Acts 2:14-21 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
[Acts 2:17-21 quoting from Joel 2:28-32] “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
“Let this be known to you” is exactly what I look for as I study because I believe the Holy Sprit teaches the timeless truth of all God’s promises given long before Acts 2 and long before today.[a] I want to know what I believe is really mine, firsthand, not truth that someone else learned and I accepted. I write hoping you may find truth here, but if something I write causes you to question, I want you to be compelled to search firsthand too.
Joel prophesied that God said “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. I wondered about that “all flesh” in verse 17/28 enough that I read it in 30+ versions. Here are the words I found following the “all” in them…“flesh, mankind, everyone, people, humanity.” It doesn’t say all believers! What if “all” is exactly what God meant! I saw two promises here. The first was God’s Spirit in all as the promise of opportunity. Please don’t be fooled by the inclusiveness of that “all.” The first promise must lead to the second. The second promise of salvation could only become reality because of the first and there was a requirement. Peter urges us to “give ear” to his quoting of Joel’s prophecy. It’s our firsthand opportunity to wonder and ponder God’s truth because someone else’s truth is not going to save you. Then I wondered about the “afterward.”
Was “afterward” Jesus? Was this prophecy the hint of a savior who would be destroyed, then restored to provide opportunity for all? Did Joel see the last days as the promise of a level playing field created by God’s dedicated choice of His Spirit on all?” The undetermined number of years of Kingdom life in the mysterious last days was going to be a seesaw of many good and bad events that would culminate in the “great and awesome day of the Lord” when the requirement would be fulfilled “it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
“When Joel looked into the future, God didn’t tell him how many years would separate the different parts of the last days that he was describing. He saw the last days as all one piece. Some of what he saw was nearer to the beginning of the last days, and some was nearer to the end of the last days.”[b]
[a] John 16:12-13 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
[b] John Piper
Read and Ponder - Faith in Daily Life 