The Holy Spirit Speaks in Rational Speech, not Gibberish
Published on Facebook, February 21, 2011
By Bud Powell
Growing up
Ye
know that ye were Gentiles, carried away [seized, or arrested] unto these
dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no
man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can
say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. --ICor 12:2,3
The
true work of the Holy Spirit does not consist in anything resembling the
irrational seizures experienced by those who worship vain idols, those that
have no words but irrational gibberish. These spirits mutter and peep:
Isaiah
8:19-20: And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar
spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek
unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them."
Negatively,
no man speaking by the Holy Spirit can say nothing that derogates from the
Person and words of Jesus Christ and His apostles. Positively, a man
speaking by the Holy Spirit will confess the Jesus is Lord. Both will be
rational, understandable and make sense.
There
is no confession that a man can make that is greater than to say that Jesus is
the Lord. This is so contrary to the natural man that it is beyond
his ability to do so. He may utter the sounds like a parrot or a digital
recorder, but he cannot say it in truth without the work of the Spirit in his
soul. He can even be forced to utter the words as all men will in the
last day [Phil. 2:11]. In the text quoted above, 1Cor. 12:2,3, the
confession that Jesus is Lord is set over against the irrational seizures and
ecstasy experienced by those who did not have the understandable word of God,
but worshiped nonspeaking "gods." Even devils can be
forced to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, but they are not happy about
it. A joyful, happy, and heartfelt submission to Christ is the work
of the Holy Spirit, and His highest work. When the tongue is used this
way, it is the glory of a man, and he will be justified by his speech, Jesus
said.
God
will sometimes speak to people in language they do not understand, but it is
not a happy occasion for them. After many years of sending prophets who
spoke to Israel in their own language, whose messages the men and rulers of
Israel ignored and mocked, even putting some of them to day, God said,
"Ok, I will speak to you by those whose language you cannot understand,
and you will not be happy about it." The soldiers of Babylon spoke
what seemed like gibberish to Judah, and they didn't like the message.
When the message was delivered, the bodies of the finest of the Israelites lay
in the streets of Jerusalem, the temple was destroyed, the walls were
demolished, the virgins were raped, multitudes carried into Babylon, and the
city was left desolate.
As
Paul would write, when God speaks in a language you cannot understand it is because
you have not believed the message that you could have and should have
understood. Why go seeking for gibberish when you already have the holy
writing which is "given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That
the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good
works"? Why would you feed on ashes when the feast of the Lord is
spread before you?
Growing up
