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The topic of the coming "Blood Moon Tetrads" is gaining much interest in prophetic circles. As with many current and coming events, great caution is necessary in ascertaining their REAL significance as opposed to their POSSIBLE significance. Here are two articles on the "Blood Red Moons of 2014 and 2015" if you are interested. ....Keygar |
Pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries in Puyallup, Washington has been sharing with us some remarkable discoveries on the blood-red moon and Jewish feast connections in the past three months. He now has some new discoveries.
Mark has been an avid student and teacher of the Jewish Feasts and their awe-inspiring connections to the Lord's earthly events.
Mark began looking into possible connection to past and future Jewish Feasts at which time he found very significant connections.
Seven back-to-back, blood-red moons have fallen on the first day of Passover and Sukkot, with the eighth time coming in 2014 and 2015
Mark found that we have had blood-red moons on the first day of Passover and the first day of Sukkot on back-to-back years seven times since 1 A.D. Three of these occurrences were connected to 1492 (the final year of the Spanish Inquisition), 1948 (statehood for Israel and the War of Independence), and 1967 (the Six-Day War) — some of the most significant days in Jewish history.
The others were in 162/163 A.D., 795/796 A.D., 842/843 A.D. and 860/861 A.D. We don’t have any historical connections for these years at this time, but we do know of significant Jewish persecution during the eighth and ninth centuries.
In all eight examples, the eclipses have fallen or will fall on the first day of Passover and Sukkot.
The eighth occurrence of back-to-back, blood-red moons will be in 2014–2015.
Three sets of blood-red moons that corresponded to significant events:
The Spanish Inquisition final year 1492 when the Alhambra Decree ordered all remaining Jews who would not convert to Christianity to leave Spain, the 1948 War of Independence and the 1967 Six-Day War had back-to-back, blood-red moons occur on the first day of Passover and Sukkot the following two years or beginning the same year of the 1967 Six-Day War for two years.
The Spanish Inquisition — 1492
* Passover, April 2, 1493
* Sukkoth, Sept. 25, 1493
* Passover, March 22, 1494
* Sukkoth, Sept. 15, 1494
The War of Independence — 1948
* Passover, April 13, 1949
* Sukkoth, Oct. 7, 1949
* Passover, April 2, 1950
* Sukkoth, Sept. 26, 1950
The Six-Day War — 1967
* First Day of Passover, April 24, 1967
* First Day of Sukkoth, Oct. 18, 1967
* First Day of Passover. April 13, 1968
* First Day of Sukkoth, Oct. 6, 1968
What will occur in the 2013–2015 time period?
* First Day of Passover, April 15, 2014
* First Day of Sukkoth, Oct. 8, 2014
* First Day of Passover, April 4, 2015
* First Day of Sukkoth, Sept. 28, 2015
Fall Feasts in 2015
* Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets), Sept. 14
* Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), Sept. 23
* Sukkoth (The Feast of Tabernacles), Sept. 28
Other interesting facts
* Passover is the first annual feast
* Sukkoth is the seventh and final annual feast
* Av is a month of mourning for the Jews
* The 17th of Tammuz to the 9th of Av is a 21-day period of mourning for the
Jewish people (more info below)
* The next seven year cycle begins on Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 30, 2008, and
ends on Rosh Hashanah on Sept. 13-14, 2015
* The sabbatical year in the seven-year cycle begins on Rosh Hashanah on
Sept. 25, 2014, and ends on Rosh Hashanah on September 13-14, 2015 — the day
of a partial solar eclipse
2000-year history of blood-red moons' connection to Passover and Sukkot
Mark says that during this century, the only string of four consecutive blood moons that coincide with God's holy days of Passover in the spring and the autumn's Feast of Tabernacles (also called Sukkoth) occur in 2014 and 2015 on today's Gregorian calendar.
He noticed a pattern:
There were no astronomical back-to-back blood-red moon events in the 1800s, the 1700s or the 1600s. In the 1500s, there were six, but none of those fell on Passover and Sukkoth. The 2014/2015 events will be the last this century.
Chart of 2014-2015: four blood-red moons and two solar eclipses
Mark prepared the following chart that shows the years 2014 to 2015.
