Isaiah 28 And The Babbling Assyrians – Fighting for Real Estate – Part #31

“What Do Tongues Have to Do with Fighting for Real Estate?” (Isaiah 28:11)

By Richard Allen – April 13, 2026

As mentioned in a previous Blog, Paul the Apostle, does a ‘deep dive’ into the problems at the Church of Corinth – and uses his Apostolic authority to explain what is going on with ‘manifestations of the Spirit’ in that age. Let me state from the start, I am not deliberately sidestepping into the ‘errors of Pentecostalism’ as I interact with multiple passages that relate to ‘Spiritual Gifts,’ such as 1 Corinthians Chapters 12-14 and Ephesians Chapter 4:11-16. However, my subject matter is closely linked with many quaint theories about the ‘end-times.’ This is because of the unique role that the Apostles of our Lord playe, in ‘closing out the Old Testament,’ which was a Covenant written on ‘Tables of Stone’ and ‘Inauguration of the New Testament, a Covenant of the Spirit.’ While it’s not currently part of the Church’s understanding or dialogue – the Apostles of Jesus were ‘Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ!’ The roles they played as “Executors” is critical to understanding the ‘Transition from Stones to Spirit,’ or ‘A Covenant of Law’ to the ‘Covenant of Grace!’ Here’s how Paul explains his role as an Apostle of the New Covenant:

“He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).

The Greek word we translate as “minister” is the same word we would translate as “executor” regarding a Last Will and Testament. Having played the role as an ‘Executor’ when my father died 48 years ago, let me point out that an Executor has three primary functions:  1.) Reading the Will of the Testator – that is, the person who has died – making their wishes known regarding their estate. 2.) To bring all the legitimate heirs into their inheritance, and 3.) To cut off all false claims against the estate. I’ve written more extensively in a Book yet to be published:  “Apostles: Executors of the Last Will and Testament of Jesus Christ.” What’s important for this Blog is to understand that the Number 1 and Number 2 functions above were accomplished as the Will of Jesus Christ was read by the Apostle Peter on the “Day of Pentecost.” And then throughout the Book of Acts, God brought specific people groups, that is all legitimate heirs (the elect) into their “Inheritance.” And this inheritance wasn’t another attempt to “write God’s Laws on Tables of Stone,” but God writing His Law on the “fleshy tables of the heart” – being united to Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith!

This Blog will focus on Number 3, the third function of an Executor: Cut off all false claims against the estate. This function was already happening on the Day of Pentecost as “Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, spoke in tongues, that is actual languages that were understood by multitudes of the Jewish dispersion, who had come back to Jerusalem for Pentecost. So important was this that Peter warned his hearers: “Save yourselves from this crooked generation” Acts 2:40). This wasn’t the first time that other languages, that is, ‘tongues’ were used in the presence of the Jewish people. In some ways Peter, like Joshua many years before him, was giving the Israelites a choice, setting before them both “life and death.” For those ‘learned unbelievers’ among the Jewish population on Pentecost, they should have recognized immediately what this event was saying to them. Just so they didn’t miss the point, Peter began quoting the Prophet Joel and tying in the phenomenon of “speaking in tongues” as fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.  Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:28-32).

Peter’s quote from the Book of Joel in Acts: “This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel” –  confirms the manifestation of the Gift of Tongues as its fulfillment. With the dawning of the Age of the Spirit, God’s dealings with man forever changed. But it wasn’t just Peter understanding the significance of Apostolic sign gifts displayed, it was the very inhabitants of Jerusalem who should have acknowledged that what they were seeing, was a fulfillment of both the Prophet Joel, and another Old Testament Prophet, that of Isaiah chapter 28!  Here’s what the online website, “The Bible Outlined” says of the context of Isaiah 28:

“The book of Isaiah was written during a tumultuous time in Israel’s history, which was marked by political unrest, spiritual decline, and societal challenges. Isaiah served as a prophet to both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. At the time this passage was written, the people of Ephraim (the northern kingdom) were becoming increasingly corrupt and indulgent, abandoning their faith and worshiping foreign gods. This abandonment exhibited a refusal to listen to God’s messages through the prophets. Isaiah, as God’s emissary, pointed out their wrongdoings, especially regarding their pride and self-sufficiency.” [https://bibleoutlined.com/isaiah-28/]

As bad as that sounds, Isaiah would continue to prophesy “coming judgment upon Israel.” 

