Blood Moons Rising

On June 11, 2008, at the Maranatha Chapel in San Diego, Pastor Ray Bentley interviewed Mark Biltz. Mark Biltz is the pastor at El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, WA. A webcast of the interview is here. Skip about 42 minutes into this church service to get to the beginning of the interview.

I have written three articles concerning the topics covered in this interview. The material in these articles is derived almost entirely from this interview, and I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due: Mark Biltz for explaining so clearly and effectively the nature of God’s feast days as prophecy, and for discovering the relationship of the four total lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses in the years 2014 and 2015 to the feast days, and their implications, and Ray Bentley for conducting an excellent, very coherent, interview.

The three articles covers roughly these three topics:

1. God’s Feast Days as Prophecy;
2. Why we can expect the Rapture to occur on Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets), and the Gentile Church’s misinterpretation of Jesus’ words concerning the timing of His coming; and
3. The findings of Mark Biltz (and others) regarding the eclipses in 2014 and 2015, and what they might tell us about the timing of the Lord’s return.

This is the third of these articles.

When Pastor Biltz saw a photo of a total lunar eclipse over the Dome of the Rock earlier this year, it stirred his memory and curiosity. He remembered the verse in Joel (Joel 2:31), "The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes." He also recalled Mark 13:24, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light…."

The plain meaning is that these passages refer to solar and lunar eclipses.

As it turns out, NASA has a web site that has tables of solar and lunar eclipses for thousands of years. These web sites are:

1. lunar eclipses - http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat/LEcatalog.html
2. solar eclipses - http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html
   
   

Pastor Biltz noticed that NASA had commented on a series of four total lunar eclipses in a row in 2014 and 2015, calling them a "tetrad." The dates didn't seem to mean anything, until he realized that he should be looking at the dates in the Biblical, Hebrew calendar, not our Gregorian calendar. (You can download a good Biblical calendar from aish.com. On the left click on "holidays", go to the bottom for free Hebrew calendar download.

When he looked at them in the Hebrew calendar, he found that the first lunar eclipse in 2014 is on Passover. The second is on the first day of Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles). That seemed pretty unusual. Then he noticed that in 2015 they are on Passover and Succoth again! A lunar eclipse (blood moon) on the first and last of God's feasts for two years in a row!

The next question was, how often does this happen?

In this century there are other tetrads, but none occur on the festivals. In the last century, the last time there was a tetrad on Passover and Succoth was in 1967 and 1968, associated with the Six Day War when Jerusalem came back into the hands of the Jewish people. The next previous time was 1949 and 1950, marking Israel becoming a nation on May 14, 1948.

In the 1800s, no tetrads at all. In the 1700s, no tetrads at all. In the 1600s, no tetrads at all. In the 1500s, 5 or 6 tetrads but none on Passover and Succoth.

In 1492, Columbus (who was Jewish and a believer in Christ) sailed for America on the 9th of Av. All the Jews were kicked out of Spain on the 9th of Av in 1492. In 1493 & 1494 there was a tetrad on Passover and Succoth.

As an aside, the 9th of Av is a really, really, really bad day in Jewish history! When the 10 spies brought the bad report of the Promised Land, and Joshua and Caleb brought the good report, this was the 9th of Av. The 10 spies became cursed in Jewish history for rejecting the land. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple in 587 BC, it was burnt to the ground on the 9th of Av. In 70 AD, Titus and the Roman 10th Legion destroyed the temple and burned it to the ground on the 9th of Av. In 1290 all the Jews were kicked out of England on the 9th of Av. In 1492 all the Jews were kicked out of Spain on the 9th of Av. WW I started on the 9th of Av. Hitler's proclamation to kill the Jews was issued on the 9th of Av. And Israel evacuated the Gaza strip on the 9th of Av. Truly a bad day for the Jews!

What about eclipses? Throughout the Scriptures, a blood moon (total lunar eclipse) is a bad sign for Israel and a total solar eclipse is a bad sign for the nations (the gentiles).

