Pentecost
Pentecost is the great undoing of Babel, not by reversing it but by subverting it.
There is a way in which the enduring form of Pentecost’s gift of tongues is the speaking and singing of God’s word and worship in every language. James Jordan writes:
The meaning of the Gift of Tongues is this: Formerly, only the Hebrew tongue was a fit vehicle for the Word of God; but now all languages will become fit vehicles for the Word of God. The Spirit will transform all languages and cultures, and over the course of time, they will become increasingly fit vehicles for God’s Word and Kingdom. The . . . Gift of Tongues was a sign to the Jews that this had taken place; indeed, as a judgment on the Jews the gospel was not preached in Hebrew at all. Jews from every nation heard the gospel in their own languages, not in Hebrew or Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic.
Reflecting on this, it strikes me that the Reformation was a new and concentrated Pentecost, a time when both word and worship scintillated into many tongues.
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