Blood Moon

Lately a book has been going around our family that talks about groupings of blood or red moons and solar eclipses.  This is the latest hot topic for people that are looking for signs to indicate that we are indeed in the days prior to the return of Christ.  This mouth will begin the first of 4 "blood moons" (called a tetrad) and 2 solar eclipses to occur during 2014 and 2015 in which the "blood moons" happen to occur during major Jewish feast times.

Because this is very rare and also because bad things have happened to the Jewish people during past tetrads it will be interesting to see what might develop for the Jews and their nation during this time period.     Some people speculate that this could be the beginning of the tribulation period which will start when a person who is later identified as the Antichrist makes a 7 year treaty or an agreement with the Jewish nation.
The tribulation will be a very bad time for the nation of Israel but it also is a time of judgment upon the gentile nations.

People who believe that the Church, those who are born again in Christ, will be protected from God's judgment by being removed from the scene in an event known as the rapture are naturally interested in when that will be but the time frame is usually connected to the tribulation.  Opinions range from a rapture prior to or just before the tribulation begins up to a point in the middle of the period (called pre-wrath, people will go through some tribulation but not the part considered to be the wrath of God).

My studies convince me that there will indeed be a rapture and that it will be prior to the tribulation period.  I do not know however what year or what day it will take place.  Many people believe that it will coincide with one of 7 major Jewish feasts known as Rosh Hashanna, or the Feast of Trumpets.  There is no biblical requirement that it occur during a Jewish feast time but I have suspected for some years that if it does the logical feast is not Trumpets but rather the mid, or fourth feast, the Feast of Pentecost.

Pentecost on the Christian calendar occurs this year on Sunday, June 8.  In the Jewish calendar Pentecost is known as Shavuot and this year the Jewish religious calendar has Shavuot during the period of June 3-5.

The Bible also indicates that these times will be accompanied by signs in the heavens.  I remember a rather old book by a guy named Bullard which talked about the story of salvation written in the constellations of the heavens which predated and was later corrupted by astrology.  The positions of the stars move (known as the procession of the equinox) and when certain planets or comets intersect certain areas or when eclipses or other "signs in the heavens" happen there are logical ways to put the pieces together.

Below are two articles concerning the time period we are in which I found interesting.  The first is from the blog Unstated.org written by David Efind.

This is the big one for me. Rosh Hashanah, September 23rd, 2017 and Revelation 12. I and others have scoured over hundreds of different dates using astronomy software and this is the first and only date for any year that fits ALL FOUR CONDITIONS of the sign in Revelation 12: Woman clothed with the sun. CHECK. Moon at her feet. CHECK. Giving birth to a single male child (the king planet Jupiter) right between the constellation’s legs. CHECK. Crown of 12 stars. CHECK. I have seen several close dates, such as Rosh Hashanah 2011, where 2 or 3 of the four conditions were met, but 2017 is the only date that meets all four conditions. THIS IS HUGE. Revelation 12 is a mid-trib sign, indicating the beginning of the last 3.5 years. Please also note: Jupiter, the king planet, was identified as THE Star of Bethlehem in the now famous Bethlehem Star documentary. It is the only object in the sky that meets ALL NINE of the conditions the Gospels mentioned of the Star of Bethlehem.

2. A LOT of external support for 2017 as a significant year: A. exactly 1 Jubliee after the 1967 re-capture of Jerusalem, which was exactly 1 Jubilee after the Balfour declaration. B. Judah Ben Samuel. C. Judah Ben Samuel rejected Christ, thus his “messiah” coming in 2017 is the antichrist, not THE Christ, which further points to the mid-trib. D. The Pyramid of Giza points to 2017. E. EXACTLY 1260 days before Rosh Hashanah 2017 is Passover 2014. F. EXACTLY 1290 days after each of the days of Rosh Hashanah 2017 is Passover, Unleavened Bread, AND First Fruits/Easter. G. Exactly 1335 days after Rosh Hashanah 2017 is Hayom-Yom 2021, the day the world needs purification. It also happens to be 2-3 days before Pentecost 2021.