We've talked about lunar eclipses. What about solar eclipses in those years? A total solar eclipse occurs in 2015 just before Nissan 1, ending one religious year and beginning the next. Nissan 1 is the day Moses set up the Tabernacle and the Glory of God fell from heaven, marking a new beginning. On the Feast of Trumpets in 2015 is another solar eclipse (a partial eclipse).

We have seen that God has used these Tetrads on His holy days to provide a sign to the world. It seems reasonable that He is doing it again. Although no one knows God's timetable, He just might be marking the return of Jesus Christ with these signs. If we make the assumption (and it is only an assumption) that Jesus returns in 2015, we know the Tribulation is seven years making the beginning of the Tribulation in 2008. Yes, this year! We also remember that many believe that Jesus will Rapture His church on the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah this year (2008) is on September 30 and October 1.

One other set of signs seems to point to the beginning of the Tribulation this year. This has to do with a three week period known as the Dire Straits.

The Dire Straits begin on the 17th of Tamuz, in the summer time. This is the day the Israelites worshipped the golden calf. The 17th of Tamuz is the same day Nebuchadnezzar broke through the Northern walls before he destroyed the Solomon's temple, and the same day the missiles went through the Northern border of Israel at the beginning of the last Lebanon war.

They end on the 9th of Av, three weeks later. During this time, Jews are seeking God and repenting for the sins of their forefathers.

The next three solar eclipses occur 3 years in a row right in the middle of the Dire Straits, on the last day of Tamuz and on the 1st of Av. The first one occurred this year on August 1, the 1st of Av. Things have been very interesting since then, haven't they?

Does this prove that Jesus will Rapture His church this year? No. No, it does not. No one knows the mind of God.

But it could be this year! The signs are pointing to it!

"Earthquakes in various places"

In Mark 13:8, Jesus said "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains."

Can anyone who sees this chart doubt that the birth pains have begun, at least for earthquakes?

This information is derived from the USGS website. I did not go back earlier than 1970 because I was not sure about the reliability of the data for earlier dates.

Note that the data for 2008 is incomplete.

The Feast of Trumpets

On June 11, 2008, at the Maranatha Chapel in San Diego, Pastor Ray Bentley interviewed Mark Biltz. Mark Biltz is the pastor at El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, WA. A webcast of the interview is here. Skip about 42 minutes into this church service to get to the beginning of the interview.

Iwrote three articles concerning the topics covered in this interview. The material in these articles is derived almost entirely from this interview, and I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due: Mark Biltz for explaining so clearly and effectively the nature of God’s feast days as prophecy, and for discovering the relationship of the four total lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses in the years 2014 and 2015 to the feast days, and their implications, and Ray Bentley for conducting an excellent, very coherent, interview.

The three articles cover roughly these three topics:

1. God’s Feast Days as Prophecy;
2. Why we can expect the Rapture to occur on Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets), and the Gentile Church’s misinterpretation of Jesus’ words concerning the timing of His coming; and
3. The findings of Mark Biltz (and others) regarding the eclipses in 2014 and 2015, and what they might tell us about the timing of the Lord’s return.

This is the second of these articles.

The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)

This is the only feast where the Jews blow the Shofar (trumpet) one hundred times. Throughout Jewish history, the 100th blast has always been known as the Last Trump. Therefore, when Ephesians speaks of the Last Trump, Paul was talking about the Feast of Trumpets.

All other feasts are on the full moon, 14 days after the last new moon. Their start can be determined by simply counting days. The Feast of Trumpets is on the new moon, the very first day of the month. In order to determine the new moon, two witnesses would need to go to the Sanhedrin and testify that they saw the new moon. Fires would be set to let all the Jews everywhere know that the feast had begun. They couldn’t just count days.

Because of this uncertainty, when you woke up in the morning, the feast could already be half over. This was unacceptable, because the Jews were required to keep the entire day.

To solve this dilemma, they kept the feast for two days, and it was known as one long day.Because it was based on the sighting of the new moon, the feast was known as “the feast where no one knew the day or the hour” when it was going to begin.

Even to this day, on Jewish calendars it still covers two days. (Rosh Hashanah is also called the Feast of the Long Day.) “I don’t know which day it’s going to be on, but it’s one or the other.” It is also known as the Hidden Day. Because it is on one day or the other, it’s hidden from Satan so he won’t know the exact time, either.

