I Corinthians 14:19,20

"Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice (And that's not a very nice word) be ye children, but in understanding (grow up and) be men." Do you see how plain all of this is? Now verse 21:


I Corinthians 14:21

"In the law it is written, `With men of other tongues (Languages) and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.'"


Here Paul is quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, and we're going to go back and look at it in Chapter 28: And naturally this is directed to the Children of Israel.


Deuteronomy 28:49

"The LORD shall bring a nation (of foreign people) against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand:"


Now here the tongue refers to their language. Whether it was the Babylonians that He was referring to or some other nation, there would come a time in Israel's history that a foreign nation would over-run them, invade them, and the Jews would have to listen to them talking in their language as they were being occupied. Do you see that? Now it wasn't an unknown tongue, but it was a language that the Jews wouldn't be able to understand. It was a warning, "Listen, you're going to have people in your midst that you're not going to like to have around, you're not going to be able to understand what they say, they're going to be foreigners." And so this is exactly what Paul is referring to now in I Corinthians when he says in verse 21 again:


I Corinthians 14:21,22

"In the law it is written, `With men of other tongues (or other languages) and other lips will I speak unto this people; (by occupying them) and yet for all that will they not hear me,' saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues (This ability to speak in languages) are for a sign,..."


To the Jew, and we find that in I Corinthians Chapter 1, and verse 22, and again, all we're going by is what the Book says.


I Corinthians 1:22

"For the Jews require a sign,..."


Now stop and think, how long has Israel been demanding signs? Well, it goes all the way back to when Moses was first called out of the desert, and even Moses the Jew did not believe that he was supposed to do what God wanted him to do. And so how did God prove it to him? He said, "Throw your shepherd rod on the ground." And you all know the account, and what happened? It became a serpent. Then the Lord said, "Pick it up," and it became a shepherd's rod again. What was God trying to show Moses? That He is in it. He is going to take him back to Pharaoh. And then Moses said, "Yeah, but when I get to Pharaoh he's not going to believe that I'm supposed to lead the children of Israel out." And what does God tell Moses and Aaron? The same thing: "You throw your rod down and it will become a serpent," and all these signs were not so much for Pharaoh's benefit, but rather for Moses' and Aaron's. To prove to those two men that God was going to do the supernatural. He's going to bring Israel out of Egypt. So all the way up through Israel's history you have the supernatural, and you come into Christ's earthly ministry, and I've taught it and I've taught it until I'm blue in the face. Why did Jesus perform miracle, after miracle? To prove to the Jew that He was Who He said He was. It was signs. And remember when we taught the Book of John there were seven miraculous signs, and every one of them had a whole train-load of truths for the Nation of Israel. They didn't mean that much to the Gentiles, but they meant everything to the Jew. And now Paul comes in even as he writes to a Gentile congregation and says:


I Corinthians 1:22,23a

"For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; (Now look at the flip side in verse 23) But we preach Christ crucified,..."