Authors: John Hagee
The sun, moon, and stars
are unmistakably connected to Israel and biblical prophecy
âand
that
connection inspired this book. God will use them to light up the heavens with an
urgent, top-priority message
for all mankind.
What is God saying to us?
How does the past hold the secret to the future?
What is about to happen on planet earth?
Everything is about to change . . . forever!
Keep reading, because this message from God is so urgent to
Him
that He sovereignly arranged the sun and the moon to perfectly align themselves to create a
Tetrad
âfour consecutive blood moons. He didn't do this just one timeâbut Tetrads linked to Jewish history have happened only three times in more than five hundred years.
And it's about to happen for a fourth time
.
The signs in the heavens through the blood moons are not the only prophetic signs of things to come. The Bible also uses numbers in patterns to teach spiritual truths.
God precisely measures time on earth. In
chapter 3
we will examine the prophecies of the past, which give us guidance into our immediate future in the Shemittah year, which occurs every seventh or every Sabbath year. God has an exact
set time
for all things to happen.
King David writes:
You will arise and have mercy on Zion [Israel];
For the time to favor her,
Yes, the set time, has come.
(P
SALM
102:13)
To whom shall I speak and give warning
That they may hear?
Behold, their ears are closed
And they cannot listen.
âJ
EREMIAH
6:10
NASB
Before we travel any further in our journey, allow me to define some terms I refer to often so you can better understand the prophetic message God is unveiling to His people.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth's shadow blocks the sun's
light, which otherwise reflects off the moon; the most dramatic is a total lunar eclipse. When the earth's shadow completely covers the moon it will turn
red
during the total portion of an eclipse.
The
red moon
is possible because while the moon is in total shadow (total lunar eclipse), some light from the sun passes through the earth's atmosphere and is bent toward the moon. While other colors in the spectrum are blocked and scattered by earth's atmosphere, red light makes it through. Because of the moon's vivid color NASA scientists often refer to it as the Blood Red Moon.
1
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the earth and the sun, and the moon casts a shadow over earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of a new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and earth and its shadow falls upon earth's surface.
2
The Bible clearly describes both blood moons and a solar eclipse in Joel 2:30â31 and Acts 2:19â20, and Jesus confirms them in Matthew 24:29 saying, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
A Tetrad is defined as four total lunar eclipses (Blood Moons) that consecutively occur during specific intervals of time. Lunar eclipses are relatively common, but total lunar eclipses are less common. A Tetrad is a rare occurrence and a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse within its series is even rarer. Furthermore, a Tetrad linked to Jewish history has only happened three times in the past five hundred-plus yearsâit's very rare!
3
The Roman or “pre-Julian” calendar was created during the founding of Rome and is believed to have been a lunar calendar. The calendar originally consisted of “hollow” months that were 29 days long or “full” months that had 30 days.
The original Roman calendar was said to be invented by Romulus, the first king of Rome, at around 753 BCE (Before Common Era). The calendar started the year in March (Martius) and consisted of 10 months, with 6 months of 30 days and 4 months of 31 days. The winter season was not assigned to any month, so the calendar year lasted only 304 days with 61 days unaccounted for in the winter.
4
The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar and replaced the Roman calendar in 45 BCE. It has a regular (common) year of 365 days divided into 12 months with a leap day
added to the month of February every four years (leap year), thus making the Julian year 365.25 days long on average.
5
The Gregorian calendar is today's internationally accepted civil calendar and is also known as the “Western calendar” or “Christian calendar.” It was named after Pope Gregory XIII, who first introduced it. It reformed the Julian calendar in 1582.
The calendar is strictly a solar calendar based on a 365-day common year, divided into 12 months of irregular lengths. Each month consists of either 30 or 31 days with 1 month consisting of 28 days during the common year.
6
The Jewish calendar, also referred to as the Hebrew Calendar (Hebcal) is based on three astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the earth about its axis (a day); the revolution of the moon about the earth (a month); and the revolution of the earth about the sun (a year).
On average, the moon revolves around the earth in about 29.5 days. The earth revolves around the sun in about 365.25 days, that is, about 12.4 lunar months.
The Jewish calendar coordinates all three of these astronomical phenomena. The civil calendar used by most of the world has abandoned any correlation between the moon cycles and the month, but God's chosen people did not!
The Bible is a book of very sophisticated and exact numbers. Take Genesis 1:1 as an example: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Seven Hebrew words produce this sentence in English. There are twenty-eight Hebrew letters in those seven words. Four times seven equals twenty-eight. Four in Bible numerology represents the earth, and seven is the number of completion. Therefore, the mathematical message of Genesis 1:1 is that at the end of Genesis 1:1, God had created a perfect world.
