A Pure Language

God will give mankind a pure language in the millennium. "For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord" (Zephaniah 3:9).

Why will it be necessary for humanity to be given a pure language? What is wrong with the languages we have today?

For one thing, the world today is divided by a multitude of languages. It was not that way in the beginning. At one time, the whole world was of one language.

"Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.' But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, 'Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth" (Genesis 11:1-9).

God confused the language of man at that time to divide mankind. This was for the purpose of limiting what man would do. Mankind, under Satan's influence, has always been headed in the wrong direction since the sin of Adam. God did not change mankind's direction, but He slowed the human race down by putting the breaks on what mankind could accomplish. By confusing the language of man, He caused human society to be divided, no longer able to act as one unified world.

But when Christ is ruling the earth, that division will no longer be necessary. Christ will lead mankind in the right direction, so He will no longer need to have the world divided by a multitude of languages to limit and slow down the pace of what man does.

The world will be a simpler place when all people speak the same language.

But also, the language God will give mankind will be pure in a way that no language today is pure.

Today, probably all commonly spoken human languages are corrupt because our languages reflect the corruption of our carnal thinking.

Languages change over time. We invent new words and lose some old ones through disuse. Words change in meaning as we use them in new ways. Common usage gives words their meaning, and language changes as our use of language changes.

And languages reflect the thinking, biases, values, and culture of the people who use them.

Since mankind is corrupt in his thinking, his languages are corrupt also.

Take for example the word, "normal". What does it mean? Does it mean, "right and good", "satisfactory", "ok"? Or does it mean, "average"? Depending on the context, it can mean either one. It can mean "right" or it can mean "average" because people can use it either way when they speak.

Sometimes a person will use the word to mean, "right", "good", "satisfactory" when he says, "that is normal". But sometimes a person will use the word to mean, "average". He will say, "that is normal" to mean, that is average, typical, the way things usually are.

But a problem is that these two meanings can be blurred in our minds, and the word can be used, intentionally or not, to blur the distinction between "average", and "right" or "ok". The problem is, what is average or typical is NOT right and ok. But the idea, that average is ok, is built into the word "normal" because of the way people use the word.

And that happens because of the way most people think. Most people think of society as the arbitrator of, the authority that defines, right and wrong, good and bad. In the minds of most people, "bad" is what the majority of society says is bad, and "good" is what the majority says is good. Society becomes the ultimate authority of morality for these people.

And who leads society? Satan.

Thus, a word like "normal" can mean both "average" and "ok" or "good".

Most people define "ok" or "good" according to the behavior and thinking of the majority of society. "Everybody does it", someone will say to justify some behavior. They think if everyone does it (whatever "it" is), it must be ok.

Of course, it really isn't everyone who does it - just the majority.

Then, with just that one word, "normal", a person can use the very meaning of our language to justify wrong behavior.

For example, in a supermarket you might see a mother telling her child to do something, or stop doing something, and the child is disobeying. Or maybe the child is throwing a temper tantrum in the store because the mother won't buy the child what the child wants, and the mother let's the child get away with it. Discuss the situation with some people outside the Church, and they might say of the child's (and mother's) behavior, "that is normal". But what does that mean?

Does the person mean, "that is average or typical of a mother and her child"? In that case, yes, it may be "normal" in the sense that it may be typical of the majority in our society today. Or does the person mean, "that is ok, nothing wrong with it"? In that case, no, it is not "normal" in the sense that it is ok.

What the person really means is, "that's the way kids are, so it is ok". But it is not ok. Properly trained and disciplined in a godly family, children will be obedient. But in our society, that truly is the way most kids are to one degree or another.

There is a false concept, that moral values are only relative to what the majority of society accepts, that is built-in to the world "normal" because of the way "normal" is commonly used in this world's discussions and conversations.

So wrong concepts, wrong ideas, wrong standards, values, and beliefs are built in to our very languages, whether we are aware of that or not. And our languages influence our thinking just as our thinking influences our languages.

That is why God will have to replace man's languages by giving us one pure language, as He cleans up mankind's thinking, beliefs, and behavior.