A Special Prophetic Study, Isaiah 58:11
“Signs in the Heavens”
Luke 21:25
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
Revelation 6:12
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
There is a famous picture of a “Blood Moon” over the dome of the Rock in Jerusalem Israel.
This “Blood Moon: is actually a total Lunar Eclipse, where the Earth Blocks the Suns light from striking the Moon.
As I was going over our last study in the 7 feast of Israel, I came across some startling information…
Jesus said that after the 7 year Tribulation, the Sun will be darkened and the Moon will not give it’s light…
Matthew 24:29
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken
Jesus is describing a total Solar and Lunar Eclipse that He says will happen right after the 7 year Tribulation.
NASA has a web site called “The Eclipse Website”, where they list all the Solar Eclipses for the past 5,000 years and even for the next 2,000 years.
The Lord is very mathematical, very precise in the way that He ordered the Universe. The Solar and Lunar Eclipses happen on a very regular and predictable schedule that we can look back in time and see, or look forward and see, by use of computer models.
Genesis 1:14
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
Notice that the Sun, the Moon and the Stars are not just decorations in the sky, or to provide light, but they have the specific purpose of being created by the Lord for “Signs”.
The Hebrew word for “Signs” here in Genesis 1:14 is “Owth” (oth)
This literally means “A Signal”, a beacon or a monument. The idea here is that the Lord is trying to “Signal” us, to get our attention. It is not only a signal, but a signal for a specific purpose, “For His Appearing”.
Notice that the Lord also said that they are not only for signs, but also for seasons.
The Hebrew word is “Mowed” (mo-ade). This Hebrew word literally means a “Festival”, or an “Appointment”. When I speak of the 7 Feasts of the Lord, we thing “alright a chance to eat….” But in the Hebrew way of thinking, it has nothing to do with food, it is a Divine Appointment.
The Idea here in Genesis 1:14 is that the Lord is saying that “I have marked a day and a time when I am going to signal my appearing…”
So, when we see a total Solar Eclipse or a Total Lunar Eclipse, they are to mark specific appointments that the Lord has with earth and it’s people.
In the Sabbatical year of 2014-2015, 7 years from now, There will be 4 Lunar Eclipses and 2 Solar Eclipses in this one year, that will fall on Jewish Holy days.
They begin on September 25, 2014. They end on September 13, 2015. There will be, 4 Lunar Eclipses in which the Moon will turn red as blood, called “A Blood Moon”, in this one Sabbatical year Passover begins April 15, 2014. Tabernacles begins October 8, 2014. Passover April 4, 2015 Tabernacles September 29, 2015
When we look at these dates on the Gregorian calendar that we use today in our modern society, we don’t see an kind of pattern in these dates.
But when we look at these days on the Biblical calendar, Passover happens both times on the same day in 2014-2015. Tabernacles also happens both times on the same day in 2014-2015. The Lord wants for us to be watching the Biblical calendar. If we are watching the Lord’s calendar then we can know the time of His appearing. We need also to know what we are supposed to watch for. Passover always happens during a full moon.
During this 12 month period of time 7 years from now, in 2014-2015 on the Biblical Calendar, we have 2 lunar eclipses during Passover and Tabernacles then a Solar Eclipse, then on the next Passover and Tabernacles, it repeats again 2 Lunar Eclipses and 1 Solar Eclipse.
What is amazing about this is that this doesn’t happen very often when we have back to back Lunar and Solar Eclipses at the same time. On the NASA web site, they say that when you have 4 Blood Moons together, they call this “A Tetrat”. For a period of 400 years, there were no Tetrat’s.
In our current century, the only time that there are 4 blood moons together at the same time, are during these 4 Jewish feast days in 2014-2015
This will not happen ever again in this century. There are 2 other appearances of 4 blood red moons in this century, but they do not fall on any Jewish feast day.
Guess when the last time that 4 blood red moons appeared together?
1967-1968 when Israel recaptured Jerusalem for the first time in 2,000 years, Jerusalem. What this means is this is not accident, the Lord is intentionally marking specific dates. The next time in our past, that there were 4 Blood Red Moons was directly after Israel became a nation in 1948.
In the years 1949 and 1950 there were 4 Blood Red Moons on Passover and Tabernacles. There were no more Tetrats of 4 Blood Red Moons in the 1800’s, 1700’s, 1600. In the 1500’s there were 6 of these blood red moons, but NONE OF THEM were on Passover and Tabernacles. The next time there were 4 blood red moons was after 1492, when Columbus sailed to America, these 4 blood moons happened in 1493 and 1494, again on Passover and Tabernacles. Don’t miss this important point: all these alignments of Passover and Tabernacles happened during 4 blood red moons.
