I don't like you putting it as "what Peter meant to say". He said exactly what he meant to say because it was what the Holy Spirit inspired him to say. You putting it that way gives the impression that he didn't word things the way he meant to or the way he should have.
I'm not suggesting that Peter didn't word things the way he meant or the way he should have. I am saying that Peter's words can be taken more than one way: 1) the way he meant them to be taken, 2) the way his listeners might inadvertently take his meaning.
Communicating ideas through language is challenging. The process is simple enough, we place words into sentences, and we place sentences into paragraphs. The goal is to remove all ambiguity and to focus the range of possible meanings down to one meaning. Words by themselves have a semantic range of meaning. The sentence narrows down the semantic range to only a few possible meanings. A paragraph attempts to narrow down the semantic range to a single meaning.
I'm sure you have heard warnings about taking verses out of context. (Not saying that you do this.) The warning seeks to alert the Bible student to the inherent ambiguity in a single sentence. Outside of the paragraph, the verse can have more than one possible meaning. Those who focus on a single phrase or a single verse, inadvertently misconstrue the author's original intent.
What Peter said is "this is that", but these are just three words out of an entire paragraph. Three words are ambiguous since they contain a wide semantic range. We will inadvertently misconstrue Peter's meaning if we don't take the context into account. For this reason I say, "what Peter meant to say." What I mean is "the idea that Peter intended to convey with his words, after we have considered the immediate context and what Joel meant to say in context."
I just found out from another of your posts that you actually agree that the beginning of the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32 was occurring on the day of Pentecost, which you did not indicate before. So, what exactly is your understanding of Joel 2:28-32, keeping in mind that it began to be fulfilled long ago on the day of Pentecost already?
The context of Joel is a gathering together of "those who fear the Lord" at Jerusalem in order to pray for the deliverance of Israel from her enemies. At that time, when Jewish "God-fearers" gather in Jerusalem, God will pour out his spirit on all of them. Pentecost is very similar to what Joel predicted since the people gathered together in Jerusalem during a time when God poured out his spirit on the disciples. Similar but not the same thing.
During Peter's time, the people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of Pentecost just as Moses commanded. However, during the time Joel predicts, the people will gather together for a more practical and significant reason. During that time, God will bring famine and fires on Israel and during that time, her enemies will attempt to take advantage of her weakness. Aware of the impending danger, the "God-fearers" among those living in Israel will hear the call and make the trip to Jerusalem to pray for the deliverance of Israel from her enemies. What Peter experienced and what Joel predicted are very different. The only correspondence between the two is the gathering at Jerusalem and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
I know you have emphasized the reference to "all flesh" before. What do you think it means when it talks about His Spirit being poured out on all flesh?
All Jewish flesh who have been gathered at Jerusalem to pray for deliverance.
You agree that His Spirit is poured out on all believers as time goes on, don't you?
Yes. I believe this aspect of Joel's prophecy began at Pentecost. This is why Peter encourages his people to repent and accept Jesus to be the Christ.
If you read Acts 2:21 (which quotes Joel 2:32) it talks about all of those who call on the Lord being saved. So, is the prophecy not about all who call on the name of the Lord being saved and receiving the Holy Spirit during this New Testament time period? I don't see any reason to read any more into it than that.
Peter is speaking into a situation that looks very similar to what Joel predicted, and from his perspective, maybe the Day of the Lord was about to begin. But as we learned later, the Day of the Lord didn't begin then.
When Joel speaks about calling on the name of the Lord, he is painting a very different picture than the one Peter experienced. During Peter's time, there wasn't fire, smoke, famine, or celestial events. Israel wasn't experiencing famine or an army of fires. The priesthood wasn't mourning over the fact that they couldn't find as much as a bowl of wine for a libation.
During the time that Joel predicted, a time in our future, the call will go out to all the land for the people to assemble in Jerusalem. In other words, during that time these folks will literally "call" on the name of the Lord. And due to the fact that these came to Jerusalem they will not be burned up in the fires. Traveling to Jerusalem will save their life. Joel refers to them as "survivors."
Joel 2:32
“And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the Lord has said, Even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
Those who come to Jerusalem to call upon the name of the Lord will survive the fires and these folks will not only experience spiritual salvation, they will also experience physical salvation.