Isaiah 28:1-13 - Tongues as a Sign and as a Gift in the Church
God’s pronouncement of judgment on the Northern tribes in Israel.

28:7—The priests and prophets are drunk physically and spiritually

28:9—The priests and prophets mock Isaiah saying, “Who are you trying to teach with these simple words?
Are we mere children?”

28:10—They mock his words saying in Hebrew “saw lasaw, saw lasaw, qaw laqaw, qaw laqaw”
Isaiah was teaching them , “precept upon precept” or theology and doctrine.
He was also teaching them, “line upon line” or verse by verse.
They mocked it, rejected it and cut off their only hope.

28:11—God says therefore I will still teach them but it will be through the strange tongues of the
Assyrians while they invade and destroy Israel and dispersed the people in 722 BC.

28:12—Because the Israelites rejected the word of God, or the resting place of faith the word of
God would have no effect in their lives.

28:13—The word of God would become to Israel nothing but rules and regulations of legalism that
would continue to lead them into confusion and judgment.

28:14—Isaiah then turns his attention to Jerusalem and its rulers

28:15 –Jerusalem thinks they have a covenant with death but God has laid a stone in Zion.

28:16 –A stone is laid in Zion.

29:1-12 –Jerusalem judged, sleeps in the dust, can not understand the scriptures

Acts 2
These verses where fulfilled for Jerusalem in 30 AD.
On the day of Pentecost the Jews heard the Gentile languages and asked, “What does this mean?”

Wrong assumptions concerning tongues on the day of Pentecost and its use in the early church:

Wrong assumption #1:
"Tongues where a known language."
Answer: Tongues where a spiritual language that was perceived by the hearer in their own language.
The miracle was in the hearing. (Acts 6, 8, 11 “each one heard”, each of us hears them”, we hear them”)

Wrong assumption #2:
"The believers that came out of the upper room speaking in tongues where all speaking a variety
of languages that the people in the street could understand."
Answer: They began to speak in “other” (heteros) “tongues” (glosa). Or, languages of another kind.
The word “other” is not “allos” which means another of the same kind. (Acts 2:4)

Wrong assumption #3:
"The people in the street found someone speaking their language and gathered around those speaking
in tongues as they spoke their native dialect."
Answer: They heard all of them speaking the same language which in each case was the language of the person listening.

Wrong assumption #4:
"Tongues where used to preach the gospel to the people in the streets on the day of Pentecost."
Answer: No where in Acts 2, in the scripture or in church history did any one preach in tongues or where they ever
taught that was what they did. Those who spoke in tongues where “declaring the wonders of God” (Acts 2:11),
“does not speak to men but to God” (1 Cor. 14:2), “utters mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2) and “praising God” ( 1 Cor. 14:16)
or “giving thanks” (1 Cor. 14:17)

Wrong assumption #5:
"Tongues continued to be used by the apostles and the early church to preach the gospel in
lands where they did not naturally speak that language." Answer: Never happened in scripture. Not recorded in church history.
Who came up with this idea? It is a clever assumption since tongues is “other languages” but it was not used that way nor
was it intended for preaching. On the day of Pentecost Peter preached the gospel after the tongues where spoken and
he preached it in his own language. If they had been preaching in tongues why did Peter have to preach again.

Wrong assumption #6:
"Once the church developed they no longer needed to preach the gospel in other languages
by means of tongues." Answer: The church never used tongues to spread the church in the first place. No one was
convinced the of the truth because of tongues. Tongues then where a sign and the Jews knew it.
They said, “What does this mean?”

1 Corinthians 14:21,
Even when speaking in tongues people will not obey.  
Tongues does not edify the assembled body of Christ and tongues does not cause the unbeliever to repent.
The unbeliever must understand to be convicted and the believer must understand to be edified.

