Blood Moons Rising Print
Written by Victoria Radin   

"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes….” (Joel 2:31)

Much attention has recently been given to the blood moon tetrad phenomenon. A “blood moon tetrad,” consists of four successive total lunar eclipses, with no partial lunar eclipses in between. Each eclipse is separated from the other by six lunar months (six full moons) in an astronomical series of four lunar eclipses in a row. The tetrad that began on Passover 2014 and will end on Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) 2015 each occurs on the biblical holidays of Passover and Sukkot of those years.

It should be noted that three of these four lunar eclipses are not visible – even in part – from Israel. The only eclipse that can be seen at all from Israel is the tail end of the September 28, 2015 eclipse, which may be observable for a short while before sunrise.

2014:
Total lunar eclipse on Passover, April 14-15 &
 Total lunar eclipse on Sukkot, October 7-8
2015:Total lunar eclipse on Passover, April 4
 & Total lunar eclipse on Sukkot, September 28

The two lunar eclipses that fall on Sukkot also coincide with the “Hunter’s Moon”. The Hunter’s Moon is also sometimes called the Blood Moon. The Hunter’s Moon will occur on October 8, 2014 and on September 27, 2015. In addition, there will be a total solar eclipse on March 20, 2015 where the sun is “turned to darkness”. Recently, all full lunar eclipses have been termed ‘blood moons’.

While lunar eclipses are thought to be bad omens for Israel, solar eclipses are thought to be bad omens for the world. The lunar eclipse that occurred on April 14-15 coincided with ominous events for Jews as was reported in an online newsletter

“On Monday April 14, 2014 not only was the first blood moon of the beginning Tetrad about to be manifest as Jews around the world prepared for Passover Seder, but something reminiscent of the 1930's was happening in yet another country (The Ukraine). Armed men were out in the streets of Donetsk distributing leaflets on the 15th ordering Jews to register their identity and assets.” ––Simantov

In addition, the headlines in the Israeli news following Passover were also foreboding for Israel.

  • Hamas, Abbas's PLO Announce Reconciliation Agreement
  • Israel Cancels Planned Peace Talks Meeting After Fatah-Hamas Unity Deal Announced
  • Ukrainian Jewish Mayor Shot on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Over millennia, Israel has experienced many foreboding times that preceded tragic events in Israel’s history. But, certain recent events seem to be aligning with prophetic predictions and biblical prophecy to make both Christians and Jews pay closer attention.

For instance, a twelfth-century rabbi predicted Israel’s future. In 1217 AD, he said:

“When the Ottomans (Turks) conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man's land for one jubilee, and then in the ninth jubilee it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time.” ––Rabbi Judah Ben Samuel

It was only 300 years after his death that the first of his predictions were to come true. The Ottoman Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1517. They remained in Jerusalem for eight jubilees (8 x 50 = 400 years). Then, in 1917, exactly 400 years later, the British conquered the Ottoman Turks. The League of Nations gave the Mandate to administer the Holy Land and Jerusalem to the British. Thus, from 1917, under international law, Jerusalem belonged to no nation, i.e. Jerusalem was a no-man's land.

Exactly one jubilee (50 years) later on June 7, 1967, 20 years after becoming a nation once again, Israel took possession of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, putting Jerusalem once again in Jewish-Israeli ownership. Thereby, the Messianic End Times began according to the prophecies of Judah Ben Samuel. If, as Samuel believed, 1917 and 1967 were Jubilee Years, we are currently in the 10th Jubilee since his prophetic word, which will culminate in 2017, the next Jubilee and the completion of Judah Ben Samuel’s prophecy.

Getting closer to the time of which Judah Ben Samuel spoke, another respected rabbi revealed having had an encounter with the Messiah. Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri claimed he had met the Messiah during the time when Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel. Kaduri predicted the Messiah would not come until after Sharon’s death. The 108-year-old Rabbi died shortly after Sharon suffered a stroke in 2006. The stroke put Sharon in a coma until his eventual death on January 11, 2014. His death stirred many in Israel and the Christian world to a heightened expectation of the coming/return of the Messiah.

