The Blood Moons this Week – April 15

All eyes will be in the sky in the wee hours this Tuesday morning (the Blood Moon is scheduled to appear in the sky at about 3.07 a.m. ET on April 15, 2014, but will only last around 30 minutes)… that is 3 hours past midnight Monday night just to be clear.  It will even be live streamed if its cloudy where you live (click here).

I will be privileged to be a guest of my good friends in Minneapolis, Margie Cole and Desiree Hanson on Margie’s show, Rescue Radio.  Click here for the link to the show. We will be talking about signs and wonders, the Blood Moons, and the meaning of Mars and its current proximity to earth (known as its Opposition).  Mars is at its brightest at the same time as the Blood Moon.  We will be seeing RED on April 15.  Oh, remember to pay your taxes by then too! Or the government will be seeing you as in the red.  

I just finished reading Mark Biltz’s Blood Moon book, simply entitled BLOOD MOONS.  Mark is a wonderful guy and I’ve been fortunate to have a few moments with Mark recently in person to share a doughnut and some fascinating discussion on various biblical topics.  In reading his book, I was most impressed with his personal testimony which is a wonderful account of God’s calling him to a special ministry in these last days.  Like me, Mark grew up in the middle of the country being a Kansas boy (I grew up in Oklahoma).  He has great values of course and is warm and friendly.

Mark spends most of the book, being a bit critical here, not on the blood moon phenomena but on the wonders of the Hebrew language and the importance of the feast days.  Mark could be criticized for arguing more on behalf of what is known as “Hebrew roots” than for the urgency of what the blood moon may symbolize.  My antenna is up on that subject because I am sensitive to anyone who argues that “being more Hebrew” amounts to being a more tuned in Christian.  That is not to say that being learned on the history of the Jewish religion is not without great benefit.  And it is not a rejection of Torah (which Mark says is better translated as “instruction” rather than “law” – to the extent it is NOT treated as the means to salvation but a guide for living out salvation, I agree).  And yes, we may choose to recognize if not enjoy aspects of the Jewish feast days.  It is part of the heritage of the people of Yahweh.  But I am alarmed when anyone suggests a form of spiritual practice is superior to another when both are giving glory to Jesus Christ (or Yeshua the Messiah as Mark would rather we refer to our savior).  Christian holidays and traditions developed over two millennia are often criticized because they replaced Pagan holidays (All Saints Day, Christmas, and Easter are of course the religious holidays most in contention).  But the point that they REPLACED pagan holidays is no small thing in its own right.  Christian “feast days” signify a victory over unbelief and the work of the devil.  In a sense, they are most complementary to the Jewish feast days.

On the plus side, Mark does a fine job of laying out the facts on the number of blood moons, the number of four blood moons in a row (over 2 years) and the rarity of that event.  Combining this with their occurring on Jewish feast days,  particularly Passover and Sukkot, is a rare phenomena indeed. During the Christian era, the tetrads occurring on key Jewish Feast Days has only happened a half dozen times and will only happen once in this century.  It is not that relevant when it happened in the second and the fifteenth centuries, although in 1493 when it occurred, this was just after the Jews were expelled from Spain. The key point is that it happened on two very crucial prophetic dates during the twentieth century.  This fact alone begs for interpretation.  One could argue that until 1948, any tetrads on Jewish Feast Days had little to no prophetic significance.  (And I do argue that!)  But during the last 100 years, with the progression of Israel growing into a restored nation, the signs in the heaven should (and do) take on much more meaning.

Many criticize drawing conclusions about the particular occurrences of the blood moons because the “signs in the heavens” are not exactly aligned with the “red letter dates” (pun not intended) when they occurred.  To be specific, the tetrad occurred on in 1949-50 a year later after the 1948 establishment of Israel as a nation and the ensuing war for its independence.  It occurred again in 1967 a few months before the ’67 war in which Israel acquired the eastern portion of Jerusalem (i.e., the Temple Mount).   Perhaps the argument for the meaningfulness of the tetrads and the insignificance of the “exact” timing is that the signs are warnings… they are calling attention to what is happening during the times in which they occur.  Being precise about the signal or sign is not necessary to predict exactly when an event will occur but to emphasize or underscore that what is transpiring is prophetically important.  What is transpiring after all, remains an ongoing process. Remember that biblical prophecy is foretelling and forthtelling.  My takeaway of the Blood Moon Prophecy is that what is transpiring in Israel during this time and for the next year or two, is likely to be VERY significant prophetically in the fulfillment of the Lord’s plan.

Now, we do not know exactly what will happen.  But we do know that, as Mark points out, the Fall Festivals will be the precise days of fulfillment of the prophecies to which they bespeak, just as the Spring Festivals were fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during Passover (death of the lamb of God) and Feast of First-fruits (the resurrection).  Likewise, the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost 50 days later fulfilled the Festival of Harvest inasmuch the waving of the first sheaves of wheat and barley celebrated by the Festival, symbolized the harvest or gathering of believers now indwelled by the Spirit of Christ.  God demonstrates His sovereignty and providence by seeing to it that prophecies are fulfilled on the very day which symbolized their fulfillment.

The fall feast days are soon to be fulfilled.  Jesus Christ is coming VERY SOON.  Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles) in years just ahead will likely culminate  in the fulfillment of their meaning: the resurrection (perhaps the rapture of the living and the dead),  the day of judgment by Jesus Christ. His second coming, and God’s dwelling with humankind for a thousand years.  Will those events commence this fall?  In my opinion, probably not although I believe the rapture of the church may happen at any time.  Regardless, I believe the meaning of the Blood Moon Prophecy is still a BIG WARNING meant to wake everyone up.  What is happening in the Middle East in these days is most certainly prophetically significant.  Man’s days are numbered.  Time is running out.  The blood moons of 2014 and 2015 are a sign in the heavens reminding us what the prophets John and Joel wrote:  the Sun will be darkened and the moon will be turned to blood in the great and terrible Day of the Lord.  (Revelation 6:12, Joel 2:31)  Many cataclysmic and decisive events are predestined to happen.  The blood moons tell us that the next 18 months are a  sign that Christ is preparing His Bride and giving the unbelieving world a final opportunity to recognize that He is the King of Kings.  As Jesus taught on many occasions, “what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch!”