The point here, is that the Lord seems to be pointing His finger at certain dates and there is a pattern to what He is pointing at
Passover is the 1st feast of the Lord. Tabernacles is the 7th Feast of the Lord. It is as if the Holy Spirit is putting a (Parenthesis) around the beginning and the end of cycle of the 7 feasts At each one of these places, it is marked by a distinct astronomical occurrence of 4 Lunar Eclipses, producing these 4 blood red moons.
Matthew 24:29
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken
Jesus is describing a Solar and a Lunar Eclipse.
This happened in 1967 when Israel captured Jerusalem for the first time in 2,000 years, there were 4 blood red moons. This happened in after 1948 when Israel became a nation, there were 4 blood red moons. In 2014-2015, it will again happen, there will be 4 blood red moons. It is going to happen again any other time in our century.
What is so significant that it will happen again in 2014 and 2015? This is not an accident, this is the Lord speaking to us.
We have been talking about Lunar Eclipses where the earth blocks out the sun from striking the Moon, but in Matthew 24, Jesus also spoke of the “Sun being darkened”, which would be a Total Solar Eclipse.
If you go to NASA’s web site, they show that there will also be a Total Solar Eclipse on Rosh Hashanah during the Sabbatical year of 2014-2015. There are 2 more solar eclipses on February (Adar) 29 and April (Nisan) 1. April (Nisan) 1 is the beginning of Israel’s calendar, for us the month of April. Nissan 1 was the day that Moses set up the Tabernacle. February (Adar 11) 29, is the end of Israel’s calendar.
Recap:
A Total Solar Eclipse will happen on April 1 (Nisan) 1, 2015, which will be Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the first month. 2 weeks later, a total Lunar eclipse on Passover.
Then another Total Solar Eclipse on October 1 (Tishri) 1, 2015, the first day of the seventh month. 2 Weeks later a total Lunar Eclipse on the feast of Tabernacles. It is obvious that this is not a coincidence because there are no more of these for the rest of the century.
The point of all this, based on what Jesus said in Matthew, that “Just after the Tribulation”, the darkening of the Sun and the Moon will happen
Jesus said that the end of this 7 year Tribulation will have a Total Solar Eclipse and a Total Lunar Eclipse, that is what “The Sun Being Darkened”, and “The Moon not giving It’s light”.
From NASA’s space web site, we know that the only time in this century that there will be an occurrence of a Total Solar and Lunar eclipse, with a total Lunar eclipse on the Jewish feast days, is in 2014-2015, so logically speaking, this has got to be the end of the Tribulation.
Back up 7 years and we come to the year 2008, which is our year. There will be solar eclipses in 2008, 2009, 2010. Amazingly, all of them fall on the 1st day of the Hebrew month of Av (August).
The 1st day of the month of Av, was the day that Moses came down from the mountain and found the people worshipping the Golden Calf. The 1st day of Av is the day that Nebuchadnezzar broke through the walls of Jerusalem when he took Jerusalem captive back to Babylon. The 1st day of AV is also the day that the Lebanon war started 2 years ago.
Lebanon shot missiles into Israel, the same day that Nebuchadnezzar brook through the wall of Jerusalem.
In the Hebrew calendar, the month of Av is referred to as “The Dark time”. This Dark Time lasts for the first 9 days of AV (August), and it is the time when the people of Israel mourn the destruction of the Temple.
They don’t bathe, put on clean clothes, take their shoes off, they turn all their chairs upside down.
They sit on the bottom of the upturned chair. They do all of this because they want no comfort during those first 9 days of AV.
It was on the 9th day of AV that the 10 spies came back with the bad report from the land they had been sent out to spy.
Numbers 13:32
And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
Because the spies came back and gave a bad report, the rest of Israel was discouraged and did not want to enter the land that the Lord had brought them to.
Eventually, that entire generation of doubters died in the desert over a 40 year period of time.
This happened on the 9th day of AV. For this reason, the 9th day of AV has been cursed in Jewish history. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple, it was on the 9th day of AV. 600 years later, when Rome came and destroyed the Temple , it was also on the 9th day of AV. This was the day that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24, that the temple would be completely destroyed.
Matthew 24:2
And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
All the Jews were kicked out of England in the year 1290, on the 9th of AV. All the Jews were kicked out of Spain in 1492 on the 9th of AV. World War 1 started on the 9th of AV. Hitler’s proclamation to kill the Jews was on the 9th of AV. It was also the 9th of AV that Israel evacuated the Gaza strip when they rejected the land, 3,500 years ago. For this reason the 9th of AV is called “The Dire Straits”.