Mark says, "You have the religious year beginning with the total solar eclipse on Adar 29/Nisan 1 (March 20, 2015); two weeks later, a total lunar eclipse on Passover (April 4, 2015); then the civil year beginning with the solar eclipse; followed two weeks later by another total blood-red moon on the Feast of Succoth — all in 2015."
________
Blood Moons are when the moon appears red due to lunar eclipses. They occur when the earth is positioned between the sun and the moon (see top part of image below). The Earth’s shadow blocks the sun’s light, which would normally reflect off the moon. The delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet reddens and redirects the light of the sun, filling the dark behind the Earth with a sunset-red glow. This is in contrast to a solar eclipse where the moon is positioned between the earth and the sun causing darkness (see bottom part of image below).
** listen to related interview HERE **
____________
Blood Red Moons
( ....take 2)
By David James
A relatively rare series of lunar and solar eclipses, which coincides
with important dates on the Jewish calendar in 2014 and 2015, is
generating a significant amount of speculation that these could be signs
connected with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The four consecutive total lunar eclipses depicted in the above graphic
from John Hagee's website are known as a "blood moon tetrad."
Interestingly, each of the lunar eclipses falls on two specific Jewish
feast days in both 2014 and 2015, namely, Passover and Sukkot (Feast of
Tabernacles). In addition, a solar eclipse will occur on the first day
of the religious new year on the Jewish calendar, Nisan 1, which
corresponds to March 20 in 2015.
The speculation that this blood moon tetrad may be directly connected
with Christ's return is completely based on speculation connected with
biblical prophecies found most notably in Joel 2 (and as quoted by Peter
in Acts 2), Matthew 24 and Revelation 6:
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. (Joel
2:30-31, NKJV)
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29-30, NKJV)
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, (Revelation 6:12-15, NKJV)
These passages refer to God's coming judgment upon the earth as part of
what is known in the Old Testament as "the Day of the Lord" (or
frequently just "that day"). Furthermore, these passages clearly
indicate that there will be specific events in nature which will serve
as signs that God's judgment is at hand or that it is already underway.
When understood in light of other passages, we know that this judgment
will begin shortly after the rapture of the church and prior to the
Lord's return to the earth, during the seven-year tribulation period.
However, do the Scriptures genuinely support the conclusion that these
upcoming eclipses are the specific signs predicted by Jesus and Joel and
which were shown to John the apostle?
Knowing the Day and Hour...
Although most prophecy teachers who believe the
coming blood moon tetrad is connected with Christ's return want to avoid
the charge of "date-setting," they are also going to great lengths to
persuade people that these eclipses could very well represent prophetic
fulfilment. For example, in his recently released book, Four
Blood Moons: Something is about to Change, John Hagee writes:
The fourth series of Four Blood Moons is coming! They are extremely
rare even by scientific standards. God is shouting to us, "Something big
is about to happen!" However, the coming Four Blood Moons of 2014-15
does not mean the Rapture is going to happen during that time. Why?
Because the Rapture could happen at any moment. What they are telling us
is that God is getting ready to change the course of human history once
again. He is preparing to display the next series of signs in the
heavens.
This is a very definitive statement by Hagee and one that is going to be
difficult to walk back from if it turns out that he is wrong.
The inspiration for Hagee's book is found in the work of Hebrew Roots
pastor Mark Biltz of El Shaddai Ministries, who was perhaps the first
one to discover (in 2008) that the blood moon tetrad of 2014 and 2015
would fall on Jewish feast days. His discovery was a result of doing
research on the part NASA's website devoted to lunar and solar eclipses.
At that time, some speculated that the rapture might occur in 2008, with
Christ's return in 2015, because of the intervening seven years which
would have corresponded to the tribulation period. In 2008, Blitz wrote
the following on his blog:
When I talk about the second coming I am not referring to the rapture
but to Messiah's feet landing on the Mt of Olives in Zech 14. I am not
setting dates for the rapture. The only dates I am giving is the dates
Nasa gives us for eclipses and the dates God gives us on His calendar
and then I bring in the connection. You can do whatever you want
according to your own theology with this information. With much humour I
say, "Put it in your own theological pipe and smoke it however you
want."
I did say, and again say, IF these eclipses in 2015 are what the Lord was referring to, then 2015 would look like a possible year for His feet to land on the Mt of Olives. And, IF this is true then the tribulation could, not would, start this fall at the Feast of Trumpets, (which technically is 2 days long: KJV Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only). In light of all the prophetic events going on I would say it is likely but I'm not saying definitely.
