The Four Blood Moons… Coincidence – Or ‘God-Incidence’?

On 28 September, the fourth of four Lunar Eclipses will take place that have coincided exactly with four major Jewish festivals over the past two years. This celestial correlation with an earthly pattern – called a Tetrad – is an extremely rare event.

The ‘Blood Moon’ on the 28th will be seen above Jerusalem, no less, on the Festival of Sukkot (or Sukkoth), which means Booths or Tabernacles. It will also be a ‘super moon’, that is, it will appear larger than normal, on account of it being at its closest to the earth during its elliptical orbit.

This event also coincides with the next Year of Jubilee, which occurs every seven years in the Hebrew Calendar. Some have suggested that at the outset of previous Jubilee new years, there have been major economic upheavals. The recession of 2008 occured seven years ago, for instance.

The article below was originally written on 11 February 2014, but never published. It is so now because of our closeness in time to the cycle’s consclusion, with an open mind, but eyes fixed on Jesus.

Links from a number of perspectives, some of which may offend and alarm you, or prepare and inform you:

The Original Article – adapted from and based an article on http://www.pray4zion.org by Alf & Julie Saunders, where you can read it in full. Contains some additional information.

Introduction

Starting at Passover on 15 April 2014, a sequence of four lunar eclipses will begin, each falling on a Jewish festival over the next two years. Half way through this sequence there is a solar eclipse. Known as the Four Blood Red Moons, this ‘tetrad’, as it is scientifically known, is believed to herald events that will in some way affect Israel, and therefore, the world.

This ‘discovery’ has been popularised by US preachers Mark Blitz and John Hagee, and has caused much controversy, and sold a lot of books and videos!

The question is: is this all just a coincidence, or is there some prophetic justification to call this series of coming events a ‘God-incidence’? Here’s some evidence gleened from relevant sources. You pray. You decide. The pray again!

Signs

“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 Jehovah.” Joel 2:30 -31
“The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and glorious Day of the Lord.” Acts 2:20
The Jewish Talmud says: “When the moon is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel. If its face is as red as blood, (it is a sign that) the sword is coming to the world.”

Therefore:

Lunar Eclipse = bad omen for the Jewish people and Israel
Blood Moon = sword coming
Solar Eclipse = bad omen for the world

Four blood moons on Jewish Feast days within two years in Israel is very rare:

has only occurred seven times since the time of Jesus
four blood moons are scheduled to appear in 2014/2015
then there will NOT be any for the next 100 years.
every time a blood moon pattern has appeared on Jewish feast days a big event affects the nation of Israel, beginning just before the actual years of the blood moons

To understand what will happen in the 2014-2015 blood moons, one must understand the pattern of blood moons in the past.
NASA found that we have had blood-red moons on the first day of Passover and the first day of Sukkoth on back-to-back years seven times since 1AD. Three of these occurrences were connected to:

1492 – the year the Jews were expelled from Spain by Queen Isabella
1948 – statehood for Israel and the War of Independence
1967 – the Six-Day War

The Symbolism of 8

2014-15 is the eighth series of four blood moons since the days of Jesus.
The meaning of the number 8 in the Bible is New Beginnings:

The 8th day was new after God rested
There are 7 days in a week and the 8th day is a new beginning
Christ rose on the 8th day which was a new beginning for the world
When the whole earth was covered with the flood, it was Noah “the eighth person” (2 Peter 2:5) who stepped out on to a new earth to commence a new order of things. “Eight souls” (1 Peter 3:20) passed through to the new or re-generated world.
Circumcision is performed on the “eighth day” (Genesis 17:12), because it is the foreshadowing of the true circumcision of the heart, that which is “made without hands,” even “the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11). This is connected with the new creation. (The 8th day of a child’s life is also when the body’s natural blood clotting agent is at its most effective, apparently.)
The first-born was to be given to Jehovah on the “eighth day” (Exodus 22: 29, 30)
Christ’s Resurrection is ultimately signified when He rose from the dead on “the first day of the week,” (Mark 16:9) i.e., the eighth day.
In Hebrew, 8 is chet, assicated with the ‘doorway of life’, resembling the door frame and lintel where the blood of the lamb was daubed for the first Passover (Exodus 12:7). See http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Chet/chet.html and for more fascinating information.

Astronomical cycles

Tetrad: When four consecutive lunar eclipses are all total eclipses.
The Saros Cycle: An eclipse cycle with a period of about 18 years 11 days 8 hours (approximately 65851/3 days) that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. One cycle after an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur west of the original location.

