Hopefully you all are aware of
Jesus’ warning about signs in the sun, moon, and stars in Luke 21:25 as we near
the last of this age. Elsewhere in the Bible
there are other warnings regarding things to happen in the heavenlies in the
times that are approaching swiftly.
Well, beginning in April and in
the next eighteen months we will see some extraordinary things happening. These are clearly unusual. The interpretation and implications are yet
to come.
As background, let me remind all
that in Levicticus 23 God lays out seven basic appointed times, or “moeds” as
they are called in Hebrew, that the Jews are to observe each year. Often these are referred to as festivals or
feasts. The first three are coming in
April of this year – Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. Then there is an appointed time called Weeks
which coincides with what we call Pentecost.
And in the fall, three more - Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles (or
booths). There are historical
implications to these as well as future implications. For example, Passover’s
history goes back to when in Egypt each Jewish household covered the doorposts
of their homes with blood from a lamb, and the angel of death passed over their
homes the night before the Jews began their walk out of Egypt. Centuries later, as you know, Jesus with the
shedding of his blood on the cross and his victory over sin and death became
our Passover lamb. Now I am not teaching
about these appointed times here, just laying groundwork for what is going to
happen in 2014 and 2015. I do recommend
your reading Leviticus 23 to get a good grounding in these seven key times.
From the NASA web site, we know
that there will be a full lunar eclipse in April 2014 on Passover. This year Passover is the evening of April 14
and the day of April 15. This eclipse is
when the earth comes between the sun and the moon. During the eclipse the moon should appear
red, or blood red as often described in the Bible. Then, and this is amazing, at the beginning
of the last festival of the seven, Tabernacles, there will be another such
lunar eclipse – on the evening of October 8 and the day of October 9 (remember, a day to God begins after sundown
and goes through the following daylight period until sundown).
Then in 2015 the same pattern
will be repeated – lunar eclipse on Passover and then on Tabernacles.
These four lunar eclipses are
referred to as a tetrad. The occurrence
of the eclipses on these four important days in back to back fashion has
happened only three times in the last 521 years. So this is rare indeed!
Now consider what happened at
the time of the last three tetrads. In
1493-1494, the Jews had been ordered out of Spain and were fleeing for their
lives. Spain had been like a home for
the Jews, but King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had ordered them out. And of course you know what happened in 1492
– Columbus discovered America which ended up being a home for more than
millions of Jews and historically a strong support for Israel.
In 1949-1950 we have the period
immediately after the reestablishment of the Jewish homeland Israel. This was a period of great pressure on Israel
from the Arab lands all around. And then
in 1967-1968 we have the period of the six day war, and Israel recapturing
Jerusalem again after almost 2000 years of not being in charge there.
So it appears the occurrence of
such a “tetrad” on these key Jewish feasts is an important sign indeed, important
specifically for the Jews and Israel.
And now we have it coming once more.
I want you to be aware and to be
alert. We are living in the last of the
last days, are we not? This appears to
me as an extended sign, perhaps just to Israel and the Jews, perhaps more to
the world. That I do not know. I also do not know if this signals the soon
beginning of the seven-year tribulation or anything like that. But I do know enough to recognize an
extraordinary series of events when I see one.
I do not think this is a coincidence.
(February 2014)
Copyright ©
2014 by John Newlin
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