All the Solar Eclipses that will happen in 2008, 2009, 2010, will happen on the 1st day of AV (August) Is that just a coincidence, or is the one who named the stars and places them in the universe as “Signs”, speaking to us?
Now, in Jewish writing, there are important facts regarding what they see the meaning of a Solar Eclipse and a Lunar Eclipse:
Zechariah 8:19 mentions 4 fast days
Zechariah 8:19
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘The fast of the fourth month, The fast of the fifth, The fast of the seventh, And the fast of the tenth, Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts For the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.’
In Jewish writings, a Blood Red Moon speaks of something bad to come.
A Total Solar Eclipse means bad things for the Gentile Nations.
The context of Zechariah 8:19 is that the Lord says that He will turn those fast days of mourning, into days of Joy for the nation of Israel. In other words, the rest of the nations will be judged during that time.
2008 has a total solar eclipse , and two more over the next 3 years, is this a a picture of judgment for the Gentile Nations?
This is exactly what would happen if the 7 year Tribulation were to begin Next week,
It is during the 7 year Tribulation period that the nations of the world will be judged by the Lord. That 1st Solar Eclipse happened already on July 31st, August 1st, 2008.
In the year 2009 there will be another Total Solar Eclipse on July 31st, ?August 1st. Then a Third in the year 2010, on July 31st, August 1st.
This would mean 3 Total Solar Eclipses on July 31st for the next 3 years. Solar Eclipses meaning “Judgment of the Nations.” The first 3 ½ years of the 7 year Tribulation are the time when the antichrist makes peace between Israel and the Gentile nations. If the tribulation begins next week, there will be 3 Total Solar eclipses during those first 3 years!
The Jewish Sabbatical year this year in 2008, begins on Rosh Hashanah, September 29th at 6 pm in Israel, and runs for 7 years,
If it is the beginning of the Tribulation then the church will be Rapture’d out first, sometime at the beginning of the feast of Trumpets.
As the church of Jesus Christ, we are commanded by Him to “Watch” for His coming. So, at the very least, I am proclaiming a Rapture, “Watch’.
Look at what is happening right now all over the world, a great global financial catastrophe is about to happen, in fact, is already happening…
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for not knowing the signs of Jesus first coming.
Daniel Chapter 9, we know today, gives us the exact day that Jesus came the first time. 173,88o days after Artaxerexes Longimones gave the command for Israel to return from Babylon back to Israel, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, 32 ad. The angel told Daniel that would happen.
The Jews should have been waiting and watching for Jesus coming the first time, if they had been paying attention to the “Signs”.
Luke 19:43-44
43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,
44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Matthew 16:2-3
2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;
3 and in the morning, “It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
We cannot set a date when we can say absolutely the Lord will come, but we are also told that we should not be taken by surprise the way a thief would do if he came and broke into our house at night.
Revelation 3:3
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
Revelation 16:15
“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
Jesus always commended those who were watching for His return, and He even seemed to make special promises to those who took series to watch for Him.
Jesus said that when He came to those who were ready for Him and found watching, that He would make them ruler over ALL His goods.
Matthew 24:42-47
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
Now, everyone who Loves Jesus and has committed their life to Him, when the Rapture happens, whenever it happens, they will be taken up in the sky to meet the Lord…
But to those who make it their special passion to be watching for Him expectantly, and know the signs of His coming and believe them…”He will give them special charge over all that He has…”
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, When the thief in the night came, the one who was watching was not caught off guard.
1 Thessalonians 5
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
Paul tell the believers in Thessalonica that they really have no need that he writes to them about the “Times and Seasons” of the Lord’s return. Apparently, Paul had already taught them about the “Signs” of the Lord’s return.
The importance of these words “Times and Seasons”, cannot be over emphasized to us today.
The 7 feasts of the Lord, that I taught you about last Sunday, were referred to as “Appointed Times” In the book of Genesis, where the Lord says:
Genesis 1:14
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
The same Hebrew word used here for “Signs” is also used for “Feasts”.
In other words, Genesis 1:14, “The Moon and the Sun and the Stars are “Signs for an appointed time, specifically for a Feast. When Paul tells the church at Thessalonica “You know the Times and Seasons”, he is saying to them “You know the Biblical Calendar”. “You know what it says about the coming of the Lord…” Jesus often refereed to “A Thief In the Night”.
Revelation 16:15
“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches
1 Thessalonians 5
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
The gentile church today speaks of the fact that “No one knows the day or hour…
Ephesians 5:8
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
It is always important to read the Bible in context. Who are they talking to, what are they talking about…
Look in your bible at everyplace where Jesus speaks of “coming as a Thief in the Night”, do you know who He is speaking to?
In Revelation chapter 3, Jesus is speaking to the church at Sardus. Jesus tells this church that “They are dead.”