While I fully believe that we may be in the last of the last days, and I
also understand that we must always be prepared for the Lord's
appearing, there are very real dangers associated with attempting to
assign prophetic fulfilment to specific current geo-political,
religious, societal or natural events. Many have tried to do this in the
past, leading to scores of failed predictions concerning the rapture,
the tribulation, the rise of the antichrist, Christ's return and the end
of the world.
Of course we certainly don't want to miss any signs from the Lord, but
concerning His return, Jesus issued this warning:
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,
but My Father only. . . .Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour
your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had
known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not
allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for
the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew
24:36-44, NKJV)
Mark records that Jesus said that even He was among those who did not
know the time of His return by including the rather remarkable phrase
"...nor the Son":
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,
nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do
not know when the time is. (Mark 13:32-33, NKJV)
Some argue, however, that rather than stating the impossibility of
knowing the timing of His return in advance, the Lord was actually using
a well-known Hebrew idiom to inform His disciples of the precise time of
the Second Coming. In an article on the Hebraic Heritage Ministries
website, the author expands on ideas gleaned from a 1996 book by Avi Ben
Mordechai, Signs in the Heavens:
Understanding the expression "No man knows the day or hour" is not
possible by simply taking the English translation literally, because in
the book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation, we are given EXACT
descriptions of timing, relative to KEY events - such as the shutting
down of the altar sacrifices in Jerusalem at the MID-POINT of the 70th
week. Dan 9:27
Jesus was asked, "When shall these things be?" Matt 24:3
His answer ties us in to a very specific event (The Abomination of
Desolation) which can be measured on our calendars: "When you therefore
shall see the Abomination Of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him
understand:)..." Matt 24:15. It is now clear that "no man knows the day
or hour" does NOT mean "no man knows the day or hour" as we read it from
a modern-day English perspective. (emphasis mine).
The following chapter contains edited excerpts from Avi Ben Mordechai's
commentaries and builds on them aiming to explain that the Holy Bible
does in fact reveal the "day and hour" or "exact timing" of our Lord's
return.
No One Knows the Day or the Hour?
Christians over the centuries have separated themselves from their
Hebraic roots causing the misunderstanding of key Jewish biblical
idioms. An idiom is also a figure of speech. When Y'shua (Jesus) uttered
His famous words concerning the Messianic Era in Mattityahu (Matthew)
24:26, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in
Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father", He used a common Jewish
figure of speech referring to a specific Jewish Festival. In essence He
was saying, "I am coming for My Bride on such and such a day! Be
watching!" What day could the Jewish idiom be referring to? Keep
reading!
The above article then goes into a very lengthy discussion of the matter
in question, while the Sabbath Covenant website more succinctly
explains:
The day and hour of His return the Bride does not know, as you never
know when the Rosh Chodesh will appear. The phrase "no one knows the day
or hour" is a Hebrew idiom for the Rosh Chodesh/New Moon Festival, which
ushers in the Feast of Teruah (Trumpets) and the fall feasts of YHVH.
Many times YHVH has the new moon tarry over Jerusalem for one, two or
more days, before coming into its young crescent sighting for the
announcing of the New Moon Festival (John 14:3). Therefore we wait and
watch for the "day and hour" of His return. When that Last Trump blows,
the Bride trims her lamp and goes out to meet her Bridegroom for the
start of their wedding. (Matthew 25:1-13).
In other words, because the lunar cycle is approximately (but not
exactly) 29.5 days, the precise timing of the appearance of the new moon
sometimes falls on the 29th day of the month and sometimes on the 30th.
Since the new moon appears near sunset and because according to Hebrew
reckoning, each day begins at sundown, the sighting could be slightly
before or slightly after the start of the new day - thus, because the
hour is unknown, the same is true of the day.
The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Terueh) is the only feast that begins with a
new moon, falling on the first day of the lunar month of Tishri on the
Jewish calendar. Tishri is the seventh month of the religious year, but
Tishri also corresponds to the first month of the civil year-with the
first day of that month being known as "Rosh Hashanah" or "head of the
year." Furthermore, because the Feast of Tabernacles occurs on the 15th
day of Tishri, which is when full lunar eclipses will occur in both 2014
and 2015, and because these dates are now being suggested as signs of
Christ's return, the speculation is that the rapture may occur on the
Feast of Trumpets in one of those years.
