The Coming Four Blood Moons

What the Bible really says concerning these future events.

 

“And I will shew 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 great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” – Joel 2:30-31 (KJV)

 

The Bible foretells of signs in the celestial bodies that would be of prophetic significance. One of these signs is that the moon will turn into blood. Many may think the moon literally turns into blood but in actuality, the moon turns blood red in color. A blood red moon can be seen during a total lunar eclipse and these eclipses can be predicted because of their continuous cycle. NASA has claimed that there will be four blood moons to come, with a solar eclipse occurring in the middle, between 2014 and 2015. Surely an occurrence like this would be tied to a great prophetic fulfillment.

 

Many have taken these predictions by NASA and crossed them with the prophecies of the Bible. Initially, after research, some claimed that this was an indicator that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ would take place during this coming eighteen month span. More recently, it has been taught that the coming four blood moons are a sign of judgment to the world foreshadowing a devastating war prophesied by the prophet Ezekiel.

 

Signs In The Sky

 

Throughout the history of Biblical ages we can see that God, as the creator, had power over the elements in the sky. It was on the fourth day of creation that God created and set in motion the sun, the moon, and the stars. God also specifically stated in Genesis 1:14 “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” This explains that at the establishment of the sun and the moon, one of their purposes was to show signs.

 

Since God was the creator, He had the ability to control these elements. In Joshua 10:13 we read that God literally stopped the sun and the moon to help Israel during battle. Not only did God stop these elements, but also in Isaiah 38:8, He actually caused the sun to go back ten degrees. So God controls these elements, and He ordained them to give signals. He also caused abnormal instances to occur for special purposes. If all of this was true in the Bible, why would this not be true with the soon-coming, predicted four blood moons?

 

When this teaching first came to the surface it seemed to imply that the Second Coming would take place in the not too distant future. The scriptural prophecies about the moon turning into blood were indications that the coming of the Lord was soon to take place. However, after further research, it was concluded that this sign of the blood moons signaled a war of which many have spoken and feared. It is founded on the Biblical ideology that a solar eclipse denotes the judgment of God upon the nations, blood moons denote the judgment of God upon the nations of Israel, and that a solar eclipse occurring in the midst of four blood moons denotes the judgment of God upon the world. So it was theorized that the coming four blood moons would bring a time of tears to Israel being followed by a time of victory.

 

The Teaching of The Four Blood Moons

 

According to the acclaimed teaching, in the past 500 years, an occurrence of four blood moons has only occurred in three specific years: 1492, 1948, and 1967.

 

In 1492, the Jewish people faced persecution for not converting to Catholicism. The Spanish Inquisition had been occurring since its establishment in 1478. Along with this persecution King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued the Edict of Expulsion. This declaration gave Jews, who were unwilling to convert, just days to leave Spain. Many of their possessions were taken from them, and their properties were seized by the Roman Catholic Church. However, in the midst of this trial many Jews united and combined what wealth they had to make a way of escape. They entrusted their finances to a Jewish Italian, Christopher Columbus. He was the great traveler whom we all learned about in school by the rhyme, “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” He helped the Jewish people travel to the “new world” in order to find freedom.

 

Preceding 1948, the Jewish people had just faced the horrific reign of Adolf Hitler and endured the Holocaust. It was estimated that approximately six million Jews were killed during the reign of Hitler, thus noted as one of the most tragic times in the history of the Jewish people. Following this traumatic time, the United Nations voted to create the nation of Israel and a land of Palestine. The vote was taken on November 29, 1947; the Israelis accepted it, however, the Arabs rejected it and started a war the very next day. Forty two million Arab peoples launched a war against this little nation of Israel, which only had six hundred thousand inhabitants at the time. With forty-two million against six hundred thousand, most of the nations of the world thought Israel would not survive, yet amazingly God helped her. As a result, Israel was reborn on May 14, 1948.

 

In 1967, Egyptian President Gamel Abdel Nassar was not happy with the idea of Israel being a nation. He decided to come against Israel in battle in an attempt to eliminate the Zionist regime once and for all. As a result, Egypt along with Israel’s Arab neighbors launched a war against the nation of Israel. They made their first strike on Yom Kippur and caught Israel off guard. Yom Kippur is one of the most important holidays of the Jewish year. Most of us know this as the Day of Atonement, a day set aside for fasting and, as some say, the afflicting of the soul in order to atone for sins committed within the past year. However, Israel miraculously defeated all of her neighbors in six days, thus giving us the infamous Six Days War.

 

It is with this foundation, the events occurring in 1492; 1948; and 1967; that some contend that four blood moons represent a time when Israel will have tears followed by victory.

 

Now, for the fourth time in half a millennium four blood moons are to be seen again. The first blood moon is to occur on the first day of Passover, April 15, 2014; the second blood moon on the eve of Sukkot, October 8, 2014; the solar eclipse on March 20, 2015; the third blood moon on the first day of Passover, April 4, 2015; and the fourth blood moon on the eve of Sukkot, September 28, 2015. Passover is an eight day Jewish feast celebrating the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of the Egyptians. Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, commemorates the forty year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. Seeing that these blood moons tie in directly to dates of feasts, which God established in the Old Testament, they must bear prophetic significance. Allegedly, as they did in the past, they must warn us of a time in which Israel will suffer but emerge victorious, a time of which the prophet Ezekiel wrote about thousands of years ago.

