Joel 2:28

And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Ver. 28. And it shall come to pass afterwards] sc. In the days of the Messiah, which is called the "world to come," Hebrews 2:5, but especially after his ascension, see Joh 7:37 Acts 2:17,21, where this prophecy was fulfilled, and this place taken for the first text preached on by the apostles, Joel 2:17, to the conversion of three thousand souls at one sermon. For together with the word there went forth a power, even that "spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind," Luk 7:21 2 Timothy 1:7, here promised to be poured out, not distilled only, See Trapp on " Zec 12:10 " and that upon all flesh. Spirit upon flesh, the best thing upon the basest; yea, upon all flesh, without respect of persons or difference made of sex, age, or condition, provided that they know and acknowledge themselves to be but flesh, Genesis 6:3, corrupt and carnal (animas etiam incarnavimus, as St Bernard complaineth), and that whatsoever is of "the flesh is flesh," John 3:6 (for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?) that whole man is in evil, and whole evil in man; neither can it be gotten out in any measure, till the heart be mollified and made tender as flesh, Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26,27, which cannot be done till men be taught of God, and drawn out of darkness into his marvellous light; till they be spiritualized and "transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord," 2 Corinthians 3:18 .

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy] This was fulfilled Acts 2:17,21, as St Peter showeth. For the New Testament is but the Old unfolded and fulfilled, as was also typified in the two cherubims of the sanctuary, looking intently into the propitiatory, Christ, Rom 3:25 but with their faces turned one towards another: Exo 25:20 Acts 26:22. It was fulfilled, I say, in that visible descension of the Holy Ghost upon the apostles and the rest, Acts 2:8; Acts 2:15; Acts 2:17; Acts 10:44. So that this makes nothing at all for the enthusiasts' raptures and dotages. The true offspring they are of those ancient Euchites or Messalanii, who, leaving their trades, gave themselves to much sleep, and called their dreams and phantasies prophecies (Funcc. Chronol., A.D. 371).

Your old men shall dream, &c., your young men shall see visions] i.e. God will no less open his will unto them than he did of old to the propbets by dreams and visions; for by the conduct of the Spirit they shall be led into all truth and holiness they shall be all a royal priesthood, 1Pe 2:5 Revelation 1:6, "full of all goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another," Romans 15:14 .