At first glance, such an explanation of Jesus' words concerning not
knowing the day or the hour may seem to be plausible and thus unlock
Jesus' statement by revealing the timing of His return, right? Well, not
exactly.
The exact day and time of the appearance of the new moon is neither
random, nor mystical, nor determined by the Lord via miraculous
intervention each month such that the specific timing would be known
only to Him. Prior to the development of telescopes and astronomy as a
scientific discipline, such celestial events did seem to have an
uncertain, perhaps even mystical quality to them. However, now that we
understand the mechanics of planetary motion, the timing, along with
every other parameter associated with the movement of all of the bodies
within our solar system can be calculated very precisely for decades,
centuries and even millennia both in the past and into the future.
The ability to calculate solar and lunar eclipses with such precision
provides crucial insight into Jesus' words concerning no one except the
Father knowing the day or hour of His return. One might argue that Jesus
was using the Hebrew idiom to cryptically signal to his disciples that
He would return on the Feast of Trumpets, the timing of which could not
be known precisely at that point in history. However, we now know that
the motion of the sun, moon and planets was established at the moment of
creation by Jesus Christ himself as the Creator (Colossians 1:16).
This means that, in contrast to those to whom He
was speaking, Christ would have known precisely when every eclipse would
occur throughout history. And so Jesus, himself, has always known that a
blood moon tetrad would occur precisely on Jewish feast days in 2014 and
2015. And since the exact timing of these events is not simply a matter
of foreknowledge, but rather a matter of simple mathematical
calculations, the angels in heaven could just as easily have been able
to determine each time this would happen throughout history, as well-and
it has happened several times.
The "Imminency" Problem
Another significant problem with the theory that Christ's return must be
tied to a blood moon tetrad that falls on Jewish feast days has to do
with the doctrine of the imminent rapture of the church. Dispensational
theologians have long recognized that the Scriptures teach that while
there are many prophesied events which will take place after the
rapture, there are none which must take place prior to it. In other
words, the rapture could happen at any moment.
One thing that needs to be noted at this point has to do with the
difference between the rapture and the second coming of Christ in
relation to His statement about not knowing the day or the hour. In the
context of Matthew 24; where the Lord is teaching about events which
will take place after the rapture and during the seven-year tribulation
period, it is clear that He is specifically referring to His return to
the earth at the end of the tribulation, when He will arrive from heaven
(Revelation ch. 19) and touch down on the Mount of Olives (Zech ch. 14).
Therefore, the matter of not knowing the day or the hour isn't directly
connected to the rapture itself. However, between not knowing the day or
hour of Christ's return to the earth and the fact that the rapture is
imminent, also suggests that no one can know the day or hour of the
rapture either.
Another factor to consider with regard to Jesus' words is that the
disciples may not have yet received specific revelation concerning the
relative timing of the rapture, tribulation and second coming. They were
still looking at things from an "Old Testament perspective" which saw
the Lord's coming as a single event, rather than the two phases we see
in the New Testament. And even if the Lord had provided that information
to them at some point, it was apparently not widely known or completely
clear until Paul wrote about it in 1 and 2 Thessalonians about twenty
years later and then John received further revelation roughly forty
years after that.
This being said, there is really no consensus concerning the
relationship between the timing of the blood moons and the rapture,
tribulation and the second coming. In first half of 2008, when Mark
Biltz first discovered that a tetrad of lunar eclipses would take place
on Jewish feast days in 2014 and 2015, he speculated that the eclipses
in 2014 might take place during the tribulation, with the last eclipse
in 2015 connected to Christ's return to the earth. Then taking into
account the seven years of the tribulation, he speculated that the
rapture might occur later in 2008.
Since that obviously did not happen, the speculation by some is now that
the rapture could occur two weeks prior to the lunar eclipses in the
fall of 2014 or 2015 on the Feast of Trumpets. However, the theory that
the rapture must occur on the Feast of Trumpets is not something that
just developed in the context of the coming blood moon tetrad.
However, if the rapture must occur on the Feast of Trumpets, then for
every year it doesn't happen, yet another entire year would need to pass
until the day when the rapture could again possibly occur. Looking at it
another way, over the course of a century there are 100 (approximately)
Feasts of Trumpets, which when added together is a total of less than
four months of days when Christ could have come for His church, and
conversely there would be over 99 years and 8 months of days when Christ
could not have come.