Hebrew months and festivals

Tishri:

The seventh month of the religious year for Israel
The first month of the civil year for Israel
This month holds the feasts of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles (also known as Sukkoth)

Rosh Hashanah:

This is a two day feast occurring on Tishri 1 and Tishri 2 of the Hebrew calendar
Also called the Feast of Trumpets
It’s believed this feast day is tied to the rapture of the Christian Church prior to the start of the tribulation.

Yom Kippur:

Day of Atonement
It is considered to be one of the most important of Jewish Holidays of the year
A solemn day set aside to atone for the sins of the past year occuring on the 10th day of Tishri (Leviticus 23:26-32)

Sukkoth (Tabernacles):

The Feast of Sukkoth begins on Tishri 15, the 5th day of Yom Kippur
A joyous feast day with a festival atmosphere, marking a season of rejoicing
Sukkoth means ‘booths’ and refers to temporary dwelling places the Jews gather into during this holiday
Christian Scholars believe Sukkoth is the feast for the 2nd Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ when he returns with his saints on white horses at Armageddon

Av:

Fifth month of the Hebrew Calendar
A time of mourning for the Jews
Two festivals that are in Av are on the 9th and 15th:
- Tisha B’ Av which is a sad day when Jews fast – recalls the two temples being destroyed and commemorates other tragic events throughout Jewish History
- Tu B’ Av – A happy occasion when couples traditionally get together to arrange their wedding

Nissan:

First month of the Jewish Religious Year – this occurs in the spring time
Passover occurs on the 15th

Passover:

The Hebrew feast day commemorating the Lamb Sacrifice in Exodus when the Angel of Death passed over Israel while the firstborn in Egypt were slain
It is also the same day the Jesus Christ, our lamb sacrifice for sins, was crucified

Four Tetrads from antiquity

32-33AD

Four PARTIAL lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and Tabernacles in the years before and after the Crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah, or Yeshua HaMashiach in Hebrew

The world has since witnessed seven tetrads coinciding with events impacting Jewish and Christian culture.
Seven Jewish Total Lunar Eclipses have occurred in the 1st & 2nd Millenniums:

162-163AD

Four TOTAL lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and Tabernacles
Coincided with the worst persecution of Jews and Christians in the history of the Roman Empire
Within 3 years the Antonine Plague killed eight million people, a third of the population

795-796AD

Four TOTAL lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and Yom Kippur
King Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire established a demilitarised buffer zone between France and Spain
This ended centuries of Arabic invasions into Western Europe

842-843AD

Four TOTAL lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and Yom Kippur
Shortly after these eclipses the Vatican church in Rome was attacked and looted by an Arabic invasion from Africa

860-861AD

Four TOTAL lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and Yom Kippur
Shortly after the eclipses the Byzantine Empire defeated Arab armies at the Battle of Lalakaon in Turkey, stopping invasion of Eastern Europe

Three Recent Tetrads

The last three “Blood Moons” are very important as they affect the nation of Israel as we know it today:

1493 – 1494

Four TOTAL lunar eclipses occurred on Passover and the Feast of Trumpets.
Soon after, King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella of Spain ordered all Jews to leave the country.
This is a highly significant event in Jewish history because since about 200AD, Spain became and remained a second Jewish homeland for well over a millennium. So deeply woven into the fabric of Spain are the Jews that neither of their histories can be fully studied without considering the influence of the other.
Christopher Columbus‘s diary begins: “In the same month in which their Majesties issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the same month they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of discovery to the Indies.”
The expulsion that Columbus refers to was such a cataclysmic event that ever since the date 1492 has been almost as important in Jewish history as in American history. On 30 July of that year, the entire Jewish community, some 200,000 people, were expelled from Spain (most feld to other places around the Meditteranean region).
Tens of thousands of refugees died while trying to reach safety. In some instances,
- Spanish ship captains charged Jewish passengers exorbitant sums, then dumped them overboard in the middle of the ocean.
- Rumours spread throughout Spain that the fleeing refugees had swallowed gold and diamonds, and many Jews were knifed to death by brigands hoping to find treasures in their stomachs.
In 1492 Columbuslanded on the West Indies and discovered the Americas. The USA is home today for more than 5 million Jews outside Israel. Like Mordecai said to Esther – “help will come in another way.”
- It has been said that God’s purpose for America is to protect Israel and offer a safe haven for the Jewish people.