Revelation 3:1
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ¶ “These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead
Jesus is speaking to the “Dead Church”, and notice what Jesus tells this “Dead Church”:
Revelation 3:3
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
Jesus tells them that they need to be Watching for His return…
Otherwise, Jesus says, that He will only come as “A thief” to a dead church. That is, they will not be watching for Him.
Then as Jesus speaks to the church at Laodicea, He says
Revelation 3:17-18
17 Because you say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Most Gentiles don’t understand the context of “the shame of your nakedness and eye salve that you may see…what this actually means…
Now, tie Revelation 3, the message to the Luke Warm Church of Laodicea, with this next verse in Revelation chapter 16.
Revelation 16:15
“Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.
Most Gentiles don’t know that the Captain of the guard in Jerusalem, was called “The Thief in the Night”.
There were watch posts where the priests had to be watching. They were watching the fire that was on the Altar in the Holy of Holies, because it had to be kept lit continually. If a priest was caught asleep while on watch, the captain of the guard (THE THEIF IN THE NIGHT) would take fire from the altar and light the garments of the priest on fire. The priests would then take off running through the temple with their priestly garments on fire, tearing off their clothes, and the shame of their nakedness would be seen.
In Alfred Edersheims wonderful book on the practices of the Temple, he said that this actually happened on a few occasions.
Many Christians say that we cannot know the day or hour of Jesus coming.
Matthew 24:36
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells the story of the foolish virgins and the wise virgins…
Matthew 25:8-13
8 And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 But the wise answered, saying, “No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
12 But he answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming
It was the foolish virgins who were not watching that did not know the day or the hour, the wise virgins knew the day and the hour and went into the wedding with the Lord.
Luke 12
35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;
36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
37 Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.
39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
41 Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”
42 And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
44 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.
45 But if that servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,
46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
47 And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
Peter asked if Jesus was speaking this to the believers or to everyone else…
Verses 35-44, Jesus is speaking to those who are watching, that when the master of that servant who is watching, comes, and finds him watching, that master will make that servant RULER over all that he has.
BUT…
If that servant says in his heart “My master is delayed in his coming”, the master will come on a day when he is not looking for him…
When Jesus said that you will not know the day or hour, He was speaking to those foolish virgins who were not watching, and that foolish servant who was not watching…
In a Jewish wedding, it was the Job of the father to make sure his son had everything ready for the wedding.
It was the decision of the father to determine when the everything was ready and the wedding could begin. If anyone would ask the young man about to be married, “When is the wedding”, that young man would always say “Ask my father, only my father knows…”
To the Jews, the Feast of Trumpets was know to them as The Feast where “No one knew the Day of the Hour..”
Because it was based on the sighting of the New Moon. No one knew when the exact start of the New Moon was, so even today, the feast of Trumpets is kept as a 2 day feast, The feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah in 2008, starts Tomorrow, Monday September 29th, 2008 at 6 pm in Jerusalem, and ends at 6 pm Wednesday at 6 pm.
For us, because we are 1o hours behind Jerusalem, It will start here in Winslow at 8 am Monday, and end at 8 am on Wednesday.
Because in Israel, the feast doesn’t begin until 6 pm, it is after dark that the new moon can be seen or not, so it would not be until the next day perhaps that the people in the city would know if the feast had actually started or not…
By morning, most of the first day of the feast was already over, so they celebrated it as a 2 days feast because “No one knew the day or the hour when it actually began…”
Hence, Jesus said, “no one knows the day or the hour…”
When Jesus says that “No man knows the day or the hour”. He is saying that His coming for us at the Rapture, is the feast of trumpets,
That is what the Jews called the Feast of Trumpets, the feast when “No one knew the day or the hour.”
1 Thessalonians 5:1-4
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief in the night.
So, for the first time in over 400 years, there will be 4 Blood red Moon and 2 Total Eclipses of the Sun together on the Hebrew Feast days, in 2014-2015. These Solar and Lunar Eclipses are always tied to the Lords Feasts and His Judgments.
If we back up 7 years from this rare occurrence of 4 Blood Moons and 2 Solar Eclipses, that Jesus said would happen at the end of 7 year Tribulations, we come to 2008, where the feast of trumpets stars tomorrow morning at 8 am for us here in Winslow.
Will Jesus come and take us out of the earth at the beginning of the feast of Trumpets this year?
Only the Lord knows…
And Jesus told us to be watching for the signs and seasons, that point to His return so that we would not be caught unaware…
If you have not committed your life to Jesus Christ yet as your Lord and Savior, you will not be able to go when Jesus comes for us.
Rob Robinson
Listen to all of Ron’s MP3 Commentary at The Word MP3.com