This problem is compounded if the return of Christ could only be in
connection with a blood moon occurring on the Feast of Tabernacles. For
example, during the last century, between 1901 and 2000, total lunar
eclipses occurred in the month of Tishri only seven times. The longest
stretch between total lunar eclipses occurring on the Feast of
Tabernacles was when the first one of the century occurred on October
17, 1902 and the second occurred on September 26, 1931.3 This means that
there was a gap of nearly thirty years when the rapture could not have
happened if one accepts the premise of the blood moon / Feast of
Trumpets theory.
However, the problem is compounded exponentially if the return of Christ
could only happen in connection with an entire blood moon tetrad
occurring on Jewish Feast days. In the last five hundred years,
including this year and next, this will have happened only four times-in
1493-94, 1949-50, 1967-68 and 2014-15. If the coming blood moon tetrad
of this year and next is a sign directly associated with the rapture or
the second coming of Christ to the earth, then that means that it could
not have occurred at any time over the last forty years, meaning that
our watching and waiting during that time has been completely in
vain-and our warning people of the Lord's imminent coming in the clouds
to receive the church unto himself has been foolish-or worse. And if
these events must be tied to any blood moon tetrad on the Jewish feast
days in general, then that means Christ could not have returned at any
time between 1495 and 1949-a period of over 450 years.
All this would seem to completely undermine Jesus' words concerning
being alert and watching because He could come at any time. After
referring to the judgment by flood in the days of Noah, Jesus warned:
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the
thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be
broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:42-44, NKJV)
After this, Jesus drove the point home by using an illustration of a man
who left an untrustworthy servant in charge of his household while he
away on business:
But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying
his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and
drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day
when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Then the kingdom of
heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out
to meet the bridegroom. (Matthew 24:48-25:1, NKJV)
Jesus continued this extended exhortation by using a parable about ten
virgins who were invited to a wedding, of whom five acted irresponsibly
and therefore were not ready to go with the bridegroom when the time to
go to the wedding came without warning:
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were
ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. "Afterward
the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he
answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' "Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of
Man is coming. (Matthew 25:10-13, NKJV)
The Nature of Signs Vs. Signs in Nature
One of the most frequently quoted passages of Scripture by those who
believe the coming blood moon tetrad is a sign of Christ's coming is
Genesis 1:14:
Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens
to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons,
and for days and years; (Genesis 1:14, NKJV)
The argument is that God has told us that He specifically set up the
present lunar and solar cycles to specifically function as signs of
major events such as Christ's return. However, there are several
significant problems with this understanding of Genesis 1:14. The first
is that it actually reverses the meaning of the verse. The point the
Lord was making was that He had set up the universe, and specifically
our solar system, such that the combination of the earth's and moon's
rotation and orbits would establish fixed, regular intervals of
time-days, weeks, months and years-according to which He could then
prescribe when His people would engage in various activities and meet
various obligations in every sphere of life, including the agricultural,
social, civil and spiritual / religious realms.
In other words, the sun, moon and stars were "signs" that provided a
completely natural and absolutely predictable frame of reference. We
could call these "providential signs," which stand in stark contrast to
"miraculous signs" that God would give in connection with His direct
miraculous intervention at various points in history. Miraculous signs
are neither natural nor predictable. In fact, if they were natural and
predictable they wouldn't even be recognized as signs for which God
would be the only possible explanation. And "signs" that cannot be
recognized as such are really not signs at all.
Those who are trying to argue that the coming blood moons are signs from
God that the end is near point to God's frequent use of things in nature
as described throughout Scripture. However, they consistently seem to
miss the obvious concerning what is going on and that those signs are
fundamentally different from predictable events in nature such as lunar
and solar eclipses.
Frequently, we see God giving miraculous signs as either a warning of
judgment or as the judgment itself. And even though they often involve
His use of things in nature, as noted above, they can't be classified as
"natural" at all.
