Zechariah 8:23 says, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those
days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages
of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying,
We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”
Jordan reasons, “If 10 different language groups came
wanting to talk to you, what you have to do? Would the ability to speak in
tongues you don’t know come in handy? Can you understand why God gave them the
ability to speak in languages they never studied?
“The purpose of the gift of tongues had nothing to do with
letting people go puff themselves up and have some religious experience,
running around crazed. It had to do with Israel being able to evangelize the
nation.
“On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, there were Jews from
about 15 different language groups identified in the chapter. They all heard
the Word of God in their native tongue.
“How do you think Peter and those guys talked to them in
their native tongue? A bunch of fishermen from Galilee; they didn’t know 15
different languages. They spoke in tongues because the Spirit of God gave them
the ability. Why? It had to do with being able to get out that message to those
people so they knew it came from God.”
*****
In the Old Testament, speaking in
tongues, or the sudden ability to speak in different languages a person’s never
studied, was one of many “signs and wonders” shown Israel to serve as proof of
a revelation from God. Moses was given by God the “signs” of healing and
serpent-handling to prove he had been commissioned to deliver Israel from
Egypt.
God today is not speaking by
extra-biblical revelation, and for any man or woman to stand up in church and
claim when they speak, it’s God speaking, is nothing short of blasphemy.
Upon first taking office, Paul
performed miracles among Gentiles as well as Jews to provide proof to both
peoples of his divine calling.
Other Believers at the time were given
“sign gifts,” including speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4), to try and convince the
unbelieving Jew that, as Paul had testified, God set aside Israel to
focus on Gentiles.
Paul explains in I Cor. 13:8 that the
sign-gift program was being phased out—“whether there be tongues, they shall
cease”--as a result of his apostleship and the ability for people to listen to
his message, given to him by Jesus Christ, for complete revelation.
*****
The amazing reality is that how both in the Old and New
Testaments the overall impact of and natural reaction to miracles was to cause
people NOT to believe.
“When people today say, ‘Have God stop all the evil and
suffering in the world and I’ll believe in Him,’ what they’re really saying is,
‘Show us a miracle and we’ll believe in you,’ ” explains Jordan. “But listen to
me, what happens in the Scriptures from beginning to end is when you see people
exposed to miraculous events—to the suspending of the laws of nature, the
supernatural laws—instead of it engendering and sparking faith, invariably it
sparks unbelief. And even in the cases where it does spark faith, that faith is
never sustained for a long period of time.”
*****
There are two systems at work biblically when it comes to
faith in God: One system says, “If I don’t see it, I’m not going to believe it;
seeing is believing.” The other says, “Believing is seeing.”
What the resurrected Jesus Christ said to Doubting Thomas,
after He miraculously stood before him and invited him to touch His hands and
side, was, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
Similarly, I Peter 1 says, “Whom having not seen, ye
love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the
salvation of your souls.”
*****
“Most people think that a miracle is the answer: ‘If God
would just show a miracle, people would believe,’ ” says Jordan. “Well, why is
that?
“Let me ask you, when you’re wrong about something, do you
like somebody just to stick it in your face that you’re wrong? There’s that
great line of Clint Eastwood’s: ‘Nag, nag, nag.’
“Do you want somebody to stick you with the truth and just
keep pounding it? No. You know that when your old sin nature’s wrong it doesn’t
want the truth stuck in its face over and over and over again.
“Well, Romans 1 says, ‘Because that which may be known of
God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse.’
“You can do all the mental gymnastics you want to but the
fact is everybody knows there’s a God and that they’re going to face Him in
judgment. They know His eternal power and His godhead. They’re without excuse.
“You see, your old sin nature says, ‘I want to be God.’ Now
what does a miracle do to that? It sticks it in your face that God’s God! You
aren’t God and you old sin nature doesn’t like that! That’s why miracles are
not conducive to causing a person to believe—because they’re telling you about
something that’s the OPPOSITE of what you want!
“Hebrews 11:6 says, ‘But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.’
*****
“Faith for Israel had two steps in it: The Jew had to
believe ‘He’s God’ and that there’s a benefit for them in submitting to Him.
What the miracle demonstrated was the benefit.
“The reason God gave Israel physical deliverances and
healings and such was because that was part of Israel’s benefit. That was part
of her blessing package. So the miracle demonstrates the benefit of believing.
But first they had to believe that He is.
“You got to get this order. You believe, then the
confirmation. But if you just have the confirmation, the miracle takes out the
believing. It takes believing there’s a God out of the realm of faith and puts
it in the, ‘He just stuck it in my face! . . . I can’t . . .’
“I mean, when you watch somebody feed 5,000 people, cleanse
a leper and raise someone from the dead, you really can’t question whether
that’s God or not.
“When they miss the purpose of the miracle, what did it
demonstrate? It demonstrated that they didn’t believe. Psalm 27:13 is a verse
King David wrote. He says, ‘I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the
goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.’
“There’s the two systems! ‘Seeing is believing’ and then
there’s ‘believing to see.’ God says, ‘To please me it has to be faith. It has
to be believing to see.’ ”
(Note: I've got an article on Billy Graham coming tomorrow)
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