The Rapture begins the Wedding of the Messiah. Whenever any Jewish man was going to get married, the father did all the preparation. Whenever the groom was asked when the wedding would be he would respond “Only my father knows.” This was a common term of respect.

The Feast of Trumpets is the sign. It’s the Last Trump. It is the crowning of the King. It is the day of Hiddenness. It’s the day the gates are opened, the opening of the books. It’s the long day. And, it’s the only feast where you don’t know the exact day or hour.

God always warns before he brings judgment. For example, there are seven trumpet judgments in Revelation. Many people, including Mark Biltz, believe that the Rapture will occur on the Feast of Trumpets.

When a statement like that is made, it is inevitable that someone will point out the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” However, as we have just seen, this was a common Jewish phrase in Jesus’ day, with a different meaning from our present day, gentile, understanding.

In addition, Pastor Biltz cites several verses that show that Jesus was speaking to the sleeping church that is not watching and awaiting His return.

In 1st Thessalonians 5:1-2 Paul says, “But of the times and the season, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” What does Paul mean by “thief in the night?”

Pastor Biltz shows a picture from The Temple Institute of a sleeping watchman being found asleep by the captain of the watch.

Remember, God lit the first fire on the altar. The Israelites were commanded to never let the fire go out. Priests were assigned to guard the flame, two at a time. When the captain of the guard would come to check, if he found one of the priests sleeping, he would take a torch, light it with the fire from the altar, and set the sleeping priest’s garments on fire. The priestly guard would jump up screaming, tearing off his burning garments, and go running through the temple naked.

The captain of the guard was referred to in the vernacular as “the thief in the night!” His job was to insure that the watchmen were keeping the fires burning.

When Jesus talked about coming as a thief in the night, he was talking about this very circumstance. He was not speaking to those who are watching and waiting, He is warning the church that is not watching, asleep on the job. Jesus was writing to the religious community that didn’t believe that He was coming, weren’t watching, were asleep. In effect, He was saying to them “When things start happening, you’ll be running and screaming, exposing your shame because you were not prepared, even though you said that you were My children.”

In Revelation 3:1-3, Jesus says “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.” (My emphasis)

Through John, He was writing to the “dead” church. He was telling them that He would come as a thief to those who are not watching!

Revelation 3: 17-18 says, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”

This ties in with Revelation 16:15 - “Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!” He comes as a thief to the sleeping church.

1st Thessalonians 5:3 says, “While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

“Sudden destruction will come upon them” speaks to those who are not watching, not those who are watching, because those who are watching “are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.” (emphasis mine)

In the parable of The Foolish Virgins, Matt 25:8-13, Jesus said “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Jesus was speaking to the foolish virgins, not to the wise virgins. The wise virgins were already in the marriage feast.

In the story of faithful and unfaithful servants, Luke 12:37-48, Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”’

If you’re not watching and don’t believe the Lord is coming, THEN he comes like a thief in the night. Don't let that be you!

Every year on the Feast of Trumpets we should be watching for the return of our Lord.

The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) this year is on September 30 and October 1. Be ready!


Update! After I posted this, I realized that to use the illustration from the Temple Institute I needed their permission. When I emailed them, not only did I receive permission, I also received some comments correcting my understanding of the temple guard. This is the email I received:

Dear Mr. Smith,
Shalom and greetings from Jerusalem. Thanks for your email request. Permission is granted for this use.
Respectfully, I'd just like to comment on what you have written here, from the standpoint of Jewish scholarship...since the subject of the Holy Temple is a Jewish subject I would like to clarify one point. It was the Levites, not the priests, who stood guard in the Holy Temple at night. There were twenty four specific points within the Temple where these guards stood watch; however, the purpose of this guard was to honor the Divine Presence. No priests were assigned to guard the flame on the altar. Also, the sleeping Levite's garments were only singed. There were never allowed to actually catch fire. No one ever ran through the Holy Temple naked.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Chaim Richman
Director, International Department
The Temple Institute

I would like to thank Rabbi Richman for his kind comments, and I stand corrected.

