By Heny Albert Erdmann

Chapter 1

WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT

Luke 24:49

49. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Acts 1:4

4. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Acts 2:1-4

1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.

In considering the vital subject, "Office Work of the Holy Spirit," it is profitable that we introduce it by placing emphasis on the thought of "tarrying for the Spirit."

One must first receive the Spirit before He can do His office work for him. The door of one's heart and life must be opened wide and the Spirit invited to come in. The Holy Spirit will not enter the heart where He is not invited -- His presence and blessing must be sought after.

It is very important that one not Only seek for, but also tarry for the Holy Spirit to come in and take supreme control of his life. The apostles were given the great commission to go and disciple all nations. But shortly after, Jesus told them to table that command -- to postpone that commission. They were first to "tarry" for the Holy Spirit until He came into their lives and took control. Jesus knew that if they undertook the task of disseminating the Gospel without the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit, they would fail. The old nature would manifest itself too frequently and spoil their efforts. So, in this day, it is supremely necessary that, everywhere, God's people who are lacking "power from on high," tarry for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Then they should tarry often for special enduements of grace and strength for the burdens and responsibilities of life.

Let me stress the two aspects of the command, "Tarry." First: One should tarry before God, earnestly beseeching Him for the fiery cleansing and filling baptism with the Holy Spirit, as he consecrates his all for time and eternity. Second: One should tarry often to pray earnestly for special anointings that keep the fire burning brightly and fervently. Every fire, spiritual as well as material, must have frequent additions of fuel to maintain constant warmth as well as to increase it.

Our Scripture passages all suggest a single and very definite thought: that of waiting on God for the filling of the Holy Spirit. The law of time is an important factor both in nature and in grace. There are some operations which are instantaneous, but there are many that require time.

The principle of vegetation is gradual. We see first only the blade. Later the ear appears, and still later the full corn in the ear.

God's work of creation was not instantaneous. The promise of the coming Redeemer was four thousand years in its fulfillment. A period of preparation was necessary before He could come -- not a preparation on His part, but on the world's part.

Abraham waited for the fulfillment of the promise for a son. Moses waited forty years before he could go forth to the great work of his life. Jesus waited thirty years to begin His public ministry.

In all these instances a time of waiting, or tarrying, was necessary in order that conditions might be ripe, and the environment right, for the accomplishment of God's plan.

The promises of God are for those who wait for them.

Although, in some respects, those things relating to the spiritual life, in which the time element is a factor, are instantaneous in their workings, in other respects they are progressive. There is a moment when one definitely receives the Holy Spirit in His cleansing power and soul-filling presence. But there is a preparation for His coming and a waiting for His fullness on our part, just as much as there was for Moses or Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will not, or cannot, come until one has fully met conditions -- has gotten self and all other hindrances out of the way. This requires considerable time for some, though less time for others.

Doubtless there is a sense in which the disciples waited for the baptism of the Holy Ghost which is not necessary today, for the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent from heaven. But He is now here on earth and resident in the church of Jesus Christ.

However, had He been already in the world, the very same command they received -"Tarry" -- would have been given to them. A preparation on their part was necessary.

This season of waiting was designed to mark a great transition in the lives of the disciples.

God still wants His people to have seasons of waiting and times of refreshing even after they have received the Holy Spirit in sanctifying grace and power. These seasons lead them to new planes and advances.

In music, the emphatic pause is most effective. The word selah in the Psalms expresses this pause; and in order for one to feel the effect of such a pause, it must be preceded by a decided silence. Then the chorus which follows has double emphasis.

And so the Holy Spirit has given us our "selahs" in the chorus of our spiritual life; they are emphatic pauses when God wants us to be still and listen to Him, to break away from old things and reach out into the larger fullness of His thought and will.

The time of the disciples' waiting on God was also necessary to teach them one of the greatest lessons of the Christian life -- to cease from themselves. The greatest danger threatening these men did not lie in what they might fail to do, but in what they might try to do. The greatest harm that one can do is to attempt to do anything at all when one does not understand the Master's will. So He desires to keep us from doing anything until we are prepared to go forth in His strength, guided by the Holy Spirit.

The deepest experience into which the disciples had to enter was crucifixion of self. Crucifixion is the death not only of the evil self, but also of the strong and self-sufficient self.

Peter, up to Pentecost, had not yet learned to keep still; for right in the days of waiting, without any divine direction, he again rushed to the front to propose the election of a new apostle.

There are times when the most masterly thing one can do is to do nothing. And there are times when the most mischievous thing one can do is to do something. Oh, how much mischief we often do by doing our own work instead of being still before God!

It took God a long time to teach Abraham to be still. For a lengthy period Abraham tried to help God fulfill His own promise. He first took Sarah into his council, and he then took Hagar into partnership. Ishmael was the result. From Ishmael came nothing but hindrance and sorrow. Finally, after a quarter of a century, God fulfilled His own promise in His own way.

It took forty years of waiting in the desert for Moses, before his young-mannishness had died, and then when Moses was small enough and still enough for God to use, he was sent forth. God cannot use us until we come to the end of ourselves, and put on His strength.

The days of waiting were necessary for the disciples in order that they realize their need, their nothingness, their failure -- in fact, their entire dependence upon the Master. They had to get emptied first before they could be filled.

God wants us to go apart from others and quietly wait upon Him until He searches into the depths of our being and shows us ourselves -- our failures and our need of Him.

It takes time for us to make this work of heart-searching thorough. It takes time for God to burn the recognition of our need into our consciousness. It takes time to make us feel it. It is one thing to know our need in a general way; but it is another thing to realize it, to be distressed about it.

In the Beatitudes the first promise is to those who are poor in spirit. But there is another step to take, still deeper: "Blessed are they that mourn." There are some spiritual conditions that cannot be accomplished in a moment. Breaking up of fallow ground takes time.

Days of waiting are important also that we may listen to God's voice. We may become so busy at times that we cannot hear it. At other times we may talk so much that we give Him no chance. He desires that we wait before Him to hear His message. If He does not speak as soon as we had hoped He would, we know His message, when it comes, will be worth all our waiting.

Only a few times did God speak to Abraham. Only a few times did He speak to Paul. But the echoes of His messages have sounded down through the years -- they will live forever.

God wants us to wait upon Him, not only that we may realize our need, but also His fullness, and His will for us. He wants to open to us the treasures of His grace. He wants to lift up our eyes northward and southward and eastward and westward and then say to us, "All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it." He wants to open to us the vision of the King in His beauty and the land of far distances. He wants to reveal to us yet unexplored regions of glorious advances in the life of faith.

It is sweet to wait upon the Lord. It is a delight to survey the mountain peaks of His glorious grace, and to look out on the boundless vastness of His power. And what a joy it is to hear Him say, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."