Thursday, September 1 After that I will pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh.​—Joel 2:28.

[Ella Mentry]

Thursday, September 1

After that I will pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh.—Joel 2:28.

 

Peter used slightly different wording when quoting Joel’s prophecy. (Acts 2:16, 17) Instead of beginning the quotation with the words “after that,” Peter said: “And in the last days”—in this context, the last days of the Jewish system of things—God’s spirit would be poured out “on every sort of flesh.” This indicates that considerable time had passed before Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled. It was after that remarkable outpouring of God’s spirit in the first century that the preaching work began to go forward to the greatest extent. By the time the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians, about 61 C.E., he could describe the good news as being preached “in all creation under heaven.” (Col. 1:23) In Paul’s day, “all creation” meant the world as it was then known. With the help of Jehovah’s powerful holy spirit, the preaching work has expanded much more in our day—“to the ends of the earth”!—Acts 13:47. w20.04 6-7 ¶15-16