For example, when God judged the earth by flood (Genesis ch. 6-9), He
did it through nature, but what happened could never have occurred
naturally. When God gave signs to Pharaoh and brought judgment against
Egypt (Exodus ch. 5-12), he used many things found in nature, such as
frogs, gnats, locusts and hail, but He manipulated them such that no one
could have reasonably thought they were just natural occurrences. When
the Lord parted the Red Sea (Exodus ch. 14), He used wind, but no
"natural" wind could have caused what happened on that day. Similarly,
Joshua's "long day" (Joshua ch. 10) involved the rotation of the earth
and the relative position of the sun in the sky over Israel, but the
only explanation for what took place was God's supernatural
intervention. When the Lord Jesus Christ was born there was some sort of
celestial body which became visible as a sign, and magi who had seen
this star in the East followed it to Bethlehem as it went before them
and as they approached the star stopped over where Jesus was (Matthew
ch. 2). And there are many other examples.
All of these were signs in nature, but they were categorically different
than the coming blood moons this year and next. Because these are
completely natural and absolutely predictable, even with the interesting
fact that they will fall on Jewish Feast days, they cannot biblically
function as signs warning of God's impending judgment or some other
major event. Something that occurs naturally, predictably and with any
regularity simply doesn't work as a sign because it isn't like any other
biblical sign. And because of this, even those who love the Lord and His
Word the most would be the most likely to miss it. This just doesn't
work.
Beyond this, as one reads the descriptions of the signs connected with
the sun and moon in both the prophecies by Joel and Jesus, and then the
visions given to John of their prophetic fulfilment in Revelation, one
gets the sense that these are anything but normal total eclipses. The
duration of totality for both lunar and solar eclipses is so short that
it is measured in just minutes and seconds. And in the case of solar
eclipses, totality occurs along a very narrow path on the face of the
earth, such that it is not even a major event for all but a very small
portion of the world's population. How could such an event be a sign to
the world?
Furthermore, these prophecies were given specifically to Israel so that
they could understand that God's judgment was at hand or had already
begun. Yet the path of totality for the solar eclipse in 2015 doesn't
fall anywhere close to Israel. So how could this eclipse be a sign in
Israel?
Beyond even these things, the prophecies seem to suggest that the moon
turning to blood and the sun being darkened like sackcloth are
simultaneous events and ones which affect the entire earth. If that is
true, then there is another problem because the closest that solar and
lunar eclipses can occur is fifteen days apart. This is because the
positions of the earth and moon relative to the sun are reversed
depending on whether it is a solar or lunar eclipse. Solar eclipses can
only occur right around the new moon when the moon is between the earth
and the sun, while lunar eclipses can only occur during a full moon when
the earth is between the moon and the sun.
The Potential Danger and a Word of Caution
Because so many have been making predictions concerning the rapture, the
second coming of Christ and the end of the world for so many years, no
doubt there are many who have become very disillusioned with prophecy
and prophecy teachers. For some it has meant much more than simple
disillusionment. Over the years, some have had their lives completely
destroyed as they have left family members behind or have given away
everything in anticipation that the rapture was going to occur on a
specific day. When Harold Camping predicted two different dates for the
rapture in 2011, there even were reports of at least one person
committing suicide. Now, the question concerns what will happen if the
rapture doesn't occur by the time of the last full lunar eclipse in
2015.
Even with the caveats that no one is setting absolute dates, this issue
has garnered a huge amount of attention as can be seen with a simple
Google search on "blood moons" which yields almost half a million hits.
There are entire websites devoted to this subject. There are a number of
radio and television interviews dealing with the blood moon tetrad.
There are two significant and very real dangers
associated with the hype surrounding the total lunar and solar eclipses
this year and next. The first danger is that because biblically the
rapture really could occur at any moment, many could be caught unawares
if they think they can legitimately wait until the Feast of Trumpets on
October 8, 2014 or September 28, 2015 to do something about their
spiritual condition.
The second danger is that if these predictions
fail as have others in the past, for how many will this be the last
straw and as a result they decide to have nothing more to do with
prophecy teachers or even the Bible anymore. Because of disillusionment
and the resulting skepticism, many could easily fall into the trap
described by the Apostle Peter in his second letter:
...knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days,
walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise
of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of creation." (2 Peter 3:3-4, NKJV)
Does this mean that it is impossible that the Lord
might do something significant on one or several of these feast days on
which there will be solar and lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015? Not at
all. He can do what He wants, when He wants.
However, whether the rapture takes place before, during or after these
events, we must always heed the Lord's words as previously noted:
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the
thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be
broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:42-44, NKJV)