3. As mentioned in point #2, Passover 2014 happens to be 1260 days before the sign/Rosh Hashanah in 2017. Passover 2014 also happens to be THE FIRST BLOOD MOON in the 2014-2015 tetrad! Of the four, it is the VERY FIRST. The timing is beyond incredible. Just think about it.

4. Here is where it starts to get even more chilling (in a good way): according to TorahCalendar.com, Passover 2014, which is 1260 days before Rosh Hashanah 2017, happens to be MONTH 1 of JEWISH SPIRITUAL YEAR 6000. It is the first month of the 6,000th year!!!

5. 2018, exactly 70 years from the rebirth of Israel, would thus be YEAR 6000 in the JEWISH CIVIL YEAR. TorahCalendar.com accounts for the ~230 missing years in the Jewish calendar, most of which were lost because of Seder Olam (a Rabbinical work in the 2nd century AD that forms the basis for the modern Jewish calendar).

6. 2014-2015 is the last year of Jubilee 120. No wonder there are 4 blood moons and 2 solar eclipses all falling on Jewish holy days!

This timeline places the signing of the Covenant with Many on Passover 2014, the AOD on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur 2017, and the Second Coming flexibly on Shabbat Parah (1260 days later), Passover or Easter (1290 days later), or Hayom-Yom or Pentecost (1335 days later).

Note: This is for the 7 year tribulation, NOT the rapture. I do not think it is possible for the rapture to occur and the AC to be revealed and sign the treaty on the same day. Rather, the rapture happens shortly after or before Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83, the dust settles, the AC arises, and then days/weeks/months later he confirms the covenant.

5. years from this Passover, on the Feast of Trumpets (September 2017), there will be another peculiar occurrence: an exact match of the sign described in Revelation chapter 12. It would not be a stretch to say that this has not occurred in recorded history: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon at her feet, birthing a male child, and crowned by 12 stars. There have been numerous ALMOST matches, but never an EXACT match. On September 22nd-23rd, 2017, the constellation Virgo the Virgin will be clothed with the sun, the moon will appear at her feet, she will be crowned by the 9 stars of Leo the Lion + 3 planets (also called stars in the Bible), and she will be “birthing” the planet Jupiter from her womb—which is the “king” planet.
   
   Even more amazing is that the planet Jupiter will have been in retrograde within the womb of Virgo for between 9-10 months (the length of a pregnancy). This is simply unheard of and all easily confirmable using astronomy software like Stellarium.

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Pentecost comes in the early summer (mid May-mid June).   It’s the only Levitical Feast Day between the 3 Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits) and the 3 in the fall (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles). The Hebrew name for this Day is Shavuot, which means weeks, so in Israel it’s often called the Feast of Weeks.

This is because it’s supposed to occur  7 weeks after the Feast of First Fruits (Lev. 23:15-16).  Deut. 16:9 confirms this.  “Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.” The first cutting of the grain took place on the Feast of First Fruits.   Since First Fruits was the first day after the Sabbath that follows Passover, it was always observed on a Sunday.  Shavuot, being 7 weeks later, was always on a Sunday, too, and celebrated the beginning of the summer harvest.

But  in 140 AD, following the final defeat of the Jewish nation after the bar Kochba revolt of 135 AD,  the Sanhedrin changed the focus of Shavuot from the summer harvest to the giving of the Law. They did this because Shavuot was one of the three feasts all Jews were required to observe (Exodus 23:14-17 tells us Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles were the other two) and the defeated and dispersed nation would no longer have any national harvests to celebrate.  From that time on, the count down began from the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day the Israelites left Egypt.  So now Shavuot can come any day of the week and takes place on the 6th day of the Hebrew month called Sivan, which is the traditional day Moses received the Law from the Lord.  Making this change placed the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai exactly seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt and preserved the Feast of Weeks in Jewish life.