14:20 Be mature in your thinking.  Renew your mind to think like Christ.  Think like adults.
Be infants and innocent in evil and sinful behavior. Paul is not saying tongues is childish.
 He is saying that the Corinthians must stop viewing things (including tongues) from a simple, child like understanding.  
He is clearly not saying that tongues is the problem.  The problem is their understanding of tongues (and other things).  

Their understanding then affects the way they use tongues (and other things including food, sex, marriage, idols,
Lord's supper as addressed in this book).

Ephesians 4:14,
"Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and
blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming."

Hebrews 5:13,
"Anyone who lives on milk  being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
But solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.  
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings aboutChrist and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation. . ."

1 Peter 2:2, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now
that you have tasted that the Lord is good." Hebrews 6:5, "those. . .who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
and the powers of the coming age. . ." The problem in Corinth that caused Paul here to say "stop thinking like children. .
but in your thinking be adults" was not that they were speaking in tongues but that they thought tongues made them
spiritual and was an indication of their maturity.  It is not.  The teaching of the Word of God and a person's understanding
of the Word of God causes maturity.  

Romans 10:17,
"Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

Never does Paul tell them to stop speaking in tongues.  
14:2, "Anyone who speaks in tongues. . ."
14:4 "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. . ."
14:5, "I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, . . ."
14:6, "If I come to you and speak in tongues what good will I be to you, unless . . ."
14:13, "Anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. . ."
14:14, "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,. . .
14:15, "So what shall I do?  I will pray with my spirit (tongues). . .I will sing with my spirit (tongues) . . ."
14:16,17, "If you are praising God with your spirit (tongues) . . .You may be giving thanks well enough. . ."
14:18, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. . ."
14:26, "When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation..  
All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church."
14:27, "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two _ or at the most three _ should speak, one at a time. . ."
14:28, "If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and  God."
14:39, "Do not forbid speaking in tongues."

He tells them to have the correct perspective on what tongues does:
14:2, ". . .does not speak to men but to God."
14:2, "He utters mysteries with his spirit."
14:4, "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself."
14:6, Tongues only good for the local church if it produces:
a) revelation
b) knowledge
c) prophecy
d) word of instruction
14:12, Tongues does not build up the church.
14:14, Tongues is the persons spirit praying. . .or singing.  Tongues does not come from the mind.
14:17, Tongues is giving thanks.
14:17, Tongues does not edify another person.
14:18, Understandable words and intelligible words belong in the church service, not tongues.
14:22, Tongues are a sign for unbelievers.
14:26, Tongues with interpretation strengthen the assembled church.

The Difference Between Salvation, Maturity, Rewards and Edification:
Galatians tells us how to be saved. . . . . . . . faith in Christ, not by works.
Hebrews 5,6 tells us how to mature. . . . . . . . receive Bible teaching, not by being a believer for a long time.
1 Corinthians 3 tells us how to receive rewards. . . what the believer does or builds in life, they are not a gift.
1 Corinthians 14 tells us how a believer is edified or built up. . .speaking in tongues.

Faith in Christ saves you.
Knowledge of the word matures you.
Good works rewards you.
Tongues edifies you.

Tongues does not save you, mature you or reward you.
Faith in Christ does not mature you, reward you, or edify you.|
Knowledge does not save you, reward you, or edify you.
Good Works do not save you, mature you, or edify you.

Tongues will pass away when perfection comes.
1 Corinthians 13:10 “when perfection comes” The word perfection is “teleion” and means “end, fulfillment, completeness or maturity.”
People say it means: 1) When the believer dies, 2) When Christ returns, 3) When the church is established, 4) When the Bible is complete.

Philippians 3:12
1 John 3:2,3

perfection comes
See face to face
Then I shall know fully

1 Cor. 13:8
Prophecies . . . They will cease (future passive which means they will be stopped by a force outside themselves)
Tongues. . . . . .They will be stilled (middle voice which means they will stop in and of itself)
Knowledge . . . .They will pass away (future passive)