Home Sermons Services Publications Links
Mustard Seed November/December 2013
World Watch - What is Behind the Current News?
The Total Lunar Eclipses (Blood Moons) of 2014 and 2015
Are they Important?
Lunar and solar eclipses are part of God’s creation that He gave “in the beginning” and He set them as signs – Genesis 1:14. According to The Cannon of Lunar Eclipses there are approximately 250 lunar eclipses every 100 years, with approximately 70 of them being total eclipses. According to Mathematical Astronomy Morsels the number of solar eclipses is nearly the same. So why is there so much attention on the coming eclipses in 2014 and 2015?
The coming eclipses have become more widely known because of the recent teachings of Messianic minister Mark Biltz and pastor John Hagee. Why are they called blood moons? Because total lunar eclipses normally appear very reddish, and because many Biblical teachers are thinking that these are the very ones spoken of by the prophet Joel in Joel 2:31. Another reason might be that the term blood moons sounds much more dramatic than saying total lunar eclipses, even though the meaning is the same.
These coming eclipses are different in another way. They are not like the vast majority of eclipses that occur in pairs, six months apart -- but are a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, all within 18 months, known as a tetrad. Mark Biltz and John Hagee have pointed to three previous tetrads in an attempt to determine the meaning of the coming one in 2014 and 2015. They see a tetrad from a previous series in 1493-1494, plus two of the current series in 1949-1950 and 1967-1968. They see the nearly 500 year gap between 1493-1494 and 1949-1950, as well as rightly pointing out the fact that it will be another 500 years before another tetrad happens again after 2015.
Mark Biltz and John Hagee have also stated that they think it is extremely unique that these lunar eclipses “just happen to fall on Jewish feast days” of Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread (the 14th and 15th of Nisan) and also on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (the 15th of Tishri). These feast are not Jewish only. Eclipses don’t just happen. “The feasts of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:2) were given to all twelve tribes and intended for all people (“all the nations” Zechariah 14:16) -- and God will require all to keep them in the future. Eclipses are part of God’s calendar plan, using them to verify periodically, exactly when the feasts are to be kept.
I am reminded of the joke about several blind men who were each feeling a different part of an elephant, and were describing what an elephant is by the part they each felt. In a somewhat similar way, these two men are trying to determine the meaning of the coming tetrad eclipses, but are only looking at them in a 500-year window of several thousand years of eclipse history.
First, Mark Biltz and John Hagee do not seem to be aware of the fact that tetrads have been occurring throughout history and are always in groups -- groups of two, three, or four – and all within a 100-year period. Second, they do not seem to be aware of the fact that these tetrad groups are always approximately 500 years apart. Third, they do not seem to be aware of the fact that ALL lunar eclipses in Nisan and Tishri (as determined by the Jewish Calendar, otherwise known the Calculated Hebrew Calendar) will be on Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread, and also on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles over 80% of the time. God designed the calendar that way. A bit more on that subject shortly.
Additionally, they do not seem to be aware of the “great eclipses” throughout history in Nisan and Tishri. Great eclipses are those where at least one of the pair has a magnitude over 1.8 – which means that it was the most total type of eclipse possible. These are also in groups (usually groups of three) and are also all within a 100-year period, and always happen BETWEEN the tetrads. There have been 16 pairs of great eclipses in history – eight in the BC period (starting before the time of King David) and eight in the AD period, comprising six separate groups. The most important great eclipse group of all is in the final 100-year period of the BC era. The last eclipse of this series was the one just before Christ’s birth.
I do not wish to open a can of worms, so to speak, concerning the dates of the birth and death of Christ. The range of generally accepted years of His birth is from 7 BC to 1 BC, with the most favored years being 6 BC to 4 BC. In my opinion, 4 BC is most likely, since a 30 AD death (by the only Passover date that fits) is most likely. Those who hold to a 31 AD death are using a flawed calendar method, and those who hold to a 33 AD death are not using Passover at all. I said all of that just to get to the following point.
The final eclipse mentioned above was September 16, 5 BC (By Roman calendar midnight to midnight reckoning, it began on the 15th and ended on the 16th), which was the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. That is within one year before the day that Christ was most likely born, on the Day of Trumpets 4 BC, therefore the eclipse was “announcing” His birth – very soon.
There is more to this series of great eclipses as proof that God was using them for a definite purpose. They were in the years 99 BC, 52 BC, and 5 BC – exactly 47 years between dates. Of the six individual eclipses (three pairs), all of them were visible in Jerusalem, with four of them having almost perfect nighttime visibility. The planet Jupiter was visible in all three Tishri eclipses, in nearly the same sky location each time. In addition, all three Tishri eclipses were on the weekly Sabbath besides the 15th – a double confirmation. Each of the three years was a year in which a postponement was needed in the calendar – but close examination shows only one of the six eclipses in three years would have been on a Holy Day or the weekly Sabbath, IF the postponement system were not in use. All of these things did not “just happen” either.
Concerning the Calculated Hebrew Calendar. In my opinion, one of the purposes of eclipses was to help the calendar court verify their calculations, since the Holy Days coincide with eclipses over 80% of the time. In contrast, all other calendar methods only have Holy Days coincide with eclipses less than 20% of the time. In addition, it has been shown that the chronologies of Noah’s flood and of the exodus out of Egypt only fit the Calculated Hebrew Calendar.
Without the Calculated Hebrew Calendar, three out of four of the coming tetrad eclipses would not be on Holy Days. Two out of the four eclipses would occur two days before the Holy Days, and one out of the four would occur one day before the Holy Day. The various examples in this article show God’s stamp of approval on the Calculated Hebrew Calendar – throughout history.
So now, what is the real importance of the coming tetrad eclipses, you ask? My answer is the following. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME eclipses have been used by God to announce something. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME! He used the great eclipses in Nisan and Tishri of
5 BC – TO ANNOUNCE (approximately one year before) CHRIST’S FIRST COMING, along with many other heavenly signs. He is using a series of three tetrad eclipses (the current series) ending in 2015 -- TO ANNOUNCE (maybe two or three years before) CHRIST’S SECOND COMING, along with many other natural and supernatural heavenly and earthly signs.
These coming tetrads have nothing whatsoever to do with the theories of Mark Biltz and John Hagee, supposedly confirming events, after the fact, that have happened to the Jews in Israel, and of other events soon to happen there. They have everything to do with a message to the entire world, announcing an event BEFORE it happens, just like the prophet Joel said.
-Dan Day