Tarry Until

Pentecostal Baptism

by William Caldwell

(book I found downstairs owned by my parents)

Tarry Until

To tarry or not to tarry, that is the question in the minds of many who are concerned about the Pentecostal Baptism.

Jesus commanded His followers, "Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high" (Luke 24:49), and "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4).

The word "tarry" presents no difficulty if one considers the Greek word which is thus translated. It is kathizo, meaning to sit down. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon lists forty-eight instances where this word is used in the New Testament.

In all other instances except one it is translated sit, set, sat, ect. In the other occasion, Acts 18:11, it is translated "continued," but the marginal reading in some Bibles gives "sat," as does the Rotherham Translation.

Likewise, "wait" is from permeno, meaning to remain around. But neither kathizo nor permeno mean to prolong, delay, cleanse, purify, prepare, consecrate or sanctify. Rather, they imply that one must exercise determination or concentration upon a duty to be performed.

So Jesus actually told His disciples to sit down and remain in Jerusalem until they received the promised Holy Spirit. This does not necessarily refer to their posture. Rather, they were being directed not to busy themselves with other things.

The important duty was that they direct their attention toward receiving the Holy Spirit. They had nothing in the whole world more important to do, and this they were obediently doing. Indeed, when the Day of Pentecost came, there were sitting down (Acts 2:2), still in Jerusalem.

Since the Day of Pentecost, prolonged waiting for the Pentecostal Baptism is both unnecessary and unscriptural. The Day has fully come, hence there is no need to "tarry in the city of Jerusalem." Neither is there any need for Christ to remind us we "should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father."

After the Day of Pentecost no one waited, except in ignorance. As soon as they knew of the Holy Spirit they received Him, speaking in tongues as they did so.

In the Scriptures there is nothing to endorse a typical "tarrying meeting," where a number come to tarry and generally go away un-baptized, to return and try again. There is no record where some received and others did not. There were no such failures in the Bible. Every believer received.

There is no suggestion, either, of waiting until they were "good enough." How absurd is the position that one can be saved and ready for heaven if he should die, and yet be unfit to receive the Holy Spirit. If one is ready for the end, he is certainly ready for the means to that end. Who can deny that the Holy Spirit is a means to that end, when he must minister to us from our conviction to our translation.

The 120 received "suddenly," not as the attainment of a spiritual or emotional climax. If there is a level of spirituality one must attain, then the justice of God would demand that all arrive at exactly the same level to receive. But were the 120 of equal spirituality? Were the Samaritans? Were they of Cornelius' household? Why didn't someone tell those poor Caesareans about tarrying?

In waiting till they feel "good enough," people mistake sentiment for spirituality. Feeling holy is like feeling humble. Holiness and humility are usually "felt" only after they have been lost.

Building a Christian character is the work of s lifetime. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the result of a moment of faith. Christ baptizes us on the moment we believe, "Every one that asketh receiveth" (Luke 11:10).

According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the word "tarry" is derived from a medieval English word meaning "to irritate or hinder." The complete modern usage is as follows: "(1) to delay or be tardy; linger; (2) to abide at or in a place; stay; specifically, to rest in anticipation; to wait."

In hardly any way could the word be applied in a complimentary sense to the typical "tarrying meeting." Prolonged tarrying makes a virtue of unbelief. Unbelief kept the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years, when they might have marched right up to Canaan in a matter of several weeks.

When people are taught to wait, they expect to wait. But if there were merit in prolonged waiting, then the longer one waited the quicker he would receive - an impossible situation.

If tarrying alone is sufficient, then everyone who has ever tarried would have received. But many thousands have tarried without receiving; they have gone away again and again, unfilled and discouraged.

Among those who have received the Holy Spirit in our revivals are some who had begun tarrying fifty or more ears before. How much more fruitful might those lives have been had they been led into a life of Pentecostal power a half a century sooner.

The chief lesson usually learned by prolonged, legalistic, unbelieving tarrying is that we need not to have thus delayed our receiving. So many have remarked, upon receiving after tarrying a long period, "If I had only known it was this easy, I would have received the first time I asked."

And this is something we often see in our evangelistic crusades, new converts immediately receiving their Baptism. These sometimes speak so fluently that we have interrupted them to make sure they were not speaking in a foreign language with which they were already familiar. It seems incredible that anyone should suppose these might have done better had they been driven away from the "burning bush" for a period of probation.

However, if one does not receive the first time he asks, he dare not throw the whole doctrine overboard and forget about it. The Baptism is still his responsibility. He must then "tarry until" in the proper sense. That is, sit down and give primary attention to receiving the Spirit. Go about it earnestly, diligently, fervently. Do not allow your interest or efforts to be diverted elsewhere.

In the event of seeming failure, do not be discouraged. Do not condemn yourself. "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Build up your faith by feeding on "faith food," that is, Bible truths.

This does not mean a delay, but rather a hastening of that moment when you exchange your doubts for faith and permit the Holy Ghost to fall upon you in Pentecostal power.