“The disrespect shown to Isaiah and the Word of God was met with God’s pronouncement of judgment. In Isaiah 28:11-13, God calls out Israel’s drunken prophets and priests for mocking Isaiah and rejecting His Word. First, God says, ‘Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people’ (verse 11). In other words, since they claimed that Isaiah’s preaching was nothing more than babble, God would ensure their future lessons were delivered in a foreign tongue—specifically, the Assyrian tongue, as the Assyrians would soon conquer Israel and take them into captivity.”                                       [https://www.bibliatodo.com/En/christian-reflections/how-was-the-word-of-the-lord-given-precept-upon-precept-to-the-people-isaiah-2813/]

At this point you’re probably wondering what this obscure passage in Isaiah has to do with “Fighting for Real Estate?” The answer should be quite clear. Paul is quoting a prophecy regarding Israel’s rebellion during the days of the Kings of Ephraim and Jerusalem. Isaiah’s rebuke was quite pointed, telling the Jews of that day that their sin and rebellion was a witness against their “hardness of heart,” and despite their ‘mocking the speaking of the prophets’ – God actually mocks them back using the ‘babbling armies of Assyria.’ Isaiah lets these Jews know that when you hear these stammering tongues and languages that you don’t understand – YOU’LL KNOW THAT GOD’S JUDGMENT IS READY TO FALL!  Here’s how Isaiah recorded this rebuke and prophecy by God to rebellious Israel 500 years prior to the time of Christ:

“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he reexplain the message?  Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast.  ‘For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.’ For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, to whom he has said, ‘This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose;’ yet they would not hear. And the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” (Isaiah 28:9-13).

Although this passage was fulfilled in the days of Isaiah, in quoting it to the Church at Corinth, Paul makes it clear that this prophecy was being fulfilled again in their day  – explaining the meaning and significance of the “Gift of Tongues” as used throughout the Book of Acts, as well as at the Church of Corinth!  This alone should tell us volumes about what the Holy Spirit intended Tongues to accomplish during the “Transitional” period between the Old and New Covenants. Even more interesting are the very next verses in Isaiah 28: 

“Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, who rule this people in Jerusalem! Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement, when the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter;’ therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation, whoever believes will not be in haste’ ” (Isaiah 28:14-16).

Both the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul quote Isaiah 28:16 in the New Testament – referring to the work of Christ! As pointed out in a previous blog, the Corinthian Church was actively involved with ‘outreach’ to ‘unbelieving Jews’ in the City of Corinth. The Church in Corinth most likely met in the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. And to make things really interesting, his house was next door to the synagogue – where a man named  Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, had been brought to ‘faith in Jesus Christ’ through Paul’s preaching. The Church had ample opportunity to witness to Jews – many who did not ‘believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah!’ In fact, many of them were waiting for Israel to be redeemed and brought into a glorious kingdom of ‘worldwide Judaism’ with the Messiah defeating Rome, and once again ‘giving the kingdom of God to Israel.’ As we know from both History and Scripture – THAT WAS NOT TO BE!  Unbelieving Israel was to be judged and removed from the land, ‘not one stone to be left upon another’ of the glorious Temple that King Herod had built. This message was not popular with most Jews in Paul’s day. They longed for a ‘carnal kingdom’ of Temples, Priesthood, Sacrifices and Law! So, God used the same “sign” he had many years before – the stammering languages of foreign invaders to warn them of His  ‘Coming Judgment!’

“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, ‘By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me,’ says the Lord. Thus, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Corinthians 14:20-25).

This passage should make us all do a ‘double take!’ In verse 22 Paul plainly says that “Tongues are a sign to Unbelievers,” but in verse 23, the very next verse, Paul says “if outsiders and unbelievers enter and hear the Church speaking in ‘Tongues,’ they’ll think you are all mad!”  We’ll explore this a bit more in my next Blog, but the easy answer is: Ignorant Gentile Unbelievers who didn’t know about Isaiah’s Prophecy, would think that the Church was ‘mad.’ But ‘learned Jewish Unbelievers’ would certainly grasp the significance of Isaiah’s prophecy, and would make the connection to Isaiah 28, knowing that this was a prophetic utterance – a warning of Israel’s coming judgment and dispersion!  There was ‘no promise of Real Estate’ or a ‘carnal kingdom.’  We are now all in the ‘Age of the Spirit!’

Soli Deo Gloria!