God's Holy Days as Prophecy

On June 11, 2008, at the Maranatha Chapel in San Diego, Pastor Ray Bentley interviewed Mark Biltz. Mark Biltz is the pastor at El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, WA. A webcast of the interview is here. Skip about 42 minutes into this church service to get to the beginning of the interview.

I wrote three articles concerning the topics covered in this interview. The material in these articles is derived almost entirely from this interview, and I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due: Mark Biltz for explaining so clearly and effectively the nature of God’s feast days as prophecy, and for discovering the relationship of the four total lunar eclipses and two solar eclipses in the years 2014 and 2015 to the feast days, and their implications, and Ray Bentley for conducting an excellent, very coherent, interview.

The three articles cover roughly these three topics:

1. God’s Feast Days as Prophecy;
2. Why we can expect the Rapture to occur on Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets), and the Gentile Church’s misinterpretation of Jesus’ words concerning the timing of His coming; and
3. The findings of Mark Biltz (and others) regarding the eclipses in 2014 and 2015, and what they might tell us about the timing of the Lord’s return.

This is the first of these articles.

Genesis 1:14 says “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years”. The Hebrew word translated as “signs” carries a connotation of being a signal for His coming or appearing. The word translated as “season” means “appointed times”, as in feasts, convocations, dress rehearsals, and assemblies. Therefore, God himself has told us that the sun and the moon were placed in the heavens to be signs and signals for us.

It is important to note that when God gave these feast days to Moses, He called them the Feasts of the Lord, not Feasts of Israel, or Feasts of the Jews. They are His. To man, this should emphasize their importance.

If there are signs and signals during the feast days, the signs and signals would be solar and lunar eclipses. An eclipse on a feast day is a sign that Heaven is intersecting with earthly history and something exceptional is about to happen. More on this in the third article in this series.

Mark Biltz views the festivals/feasts as dress rehearsals of what Israel is going to go through in the future. The seven feasts are all to be fulfilled in Jesus, all are pictures of Him. The First four are a type of the First Coming and have already been fulfilled; the last three are a type of the Second Coming and will be fulfilled soon.

In this article we will mostly discuss the first four of the seven feasts. These are Passover (Pesah), Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Weeks (also known as Passover).

Passover

Christians know Passover as the day the Angel of Death passed over the children of Israel in Egypt, because of the blood of a lamb over the door of the Israelite’s house. We also know Passover because our Lord, Jesus Christ, died for our sins on Passover. We know Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Passover lamb was offered to God to cover up the sins of Israel for the year. Jesus atoned for them forever.

The killing of the Passover lamb every year was a dress rehearsal of the death of Jesus on the cross. The Lord was bound to the cross the third hour of the day (9:00 AM). This is the time of the morning sacrifice. At this very time, the priest was binding the Passover lamb to the horns of the altar. Jesus died at the ninth hour of the day (3:00 PM). This is the time of the evening sacrifice. Jesus died at the very same time that the high priest was killing the Passover Lamb, fulfilling this prophecy!

Unleavened Bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the next day after Passover, and celebrates the Israelites' release from slavery in Egypt. In the Bible, leavening (yeast) is used to represent sin, so unleavened means without sin. Jesus was without sin, and His body did not decay.

Firstfruits

The Feast of Firstfruits is three days after Passover. This is the day that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion. Imagine! The Jews had been celebrating the feast of Firstfruits for 1500 years before Jesus fulfilled it, for He is the firstfruits of the resurrection!

Weeks (Pentecost)

The first Pentecost was the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. On this day God killed 3,000 Israelites who sinned against God by worshiping the golden calf. After Jesus’ resurrection, on this day the Holy Spirit was poured out, first on the disciples, then on the 3,000 who were redeemed by receiving Jesus on that day. The Jews kept Pentecost for 1500 years before its fulfillment by the Holy Spirit on our Pentecost!

There is a gap in the feasts, known as the Summer Harvest. This symbolizes the 2000 years from the first coming to the second coming. It is a time of harvesting. We are somewhere near the end of the Summer Harvest. Now the time of the Gentiles is almost fulfilled.

The last three feasts are the Feasts of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles (Sukkot). We will discuss them in the next two articles.