Christians call this day by its Greek name, Pentecost, from a Greek word that means “50 days”.  There were 50 days from the Sabbath that followed Passover to the Feast of Pentecost, and that’s where the Greek name comes from.

Early Christians also changed the way the various dates are determined, although we’ve retained the Sunday requirement for Pentecost.  Christians now start counting on the day we call Easter Sunday, which is officially the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the Spring Equinox. We count Easter Sunday as day one, so Pentecost is always 49 days after Easter and always comes on a Sunday. By counting Easter Sunday on both ends of the span we can arrive at 50 days (Pentecost) and still keep the celebration on the 7th Sunday after Easter.

As I said, Jews now celebrate Pentecost (I’ll just use its Greek name to avoid any more confusion than necessary) as the day Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai and the nation of Israel was born. (Exodus 19-20) Christians celebrate it as the day the Holy Spirit came upon the Disciples in Jerusalem and the Church was born (Acts 2).  If you agree with my view that the parables of Matthew 13 describe the Kingdom of Heaven during the Church Age and that the parable of the yeast (Matt. 13:33) predicts the Church will be filled with sinners, you’ll be interested in the fact that unlike all the other Jewish Feasts that call for unleavened bread (no yeast), Pentecost calls for two loaves of bread baked with yeast (Lev. 23:17).  In the Bible leaven, or yeast, is a model of sin because it causes the dough to begin spoiling.

Other Jewish Pentecost ceremonies also reveal a subtle link to the coming church. In synagogues, the Book of Ruth is read on Pentecost. The story of Ruth has been called “The Romance of Redemption”.   It’s about Naomi, a Jewish woman from Bethlehem who lost her land due to a famine in Israel and was forced to flee into neighboring Moab, where there was no famine.  Shortly thereafter her husband passed away leaving her penniless and alone in a foreign country.

After the famine ended, she returned to Bethlehem accompanied by Ruth, a gentile woman who had sworn never to leave her.  Ruth was a Moabite who had married one of Naomi’s sons (who also died) making her Naomi’s daughter-in-law and a destitute widow as well.

Once back in Bethlehem Naomi’s close relative, a prominent Jewish man named Boaz fell in love with Ruth and married her.  In the process he also regained Naomi’s land as her kinsman redeemer.  Both these events were accomplished according to the Law.  For Naomi it was the law of redemption (Lev 25:25), and for Ruth it was the law of leverite marriage (Deut. 25:5-6).

The modeling here is dramatic, with Naomi in the role of Israel, destitute and alone; Ruth as the Church, the gentile bride; Boaz as the Messiah and the story itself as a prediction of the relationship that would involve all three of them.  In the process of redeeming Israel, the Messiah takes a gentile bride. In doing so, He saves both from their destitute condition and restores Israel’s Land.  The identification of the Church with Pentecost began in the prophecies of Ruth.

By the way, Boaz was the son of Rahab, the harlot from the Book of Joshua and 3 generations later his great-grandson David became the King of Israel. Rahab and Ruth are both listed in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 1:5), and King Solomon named one of the pillars at the entrance to the Temple after his ancestor Boaz.

By tradition Enoch, one of the patriarchs from Genesis 5, was born on the day later to be known as Pentecost. Enoch’s name means “teaching”, a primary function of the Church (Matt. 28:19-20)  For this reason many scholars see him as a “type” of the church as well. Genesis 5:21-23 indicates that Enoch had a close relationship with God and was actually taken live (raptured) into Heaven before the Great Flood. Pre-Trib scholars see this event as one of several Old Testament hints that the Church will disappear from Earth before the Great Tribulation.

These same traditions also hold that Enoch was taken on his birthday. So here’s a man identified with the church being born and raptured on the day that would become Pentecost, the day the church was born.  Will the Church be raptured on our birthday too?  Personally I don’t believe the Rapture of the Church will be the prophetic fulfillment of any of Israel’s Holy Days.  But if I’m wrong and the Rapture does fulfill a Jewish Feast, Pentecost is by far the most obvious candidate.