1949 – 1950

Four TOTAL lunar eclipses occurred on the Jewish Passover and Feast of Tabernacles during the 1st Arab-Israeli War for Independence just after Israel had become a nation again for the first time in 2000 years.
Note:
- Even though Israel declared themselves a nation in 1948, the first permanent government took office on 25 January 1949.
- Israel had a transitional government in 1948. In this way the Tetrad can tie to the year 1949 for the first elected office of that year and the birth year could still be 1948.
On 14 May 1948, Israel proclaimed its independence.
Less than 24 hours later, the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded the country, forcing Israel to defend the sovereignty it had regained in its ancestral homeland.
In what became known as Israel’s War of Independence, the newly formed, poorly equipped Israel Defence Forces (IDF) repulsed the invaders in fierce intermittent fighting, which lasted some 15 months and claimed over 6,000 Israeli lives (nearly 1% of the country’s Jewish population at the time).
During the first months of 1949, direct negotiations were conducted under United Nations auspices between Israel and each of the invading countries (except Iraq, which refused to negotiate with Israel), resulting in armistice agreements which reflected the situation at the end of the fighting:
- the Coastal Plain, Galilee and the entire Negev were within Israel’s sovereignty
- Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) came under Jordanian rule
- the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian administration
- Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan controlling the eastern part, including the Old City, and Israel the western sector

1967-68

This coincides with the Six Day War when Israel was attacked by a number of nations with an overwhelmingly superior force
Israel won ‘miraculaously’ and extended its border, even occupying Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula for a number of years

Other Tetrads

2014-15 is the only Tetrad in the near future that aligns itself with Jewish holidays.
Other Tetrads not coinciding with Jewish holidays have occurred and will occur in:

2003-2004
2032-2033
2043-2044
2050-2051
2061-2062
2072-2073
2090-2091

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 “tetrad” events will be the last of the century.

Conclusion

This does not mean that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ at Tabernacles has to occur on Tabernacles 2015.
The blood moons show a pattern of Jewish persecution followed by increased land for Israel after a time of war.
Some commentators believe that the blood moons of 2014 – 2015 will be a time of war or persecution for the Jewish people. This may lead Israel to gain and/or loose land during this time.

Notes

There is a huge difference between astrology and astronomy.
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies) and observing the cycles in the heavens. Astrology is connected with superstition and witchcraft, where it is believed the order of the stars leads to a success or warns of things coming.
In biblical times, watchmen were posted on the walls surrounding the city. They not only watched for an enemy approaching, they also recorded anything happening in the night sky. From historical events on earth during the same time, unusual heavenly events were recorded. It was observed that there is a pattern of occurrences relating to heaven and earth. (Israel’s calendar is linked with the cycles of the moon, but keeps with the solar cycle by their leap years.)
“The Jews require a sign…” If it does line up with Israel fleeing into the wilderness, Israel will see the eclipses occurring on their feast days to show them that the time for their redemption is near.
God created the heavens and the earth and the sun, moon and stars, and are totally controlled by his power. The story of Joshua (the day the moon and sun stood still), Hezekiah (the day the sun went backwards), and the three wise men following the star to the location where the infant Jesus was to be found, is Bible validation of God’s absolute control of the universe.
Genesis 1:14 states that God has put lights in the firmament and let them be for “signs.” The Hebrew word for ‘sign’ is owth which means also ‘a signal’.

For further study

Signs: Leviticus 23; Joel 2:10 & 31; Mark 13:24-46; Luke 21:25 & 36; Acts 2:20; Revelation 6:12.
Israel in prophecy: Psalm 83; Ezekiel 39:1-5
Our response: Matthew 25 – the Parable of the Five Foolish Virgins

Epilogue

This article appears here because it is topical and because these astronomical events will coincide with Jewish holidays over the next two years. Whatever your own prayerful conclusions, please do not fall into the trap of becoming a superstitious Christian. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 of his return and the end of time, ‘about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.‘ However, it is important to simultaneously be aware that that moment could come like a thief in the night – suddenly, and for those who disregard the signs of the times, without warning.

Likewise, all we take for granted cannot be counted on: the current flooding in the Somerset Levels and along the Thames is a reminder of that. Some are warning of another economic challenge to hit the world in 2015 (it appears these things come in 7-year cycles), and that our understanding of commerce will have to change radically – there are Christians already preparing for such an eventuality.

Jesus is the ONLY safe place! Let us keep our eyes on him (Psalm 141:8 and Hebrews 12:1-2), casting our anxieties on him for he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).