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NASB | Joel 2:28 ¶ "It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Joel 2:28 ¶ "It shall come about after this That I shall pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. |
Bible Question:
Why did God wait so long to send the Holy Spirit? I have been thinking lately about why God waited so long to send the Holy Spirit. Some people believe the Earth to be millions of years old. And even if you believe in a young Earth like myself, the world is at least 6000 years old. Yet God has only sent the Holy Spirit to be in people's lives for the last 2000 years. Before that, there were probably less than 50 people (ie. Old Testament prophets and judges) out of millions of people around to world who had that privilege. Since we know that God wanted to give the Holy Spirit to people. And we know that He could have done it at any time. Why did He wait so long? |
Bible Answer: Hi Sir Pent, Joel talks about the Spirit being poured out. You are talking about the Holy Spirit being given and sent. I have always talked about the Giver and the gift. So I would say that "we know that God wanted to give the holy spirit to people." As far as "send" is concerned we know that God sent His only begotten Son. We know that another Helper, the Holy Spirit was sent after Jesus went to the Father. 1) When you spoke of the Holy Spirit to be in people's lives for probably less than 50 people, I believe that you were thinking about how the Holy Spirit came UPON certain people for a particular service. This is different from indwelling or filling. 2) The holy spirit that I see God wanting to give to people and that He has always given to people, is His words. "Thus says the Lord" and "The Lord spoke..." is all the way through the Old Testament . 3) The "pouring out" of the *spirit in Joel to my mind is the lower case spirit. I can visualize and hear words pouring out of a person's mouth, for instance, a lot easier than visualizing a Person being poured out. Zechariah 12:10 has a marginal note in the NASB for an alternate reading of [Or, a spirit] in place of "the Spirit of grace and of supplication". That lower case spirit is my choice. Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me/ whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a first-born." John 19:36, "For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "Nor a bone of Him shall be broken." 37 And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him/ whom they pierced." Acts 2:14, "But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: "Men of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give heed to my words. 15 "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of throught the prophet Joel: 17 'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour forth of My *spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; 18 Even upon My/ bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My *spirit And they shall prophecy." That is how I see it. From the heart, Ray |