Four Blood Moons (4 page)

If what God's Word says about the creation is not true, why would you believe His Word when He says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3)? If Genesis 1:1 is not true, why bother believing the remainder of the Word of God?

I asked myself the question as I continued my research,
What is the Bible's evidence that God totally controls the sun, moon, and stars?

I read the story of Joshua and the children of Israel, who were attacked by the armies of five kings seeking to annihilate God's chosen (Joshua 10:1–13).

The L
ORD
said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. So the L
ORD
routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon. . . . And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the L
ORD
cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

(vv. 8–11)

Keep this story in mind for it will come back in living color in the Gog-Magog War, which we will discuss later in this book. The story of Joshua continues. . . .

Then Joshua spoke to the L
ORD
in the day when the L
ORD
delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon;

And Moon, in the Valley of Aijaon.”

So the sun stood still,

And the moon stopped,

Till the people had revenge

Is this not written in
the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

(vv. 12–13)

God, the Creator of heaven and earth, took total control of the sun and the moon, which did not move “for about a whole day” (v. 13). For “about a whole day” would be almost twenty-four hours.

God's complete control of the sun is beyond the mental power of man to grasp. The sun is 109 times larger than planet earth. The sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at the core and 10 million degrees Fahrenheit on the surface.
²

On August 31 [2012] the sun expelled a cloud of 100,000-degree Fahrenheit plasma at more than 900 miles per second. NASA's newest sun-viewing satellite, the Solar Dynamic Observatory, tracked the vast filament, which measured about 30 earths across.
³

The awesome God we serve created and totally controls this powerful sun!

Additional biblical evidence of God's complete control of the blazing sun is demonstrated in the story of Hezekiah. The prophet Isaiah visited King Hezekiah and told him he was going to die (2 Kings 20:1). Don't you know that if your pastor, priest, or rabbi came to your house and told you God told him you were going to die, you would want to change churches or synagogues immediately!

When Isaiah gave Hezekiah the bad news, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed, reminding God of how faithfully he had served the Lord all the days of his life.

God heard Hezekiah's petitions and sent the prophet Isaiah back to Hezekiah to inform him that he would not die; instead, God added fifteen years to his life.

Think of it! The power of prayer changed the mind of God.

That was indeed good news, but it was common in the Jewish faith to ask God for a sign so Hezekiah did exactly that:

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What is the sign that the L
ORD
will heal me?” Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the L
ORD
, that the L
ORD
will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow [of the sun on the sundial] go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?” And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees [because the sun would be setting, which is normal]; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.” So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the L
ORD
, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

(2 K
INGS
20:8–11)

Hezekiah wanted a supernatural sign, not a natural one. When God caused the shadow of the sundial to back up ten degrees, He didn't just stop time—He reversed time. He made the sun and time itself go backward. That's supernatural and absolute control!

I believe that the exact amount of time Joshua required to win the battle against the five armies that attacked Israel in Joshua 10, and the amount of time that the sun went backward as a sign to Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20, balanced the solar clock.

That is power my friends, and that is the kind of God we serve!

Consider the story of the wise men that followed the star sent from God in search of the new born King (Matthew 2:2). Their declaration that they had come to worship the “King of the Jews” terrified Herod the Great.

Who was Herod the Great? Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 40 BC. He was called
great
because he was the master architect of projects in Caesarea, Jericho, Masada, as well as the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem, built during the time of the Second Temple, which still stands to this day.

Herod was also a wicked maniac who murdered nine of his ten wives on the mere paranoid suspicion that they may have been unfaithful. Herod
knew
he was hated, so he demanded that his son be executed on the day of his own death so that Israel would have a reason to mourn.

Herod the Great was the demonized despot who ordered the Massacre of the Innocents which was the execution of all male Jewish infants in Bethlehem. He feared that a king born of the Jews would challenge his throne.

Herod's corrupt administration could not endure a tidal wave of messianic fever among the Jewish people; revolts were born in such atmospheres. So when the Magi made their declaration that they had come to worship the King of the Jews, Herod called his chief priest to search for a prophetic record of a child who could possibly fit this description. The chief
priest came back to Herod with the writings of the prophet Micah, which read:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be Ruler in Israel. (5:2)

The wise men understood the meaning of Micah's prophecy. Therefore, let us turn the key of Scripture to the story of Jacob, the patriarch, and discover the link between the Tribe of Judah and the “One to be Ruler in Israel.”

When Jacob, on his deathbed, was giving the prophetic blessing to his twelve sons, he stretched out his right hand, laid it on Judah's head, and spoke these words:

Judah is a lion's whelp. . . .

