The other day I was listening to a teaching and the teacher read Acts 2:17-20. Those verses suddenly caught my ear and lept in my mind, unrelated to the teaching. These verses speak of the last days. Peter was speaking after the Holy Spirit had descended, 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: Peter was quoting from Joel 2:28-31.
Verse 20 really jumped out at me as I was reminded of something I had heard not too long ago that was very interesting. We have the sun being turned to darkness, and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord. Now this sounds kind of outlandish just reading it and imagining it, but it is not out of the realm of reality. A blood moon occurs when there is a solar eclipse. The way the light is indirectly reflected causes the moon to turn to blood. Some might argue that this isn't some great sign from God but only what unlearned folks thought before science could explain why this happens. Truly a blood moon is not uncommon, but it's not so much the occurrence of it singularly, but we shall see why this become special.
In 2014 and 2015 we will have 4 blood moons. All of them fall on Jewish Holy days. This is significant as it is rare. This happened twice in the 20th century, once in 1949-1950 when Israel became a nation, occurring on Passover and Succoth. Then again in 1967-8 they occurred on Passover and Succoth, tied in with Israel regaining Jerusalem. We see a pattern here that these occurrences, being timed on Jewish Holy days, have been significant signs of important occurrences with the nation of Israel. The last time we had the 4 blood moons before that was in the 1500s, but were not on any Jewish holy days.
Now, in the middle of these 4 lunar eclipses, we have a solar eclipse. The sun being darkened. This also occurs on a Jewish Holy day. Now really, what are the odds of this happening? the key is in Genesis 1:14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;" The key part here is for signs. Things that happen in the heavens signify things God is doing and tell us what is going on. Something significant is going to take place concerning Israel, and therefore the world.
Now let's jump back again and look at the Joel verse Peter was quoting, because as these things are going on in the heavens with the moons of blood and the sun becoming darkened we find that. Verse 30 of Joel 2 specifically, " And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." While these wonders are going on in the heavens, down here on earth will be what? Blood, fire, pillars of smoke. This to me sounds like there is a war taking place. We know how close things are already with what is going on in the middle east. With the Iranian Nukes and the terrorist activities, all the upheaval in the Muslim nations, it would not take much to set it all off.
In mathew 24:22 Jesus says of these days, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." At no other time in history could we say that in a war that no flesh could be saved except in these days of nuclear weapons. It is at this moment that Jesus returns to keep us from totally destroying ourselves. He goes on to describe what will happen; 27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Folks, if you don't know Jesus, it's time you get to know Him, and believe. If you are a believer, it is time to get the house in order, and be ready. No man knows the day or the hour, Jesus says, but we can know the seasons. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
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