Blood moons, a sign of the times?

Did you know four blood moons are scheduled to appear in 2014 and 2015? Photo Blood Moon Wikipedia/Roadcrusher

Four possible blood moons to appear in 2014 and 2015? Photo Blood Moon Wikipedia/Roadcrusher

“I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke
The sun will be turned to darkness
And the moon to blood
Before the great and awesome Day of The Lord comes (Joel 2:30, 31 NASV)

[by Dean Smith] In the Book of Joel, the prophet, peering into the future about the coming Day of The Lord or end times, saw it would be marked by three unusual events.

One of those involves the moon turning to blood, commonly called a blood moon. The others seem to be an eclipse of the sun and an earthly event marked by ‘blood (death), fire and columns of smoke’.

What are Blood Moons?

Blood moons occur during a partial or full eclipse of the moon. It can take place when the earth’s shadow partially blocks the sun’s light from reaching the moon. During a full eclipse, this can happen leading up to the full eclipse as the earth’s shadow gradually covers the moon and after as the shadow rolls off.

Light has a wide spectrum of colours ranging from short-wave length light such as blue and violet to longer-wave length colours such as red, orange and yellow.

During a blood moon, the sun’s shorter-wave lengths bend around the Earth’s atmosphere, leaving only the longer-colour wave lengths in the Earth’s shadow — red, yellow or orange. This can give the moon a red appearance.

Signs in the skies

When God created the celestial bodies, He said they would be used as signs to communicate with people on earth.

“Then 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 for years.'” (Genesis 1:14 NASV)

The Hebrew word for sign “ot” speaks of a type of signboard that is in itself an unusual event or is pointing to one.

As an example, the magi from the East saw an unusual event in the night sky which indicated to them a new King had been born in Israel (Matthew 2:1,2). It’s doubtful a star sat over Bethlehem as it is often portrayed on Christmas cards, but this star’s appearance indicated the time of Jesus’ birth and based on an Old Testament passage (Micah 5:2), the magi knew the new ruler of Israel was born in Bethlehem.

A blood moon in the Book of Revelation

As well as the Book of Joel, a blood moon is also referred to in the book of Revelation:

I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. (Revelation 6:12, 13 NASV)

The breaking of the sixth seal will be a clear indicator we have entered the end times. It will be marked by a ‘blood moon’, an eclipse of the sun, a massive earthquake and stars of the sky falling to earth.

The earthquake may be a further revelation of the ‘Blood, fire and columns of smoke’ prophesied by Joel (the possible after effects of a great earthquake). If so, Joel and John the writer of the Book of Revelation are probably referring to the same prophetic event.

According to John, when these events happen close to the same time, this is a sign an angel opened the sixth seal. There is no indication where the earthquake will happen, but obviously its impact is so significance, that ‘where’ is unimportant.

I am not sure what the fourth sign — stars falling from the sky — refers to. It may refer to angelic beings as the word star was often used to describe angels both good and evil. In Luke 10:18, Jesus spoke of Satan falling from heaven like lightning.

It may also refer to an actual celestial event, perhaps an unprecedented meteor shower with many hitting land. I realize meteors are not stars in our modern language, however in the ancient Greek the word star had a much broader meaning.

Four Blood Moons in 2014 and 2015

Mark Blitz pastors El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Washington. Blitz has been studying Biblical prophecy and astronomical signs for a several years. Using, NASA’s calculator, he noticed the earth would be experiencing a number of solar eclipses and total lunar eclipses (known as Tetrads) in 2014 and 2015.

Though blood moons are not uncommon, according to Pastor Mark Blitz there will be a series of full lunar eclipses occurring in succession in 2014 and 2015, meaning they will not be interrupted by a partial eclipse.

There are two each year. The dates for the total lunar eclipses are April 15 and October 8 in 2014 and April 4 and September 28 in 2015.

In 2015, a total solar and lunar eclipse will only be two weeks apart. Click on the links below to view NASA’s dates for solar and lunar eclipses:

But a second thing caught Blitz’s attention. One blood moon in 2014 will fall on the first day of Passover. Blitz says blood moons have fallen on a Jewish Passover three times over the last 500 years. Each time, it marked a significant event in Jewish history:

1492 — the last year of the Jewish inquisition in Spain, when the government expelled the Jews from the country.
1948 — when the nation of Israel was formed.
1967 — which marked the miraculous six-day war in Israel.

Coincidentally all four blood moons will fall on Jewish festivals in 2014 and 2015. Blitz believes such blood moons timed with Israeli festival days may be a sign of significant events happening in Israel over the next couple of years.

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