How A Bible Believer Should Be Looking At This Weekend’s Blood Moon

Now The End Begins How A Bible Believer Should Be Looking At This Weekend’s Blood Moon by Geoffrey Grider The timeframe that Joel is seeing in his prophecy of the blood moon is the time of the Day of the Lord "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." Joel 2:31 (KJV) All over the world, various Christian and Christian-like groups are gritting their teeth as they await the coming of the 4th blood moon this weekend. Many books have been written attempting to explain the "prophetic significance" of these red-colored moons and corresponding tetrads. But here at NTEB, we don't base our eschatology on commentaries and books written by men, however well meaning they may be. We are Bible believers who believe the Bible (there's a crazy concept for you). Blood Moons 101 For Dummies: On April 15, 2014, there was a total lunar eclipse. It was the first of four consecutive total eclipses in a series, known as a tetrad; a second one took place on October 8, 2014, third one on April 4, 2015 and the remaining one will take place on September 28, 2015. what-the-bible-says-about-joel-3-blood-moon CLICK FOR THE NTEB BIBLE DOCTRINE TEACHING LIBRARY So what does the Bible say about blood moons? Not much really, but where it mentions them it is very specific. In the book of the prophet Joel, he talks about a blood moon, but not the kind that today's commentators talk about. For you see Joel's "blood moon" is not a moon that turns an orangey-red glow. On the contrary, Joel's blood moon is the actual moon turning to actual blood. Think about that for a moment and let it sink in. And while you do, ponder on this as well. The timeframe that Joel is seeing in his prophecy of the blood moon is the time of the Day of the Lord: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." Joel 2:31 (KJV). When does the Day of the Lord occur? It happens after the Rapture of the Church, at the end of the time of Jacob's Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7 KJV), and at the Battle of Armageddon. So what that means is because the Rapture has not yet happened, the Great Tribulation cannot start, and we certainly won't be seeing the Battle of Armageddon any time soon. Not unless you can jam all that in by this Saturday night! Having said that, the Bible believing Christian is ready any day to either face their own death or be taken up in the Rapture. Could it be today? Could prophecy be fulfilled this weekend? Yes, it certainly could. But a better question is are you ready for what comes next? You better be. We will not give into scare tactics and fear-mongering brought on by Christian authors who are trying to sell more books. Another place it talks about a blood moon is in Revelation 6:12: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;" Now from the wording here it could be either actual blood or blood-colored, but since Joel's view of the same day sees actual blood. I will view it in the same way as well. Acts 2:20 has Peter quoting from Joel and seeing actual blood as well: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:" Acts 2:20 (KJV) Now I know this is not nearly as exciting as whipping you up into a fever-pitch and being terrified awaiting a blood-colored moon this Saturday night, but it's what the Bible teaches. I will close with this. The next event that Christians are waiting for is the Rapture of the Church. The Rapture and the Second Coming are two different events. We will not be here for the time of Jacob's Trouble. But as far as the Battle of Armageddon goes, we indeed will witness that, and yes more than witness it, we will fight in it. Revelation 19 tells us how it will go for us in that Day: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." Revelation 19:11-14 (KJV) That's the Day of the Lord from Heaven's perspective. The "armies in Heaven" is the Church, that's us, and part of our inheritance is that we get to participate in the Battle of Armageddon in our glorified, resurrection bodies. In that Day we will certainly see the Blood Moon of the Lord, we will ride right past it on white horses! And that's how a Bible believer looks at the current blood moon debate. I think if anything might happen on the 28th, it could be the Rapture. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (KJV) Keep your eye on the eastern sky this weekend!