The gift of tongues was given for a purpose; At Pentecost the urgency & emergency of the occasion was the reason. The feast of Pentecost had drawn many together & at that point were about to return to their homes. With the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Christ now in the past, the foundation fact of the gospel was now complete & if the immense crowds were to be evangelised it was now. Without the gift of tongues the witness could not have reached all the people who were there and were of different nations. So God in his sovereign will bestowed the gift of tongues to enable the apostles to reach every man before they could leave for their home. So the gift was meant to arrest the attention of all and deliver the good tidings of the gospel. Ngokuhamba kwesikhathi u-Elizabethi waba lomntwana njengoba ingilosi yayitshilo. Izihlobo labangane bakhe beza ukuzobona umntwana. Babethabile sibili. U-Elizabethi wathi: ‘Ibizo lakhe nguJohane.’ Bona bathi: ‘Kodwa emulini yenu akulamuntu olebizo elinjalo. Kungcono umnike ibizo likayise elithi Zekhariya.’ Kodwa uZekhariya wabhala phansi wathi: ‘Ibizo lakhe nguJohane.’ UZekhariya wahle waqalisa ukukhuluma. Abantu abanengi bezwa ngokuzalwa kukaJohane njalo babezibuza besithi: ‘Umntwana lo uzakuba yini angakhula?’