Where Do Tongues Come From Today?
If, in the Dispensation of Grace, God is no longer giving the supernatural gift of speaking in tongues today, nor no long speaks to us in dreams or gives prophecy or direct revelation today, then what is the explanation for the people who claim to have received the gift of tongues? Or the person who says they have had a dream or a vision, that they had some type of direct revelation from God? Where do those things come from if God is not giving them today?
The dispensation of grace is a time of judgment against national Israel. In times of judgment God withdrew from the nation of Israel the signs and wonders program. In times of judgment God did not give prophecies or dreams or any signs.
Psalms 74:9 KJV (9) We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
Signs belong to the nation of Israel. When God sends a message through signs it is always to the nation of Israel. Sign?s are Israel?s and there have been times of judgment where God did not give the nation of Israel signs, prophecy, or knowledge. Same thing Paul says will cease when the perfect thing comes. Perfect is the revelation of the mystery, which completes the word of God.
In those times of judgment, when God is not giving the signs and prophecies there were men who claimed they were getting a message from God. By seeing where that came from we can understand where it comes from today.
1 Samuel 28:5-6 KJV (5) And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. (6) And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
The LORD answered him not: God rent the kingdom from Saul because he was disobedient. God withdrew the signs program from Saul and did not send him a message by that means.
2 Chronicles 15:1-3 KJV (1) And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: (2) And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. (3) Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
For a long season: temporary, but for a long period of time. They turned from God and God sent his judgment upon them and they did not have a message from God, no direct communication from God.
2 Chronicles 15:4 KJV (4) But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
When they turned back to the LORD, he was found of them.
Lamentations 2:8-9 KJV (8) The LORD hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion: he hath stretched out a line, he hath not withdrawn his hand from destroying: therefore he made the rampart and the wall to lament; they languished together. (9) Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD.
The law is no more; her prophets also find no vision from the LORD: as part of that judgment the law is no more, that is no teaching priest among the people.
No vision: God had withdrawn that program.
Ezekiel 7:25-26 KJV (25) Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. (26) Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
They came to seek a vision of the prophet in the time of destruction. The law shall perish from the priest, that is there will be no revelation from God, no instruction given to the priest. There was a time where God gave no vision to the prophets because of judgment.
Ezekiel 20:1-3 KJV (1) And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me. (2) Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying, (3) Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
Amos 8:9-12 KJV (9) And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: (10) And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. (11) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: (12) And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
That I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: God is withholding signs, visions and prophecy.
They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it: God has withdrawn and is not speaking to the nation of Israel.
Micah 3:4-7 KJV (4)) Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. (5) Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. (6) Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. (7) Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
And it shall be dark unto you: no prophecies will be given; it will be dark, the sun goes down in the prophets. Psalms 74:9 says there shall be no more prophet and they do not know how long. No one knows how long because they are in judgment.
During this time when God does not send a message to them, there were prophets claiming to have a message from God. Where did these prophecies come from?
Jeremiah 29:7-8 KJV (8) And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. (8) For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jeremiah is given a prophecy of the nation being carried away into captivity. At that time there were prophets going around denying the prophecy of Jeremiah. They were going around saying, ?Peace, peace: there will be no captivity.
Neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed: these people had a dream but that dream was not from God; it came from the will and desire of the prophet. These prophets made themselves dream the dreams because they did not want to go into captivity. These dreams came out of the heart and soul of the individual.
Ezekiel 13:2-3 KJV (2) Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; (3) Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
Ezekiel 13:4-10 KJV (4) O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. (5) Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. (6) They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. (7) Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? (8) Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. (9) And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. (10) Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
They have seen vanity and lying divination: they saw something but it was not from God.
They have seduced my people with their lying divinations. They caused the people to turn away from the word of the Lord. They had a genuine experience; they had a dream and saw a vision but it came from themselves. Their desire was so strong to avoid the teaching of the word of God that Nebuchadnezzar was going to come and take them that they had dreams and visions that it was not going to happen, They were lying visions and dreams that came from themselves. This goes to show a person can want something badly enough so as to produce it and convince and deceive themselves that they had a vision and revelation from God but it really came out of their own heart and soul.
Ezekiel 13:16-17 KJV (16) To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD. (17) Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
Ezekiel 22:28 KJV (28) And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
Jeremiah 23:16 KJV (16) Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:26 KJV (26) How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
Jeremiah 23:30-32 KJV (30) Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. (31) Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. (32) Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
That steal my words every one from his neighbour: the same thing is happening today in the tongues movement, people come along and turn people away from the word of God ? they steal God?s words. They cause people to err by their lives.
Jeremiah 23:21 KJV (21) I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
These verses tell you that this stuff came right out of the deceitfulness of their hearts.
The dispensation of grace is a time of judgment against the nation of Israel.
Times of the Gentiles
Luke 21:24 KJV (24) And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Jerusalem being trodden down of the Gentiles began with the captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and will continue until the second coming of Christ. The times of the Gentiles has to do with the political fall of the nation of Israel.
In Deuteronomy it says if they are obedient they would be the head and not the tail but if they were disobedient they would be the tail. God gave political supremacy of the nation of Israel to the Gentiles when Nebuchadnezzar took them into captivity.
The dispensation of grace is the time of the spiritual fall of the nation of Israel. Acts 7, at the stoning of Stephen, is when the spiritual fall of Israel happened. The spiritual supremacy has passed from Israel to the Gentiles. Israel is no longer the channel of blessing to the world.
Romans 11:11-12 KJV (11) I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. (12) Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Romans 11:15 KJV (15) For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Paul is referring to national Israel and God?s dealing with national Israel based upon their covenants and promises. Israel failed and when that happened God brought in the dispensation of the grace of God during which God is not dealing with Israel on the basis of covenants and promises made to them.