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!