".

Where do we find these now, just as they were so mightily done when Christ was on earth? Did anyone feed 4000 at a time? Did anyone heal publicly and instantly like Peter healing the born lame man? Most of them (today) are counterfeit and by the devil himself in Angel’s clothes. However, if miracles are there in the current day, they are in response to earnest prayer, which God still answers. They are not there as signs, as to the unbelieving Jews, but answers to prayer of faith.

The fact that tongues were past, was indicated in Heb 2:3, 4, when the writer writes in past tense. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"

Whenever the Gospel writer ends with Christ ascension like in Mark and Luke (Acts), signs come in. But whenever the Gospel writer ends with Christ raised but not ascended, like in Matthew and John, there are no signs. When Jesus was on earth, miracles were done to prove God's kingdom. When Christ ascended, miracles were done through the church to the same effect.

Another idea behind miracles is also to test. It is meant for those who are under a divine de novo. It is a trial. When the People (Jews) rejected the Lord at His word and killed him - that was the first trial. Then God spoke to them in tongues (Acts 2), as He said in Isaiah 28, so that they may believe. But they rejected again as we see in Acts 13:46.

And then just as Luke writes in 21:20 "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh", the judgment and destruction of Jerusalem came through in AD 70. The present dispensation (after AD 70) is not a trial period for the Jews. Their trial will resume after the rapture, when the two witnesses will revive the miracles. But the difference between the two trials - before AD 70 and during tribulation is that in the former carrot is used while in the latter the stick is used - miracles of healing and miracles of judgments.

Now, the Jews were condemned and put aside until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and until they shall look on him whom they pierced (Joh 19:37), and also in Rev 1:7 "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen".

Cessation of tongues was due to failure of the Jewish community under trial, for not accepting the risen and exalted Messiah. Even though the Pentecostal church having donned the specialized role of witnessing for a Messianic kingdom, the Jews rejected the Messiah. The tongues and the holy city suffered abolition for the incredulous unbelief of the apostate Jews.

REGARDING THE PERFECT ONE:

After Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70, the last words of NT were written by John in his epistles and finally the Revelation, and the Perfect one is come. As in I Cor 13, those which are in part (signs, prophesy) were done away.

However, the coming of the perfect doesn’t mean that the gifts of Spirit ceased. The perfect one in I Cor 13:10, is neither the glorified body or Jesus at his second coming, or seeing the Lord face to face after this life, as some say, but it’s the perfect Word of God on earth now.

The epistle of Corinthians is about a church on earth, whose exclusiveness is not presented by Paul. As Paul explained, the Corinthians still looked at divine mysteries vaguely since they are not transported to the heavenlies. In fact, in 1 Cor, the perfect one is yet to come.

But then, in 2 Cor 12, Paul is singled out to enter the heavenlies and hears the 'perfect' thing, but which is unlawful for others, since others (Christians) are yet on earth. In Acts, Paul stayed at Corinth. The next destination is Ephesus. When Paul wrote the epistle to Ephesians, we see that the Church is taken up as well, not just Paul. It is not the next life, but it is the final circle of God’s thoughts on the Church; the mystery oracles of Ephesians – the church is made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6).

Therefore, in Ephesians, the Christian doesn't look in the mirror darkly but sees Christ face to face in the heavenlies. In Corinthians, it is the perfect one, the Scripture on earth, which talks of Christ in heavenlies. It is progressive development, each epistle bearing its importance for a Christian as is required in the sphere of activity in which he is found, either in the wilderness or in heavenlies fighting with wicked spirits, as the case is in Ephesians.

ON THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We need not wait for the Holy Spirit to fill us; He has already endued us with the Holy Spirit just as He promised. The Holy Spirit has filled the Church at the Pentecost as in Acts 2:4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. This filling is not same as filling a believer. It's a one time event for the Church at its inauguration.

The Holy Spirit is also given to each believer when they first believe as an earnest 2 Cor 1:20,21 "Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts". Paul writes to everyone in Eph 5:18 -21."And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" - this does not mean filled with Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, as in the case of Acts 2, but means that, to the extent we know and obey His will and not grieve Him, the Holy Spirit will be filled in our hearts.

TITHES

The context in Heb 7:8 is not that of tithes, but of the Law and Christ, Who is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the highest in priesthood. Under the Law, even Levi, a mortal who receives tithes from the other 11 tribes gave tithes (figuratively in Abraham) to the High Priest, i.e., Christ. It is no way talking about tithes in NT. When Christ asked the Jews to tithe, He is referring to OT and the Law. And let me reiterate that it is better not to bring in people again into the bondage of OT rules, but let us speak NT liberty of Christ to His flock and encourage them to give without limit and rules.

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