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes;

And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

Binding his donkey to the vine,

And his donkey's colt to the choice vine,

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes. (G
ENESIS
49:9–11)

This is one of the most significant and profound prophecies in the Bible. Consider the type and shadow of Jacob's words and the revelation of Jesus Christ: “Judah is a lion's whelp” (v. 9) and Jesus Christ is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5).

The scepter is the golden rod of authority held by a king as he sits on his throne ruling his kingdom. God, the Father, appointed Christ, His Son, heir of all things and He will ultimately hold the scepter of righteousness (Hebrew 1:1–8).

Shiloh is the ruler to whom the scepter belongs, and it is also a place of rest referring to “the peaceful One.” Christ will be the only Ruler who brings rest and tranquility to Israel and the world. Remember, Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Jacob is painting a prophetic picture for his son Judah as he describes the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who would change the destiny of mankind forever.

Not only is Jesus Christ from the tribe of Judah . . .

Not only do His nail-pierced hands hold the scepter as the Son of David, Messiah, and King of kings . . .

Not only is Jesus Christ Shiloh . . .

He also fulfilled Micah's foretelling of the donkey by sending His disciples to find tied to the vine the colt that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Passover (Mark 11:2), just before His crucifixion.

And finally, Christ washed His garments in wine.

In the Bible, wine is a symbol of joy. Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana so that there would be complete joy at the celebration (John 2:1–11). “He washed . . . his clothes in the blood of grapes” (Genesis 49:11). The meaning of this verse is a picture of Christ crushing the enemies of Israel, as one stomps grapes to crush them in the making of new wine.

What Jacob spoke over Judah applies to our Lord Jesus. He is the Ruler of all His Father's children, and the Conqueror of all His Father's enemies. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. To Him belongs the scepter for He is the Lawgiver. In Him, there is sufficient abundance to nourish and refresh man's soul, producing supernatural joy.

The prophecy about Jesus does not start in Matthew—
it starts in Genesis
with breathtaking power and accuracy.

The Magi followed the star that would lead them to Jesus, who is the “Star” (Numbers 24:17), “the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16).

Do you need direction for your life? Follow the star of Bethlehem; it will lead to Christ. Wise men looked for Him then and wise men still follow Him today (Matthew 2:9).

The abovementioned accounts prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has absolute control of the sun, moon, and stars. He has used them in the past to send signals to humanity that something
big
was about to happen. The heavens are still God's billboard that sends signals to us today—but are we watching for them?

We have established that God, the Father, spoke through the prophets using the sun, moon, and stars. He then sent His Son on an earthly mission to speak of things yet to come. Did Jesus speak about the signs in the heavens and on the earth? Absolutely!

When the disciples came to Jesus on the Mount of Olives and asked Him, “. . . what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” He did not rebuke them but answered them by encouraging them to look for the signs on the earth and in the heavens (Matthew 24).

Jesus told them to beware of deception, which would be followed by wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes, the attack on Jerusalem by the Romans, and “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time [could this be the Holocaust?]” (v. 21). He said that “unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake [the Jewish people] those days will be shortened” (v. 22).

Jesus continued in Matthew 24:33: “When you see all these things [these physical signs], know that it [your redemption, according to Luke 21:28] is near—at the doors!”

Jesus ended His teaching session with His disciples by warning all generations not to attempt to set an exact date in which He would return (Matthew 24:36).

Although, Jesus warned us about setting a specific day, He did tell us to watch for signs of His coming. He not only gave His twelve disciples the prophecy in Matthew 24, but also He told them, “there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars” (Luke 21:25).

Though I had applied the study of the stars relative to the creation and the birth of Christ, I had yet to discover the connection that Pastor Mark had asked me to make: how were the sun, moon, and stars linked to the study of prophecy?

I searched the Scriptures for a new revelation with that specific question in mind and came to two verses that shouted out to me!

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the L
ORD
.

(J
OEL
2:31
NIV
)

The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

(A
CTS
2:20)

What did these two verses have in common? It was the blood moons! Now my blood pressure was up and my mind was racing with questions!

I knew they related to prophecy, but what were they saying? What was a blood moon? Have they appeared before? Were they coming again? I turned on my computer and started searching for scientific evidence supporting the blood moons. I must confess I am no computer whiz so I found my expedition most exasperating!

After more than an hour of finding nothing, I was ready to quit when it occurred to me that maybe God was using the heavens to send a sign to Israel and the Jewish people. I began a more focused search; I went to the NASA site and suddenly,
there it was
! It leaped off the screen, and I gasped with excitement.