Even more recently, on March 30, 2014, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch announced: “We hear the Footsteps of Moshiach.” Shternbuch received a secret prophecy that he had been given from a line of rabbis who received it from the Gaon of Vilna (1720 - 1797) himself, who revealed it shortly before his death in 1797:

“When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), you should put on your Shabbat clothes and don’t take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”

The Orthodox Jewish community believes they are called by God to be a Light to the Nations, i.e. to bring the knowledge of the One True God to the ends of the earth according to Isaiah 49:6. That “Light” is believed to be a prophetic anointing to carry the Word of God to the world. As such, these prophetic words from ancient Jewish sages cannot be ignored.

Yet, the Bible is still our standard for prophecy. In addition to the prophet Joel’s warning about the coming of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 7:1–9:7) spoke of the coming of the Lord in the birth of a child called “Immanuel” (God with us) to a virgin. The ‘near fulfillment’ of that prophecy was in the birth of a well-known child to a future High Priest, and then was further fulfilled in the birth of Yeshua, the Messiah who was himself, “God With Us”. Still, there was another virgin and child to which the prophecy pointed, and another event that would occur 65 years after the birth of this last child.

Jerusalem, [described as the ‘virgin’ city in Isa. 62:5; Jer. 31:4; Amos 5:2] gave birth to a son, the nation of Israel, ‘Immanuel’ (Isaiah 8:8) in 1948. It was obvious that God was with Israel during this (re)birth when Israel was immediately attacked by all the surrounding nations. Israel was without weapons and without friends in the world. Yet Isreal defeated the vast, powerful armies of its enemies because they could say, “God is with us” (Immanuel). Only God could have accomplished this miraculous feat.

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion [Jerusalem] was in labor, She gave birth to her children [Israel].” (Isaiah 66:8)

Israel celebrated 65 years of existence on May 14, 2013. Isaiah records the events he predicted would take place 65 years after the ‘birth’ of Israel.

“…and in another sixty-five years, Ephraim will be shattered as a people. (Isaiah 7:9b The Standard Jewish Bible For the English Speaking World)

And….

“He [Assyria] will pass through Judah, he will overflow and pass over, he will reach up to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.” (Isaiah 8:8)

According to these scriptures “Ephraim” will be shattered and Israel will be invaded.

Ephraim was the rebellious Israelite that broke away from Israel and took 10 tribes with him, appropriating Israel’s land for themselves, leaving Judah with only one other tribe (Benjamin) and the temple priests (Levites). Today, the Ephraimites are a ‘type’ of those who have appropriated Israel’s rightful land for themselves, i.e. the Palestinians.

Recently, the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, threatened to disband the Palestinian Authority that would effectively dissolve the ‘State of Palestine’ (i.e. the occupiers of Israel’s God-given land). While this would be good news for Israel, as stated above, the blood moons signify ‘trouble’ for Israel. The following scenario could be realized within the next few years.

1. The fulfillment of the Word of the Lord spoken to Zechariah:

“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.  And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3)

2.  The invasion by ‘Assyria’ [today’s Iran, Iraq, and Syria] of which Isaiah spoke (Isaiah 8:8). This will lead to a war that will change the face of the Middle East.

“Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed in the face of the king of Assyria, for there is a Greater with us than with him. With him is human might, but with us is the Lord, our God, to help us and to fight our wars!” (2 Chronicles 32: 7,8)

In looking forward to this time in history, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch says:

“…We're about to see big miracles, very soon. We live in historic times, so we must make the right choices. Without [faith], things will be really frightening. But with [faith], they'll be exciting - wait and see. ––Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch

3.  An Israeli victory in this war is certain and will lead to the false peace to which Jeremiah pointed. In each war that Israel has fought since becoming a nation in 1948, Israel was the victor. However, the world (UN) has always forced Israel to end the conflict without a victor’s ‘crown’, with instead only the promise of ‘peace’.

“They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11)

4.  This “peace” will undoubtedly lead to the construction of a third Temple on a shared Temple Mount, an event that will be so significant that it can only be compared to the re-birth of the Nation of Israel in importance.

All the events leading up to this historic period will usher in the coming/return of the Messiah, the culmination of Jewish history and the fulfillment of Israel’s destiny. The taking of the Temple Mount and Jerusalem on June 7, 1967 was preceded by the first eclipse of a ‘blood moon tetrad’ on Passover of 1967. That event was declared to be the beginning of the End Times by Rabbi Judah Ben Samuel in the 12th Century. What will the next blood moon of 2014 and the solar eclipse of 2015 reveal? And, what momentous event will be unveiled on the last day of the ‘blood moon tetrad’ in 2015?

The Time of Sorrows has begun.