 

The Coming War

 

Ezekiel 38 and 39 speaks of a time when Northern powers along with Middle Eastern powers come against Israel with the intent to destroy her.  Some of these nations are specifically named such as Ethiopia, Libya, and Persia which is current day Iran. The Northern force is unanimously considered to be Russia by most theologians. Ezekiel prophesied that these nations, known as Gog and Magog, would come like a storm to Israel. However, when this attack is engaged the fury of God will be unleashed. God will fight for Israel and depredate five-sixths of Russia.

 

With conditions the way they are with Israel, it appears that war is drawing close.  Israel’s attack on Syria in early May of 2013, was considered by some as an act of war. However the question still remains, will this great war that was prophesied in Ezekiel happen in 2014 and 2015 when the four blood moons occur?

 

The Facts

 

The Bible foretells of blood moons in eight passages: Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 24:23; Joel 2:31; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25; Acts 2:20; and Revelation 8:12. In these passages, the blood moons do not indicate a time of devastation followed by peace; instead, they are tied to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

 

NASA openly shares their research on the occurrences of past and future total eclipses to come. It is important to note, the teaching of the four blood moons is based on the occurrence of a tetrad, which happens when there are four consecutive total lunar eclipses. From year 1 AD to 2013 there have been fifty-five tetrads. Not only have there been fifty-five tetrads but there have been seven additional tetrads that matched up with the Jewish Holidays, Passover and Sukkot. These are all unaccounted for in the current teaching of the four blood moons. If these indicate a time of destruction followed by peace for Israel, then what happened in the years of the other tetrads?

 

In support the of current teaching on this subject, from 1493 to 2013, out of the thirteen tetrads that have occurred only three have matched up with the Jewish Feast days. However, they did not occur in 1492, 1948, and 1967. Supposedly, 1492 was the year of deliverance for the Jews yet the blood moons did not happen until 1493-1494. Secondly, Israel was declared a nation on May 14, 1948, yet again the blood moons occurred in 1949-1950. Lastly, the Six Days War took place in June 1967 but the blood moons went from 1967-1968. Instead of the blood moons occurring in the year of Israel’s deliverance it appears they take place afterwards. If that is the case, we are currently in November of 2013 and nothing has occurred matching with this teaching.

 

Now in defense of the teaching of the four blood moons, there is only one more tetrad, of the seven to come, that lines up with the feast days of Passover and Sukkot; the tetrad of 2014-2015. It is predicted that this will be the time of Ezekiel’s prophesied war, the battle of Gog and Magog. For the sake of knowledge, is it possible this could take place in 2014 or 2015?

 

Ineluctably this invasion of Russia and Middle Eastern forces against Israel will take place because the prophecies always come to pass. However, when we analyze the war of Ezekiel and its context, we understand the time of this event.

 

When God retaliates as a result of the invasion, His wrath is poured out. However, the wrath poured out in Ezekiel 38:19-22 resembles that of Revelation 16, which refers to the Battle of Armageddon. In both passages we find pestilence, land and mountains shaking, and great hail stones plummeting from heaven.

 

Ezekiel 39:9 shows an elimination of weapons as is seen in the millennial scriptures such as Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3. The Battle of Armageddon directly precedes the Millennial reign of Christ.

 

The Lord makes known His name to Israel in Ezekiel 39:7 and we know from Zechariah that Israel is not aware that Jesus is the Messiah until He stands on the Mount of Olives. Jesus returns to the earth during the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation 19.

 

We can conclusively prove, by comparing Ezekiel 39:17-20 with Revelation 19:17-20, that the war of Ezekiel is the Battle of Armageddon, seeing that these two prophecies conclude at the same event, the supper of our great God, which occurs at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

 

 

The Plain Truth

 

The teaching of the coming four blood moons is not Biblical, in addition to being poorly supported. Therefore, the predicted events that are supposed to happen when the four blood moons occur are strictly speculative and will not take place. However, if by some stretch of the imagination, the four blood moons represent a time of tears followed by victory for Israel, is there an event that could fit this idea?

 

We know a war is coming that starts in the Middle East and kills a third of mankind. This war prophesied in Revelation 9:13-21 has no Biblical time frame other than having to occur before the final three and one half years known as the Great Tribulation. Now, we know the alleged events that have been tied to the four blood moons cannot happen according to the Scriptures. The Sixth Trumpet War could take place but the four blood moons militate nothing in regards to this. With or without the four blood moons the Euphrates River War is going to take place. Even attempting to tie the Sixth Trumpet War to the four blood moons, we find that they are irrelevant to Bible Prophecy and of no significance.

 

Read Irvin’s thoughts on the matter: Sign of the Four Blood Moons

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