So people in different cultures did understand Him. It's quite an amazing gift, and I've heard of people going into places, overseas particularly, and having prayed in tongues, and actually someone understood what they were saying. It was their language. They recognised it, and were quite astonished they'd never learnt the language.
So the gift of speaking in tongues with interpretation is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, which comes on you at a certain time. It's for a purpose: to build the church.
It could possibly also be a language of angels, and there are a number of things in scripture that talk about angels being activated. In Psalm 103:19, it says: “the Lord has established His throne in the heaven, His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you angels who excel in strength, who do His word, harkening to the voice of His word”.
So when God's word is spoken on the earth, angels can respond to that voice. I don't think we can command angels. I think that's an area where there's not a lot in the Bible on it, so people have different views; but I do believe that there can be a ministration of speaking in tongues, where angels understand what it is, and can be activated because of it. So speaking in tongues can be a very, very powerful gift of the spirit.
So what is the purpose of speaking in tongues? In 1 Corinthians 14:22 it says: “it's a sign gift to the unbeliever”. So a person who has no understanding of anything spiritual, and you speak in a language, and they understand it, boy, they know that's God! That's definitely a supernatural sign.
I think it can also be for prophetic proclamations - we can begin to speak out in the spirit; and decree and declare things. I think angels are released many times, by the speaking in tongues, and activating that gift. It can cross language barriers; so again, for that gift to come on you, you'd need to desire to operate in that gift, and then practice. I'd practice at home, letting the Holy Ghost come on you, then begin to speak out, and so on.
So we should ask the Holy Spirit to give us the interpretation. In 1 Corinthians 14:27, it says: “if any man speaks in an unknown tongue (they're talking about in a church meeting, or in a group meeting) let it be by two or at the most three, one after the other, and let one interpret. If there's no interpreter, let him keep silence, and let him speak to himself and to God”.
So that's quite an interesting verse; so you notice there He's talking about two different things. He's talking about the gift of tongues, in a group setting, needs to have interpretation for it to build and benefit everyone.
So we can all speak in tongues, and just worship God together; but when there's a sign gift of tongues, like prophecy, there's a gift; when we have that gift, someone needs to interpret it, or it doesn't have any meaning for anyone.
“So if a man speaks in an unknown tongue, let it be by two or three” - so don't have everyone doing this, just one, two or three; and there needs to be an interpretation. If there's no interpreter - then that's the interesting thing - if you've spoke out, you should pray you get the interpretation; and you interpret it - so how about that?
He said: “if there's no interpreter, keep silence, and speak to himself and to God”. So clearly, when you are speaking in your normal language of tongues, you're speaking to yourself, and you're speaking to God - very, very clearly.
So what about the interpretation of tongues? It's a gift that God gives you, it just comes on you. Do you translate what was said? No, you don't translate it. Translating is when you listen, and phrase by phrase, you make sense of it.
This is actually: God gives you the inspiration, you just get the message, and you just share what God has given you - so it's not a translation. It just catches the spirit of what God is saying; and so a person may give a tongues message, but the interpretation's quite short; or the tongues message could be quite short, the interpretation could be a little longer.
It's got nothing to do with translation. It's actually: God is saying something (by the spirit), and here's what it means (by the spirit). Together the two build up the church, and they can activate things in the realm of the spirit.
So it's quite an interesting thing, because when you flow in those gifts, it energises and activates, and creates atmosphere, because God is released through the moving in those gifts. It’s a great gift to desire, and great gift to begin to flow in.