The Bible is a book of sevens. There are seven days in creation. God worked six days and rested the seventh. Through this timetable God signified that there would be six days of one thousand years, and the seventh day of glorious and perfect rest called the Millennial Reign. Second Peter 3:8 confirms God's timetable: “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
Continue with the concept of the Bible being a book of sevens. The apostle John addresses the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2â3). In the book of Revelation there are seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials pronouncing the Great Tribulation judgments.
There are:
⢠Seven days in the week (Genesis 2:2)
⢠Seven Ages and Dispensations (Genesis 1:3 through Revelation 21:1)
â¢Â     7 x 7 = 49; the year of Jubilee; a time of full restoration (Leviticus 25:8â12)
⢠49 x 10 = 490; in the Bible God does something that changes the course of history every 490 years
Dr. Clarence Larkin presents a brilliant and extensive study of the theme of
sevens
in the Bible in his book,
Dispensational Truth
.
Larkin establishes the birth of Abraham as 2111 BC; 490 years (70 x 7) passed until the Exodus of the Israel from Egypt's bondage.
7
The actual time was 505 years, but for fifteen years, according to Genesis 16:16 and Genesis 21:15, Abraham looked at Ishmael as the promised seed. It was, in fact, Isaac who was the promised seed. God did not count those fifteen years because the promised seed had not arrived. As I stated before, God establishes His own timetable.
From the Exodus to the dedication of Solomon's Temple was 490 years, as God counts time. The historical fact is that in this span of time God allowed Israel to be captured six times for a total of 111 years. When Israel is out of the land, God's timetable stops!
From the dedication of Solomon's Temple to the edict of Artaxerxes to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem was 490 years, not counting the seventy years Israel was in Babylonian captivity; again, when Israel is out of the land, God's timetable stops!
From the edict of Artaxerxes to the coming of Christ was 490 years. From AD 47 to AD 537 is 490 years; from AD 537 to AD 1027 is 490 years; from AD 1027 to AD 1517 is 490 years. As far as we know, these three spans of 490 year intervals from AD 47 to AD 1517 are silent in which nothing significant occurred. Their biblical value is to continue the 490 year chronology that takes us to the Reformation and the Turk's invasion of Israel, which occurred AD 1517.
God uses the number seven to measure time and judgments which brings us to the Shemittah year which happens every seven years.
Shemittah is the Sabbatical year, which occurs every seventh year.
Shemittah
is “Shabbat” (the Sabbath) for the land of Israel; the land “rests” in a fashion, similar to the way the Jewish people rest every seventh day (Leviticus 25:4).
While
observing
Shemittah guarantees abundant produce,
neglecting
it leads to judgment. Jeremiah foretold that the Jewish people would be exiled for not keeping Shemittah by not allowing the land to rest (Jeremiah 17:4). When the Jewish people violated the law of Shemittah, God exiled them for seventy years until the land “enjoyed her Sabbaths” (2 Chronicles 36:19â21).
Jewish tradition teaches that exile is the penalty for the three cardinal sins of murder, idolatry, sexual immorality,
and
for neglecting to keep the laws of Shemittah! The next
Shemittah year occurs in 2015, which is also the appearance of the final Four Blood Moons that align with the Feasts of the Lord within this century.
In America the judgment of violating Shemittah is not linked to the land of Israel but to our national disobedience to the Word of God. We give our allegiance to the idols of self-indulgence and greed, and our immorality is equivalent to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The year 2001 was a Shemittah year. What happened that year in America? On September 11, 2001, we were attacked for the first time on our soil since the British burned the White House in 1813. (The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor occurred before Hawaii became a state of the Union.)
Radical Islamic terrorists came to our country and hijacked three commercial planes with box cutters and flew them into New York's Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly three thousand of our citizens and crushing the illusion that America would never be attacked on our soil by an invading foreign power. September 11, 2001, will forever be remembered as America's new Day of Infamy!
Add seven years to the year 2001, and you have the year 2008, another Shemittah year. What happened that year in America? The
Wall Street Journal
reported
8
that the economic
collapse of the American economy began at the end of November 2007, the results of which became obvious and painfully real when the stock market collapsed
777
points on September 29, 2008.
What's next?
The next Shemittah year occurs in 2014â15, which takes place within the series of the next Four Blood Moons.
God always sends a nation warning before He sends judgment; are we listening?
Will America be at war? Will America's mountain of debt come crashing down, destroying the dollar? Will global terrorists attack our nation again with a force that will make 9/11 pale by comparison?
The attacks on the Twin Towers were on September 11, 2001.
The Wall Street crash was on September 29, 2008.
The next Tetrad will end in September 2015, which will include the Year of Shemittah. Will a crisis happen as before? What earthshaking event will it be?
This we know: things are about to change forever!
When discussing the signs of the times you want to find someone who is an absolute authority on Bible prophecy; someone who is always right and has never had to change his prophecy chart. Well, I have found that
Someone
. He is the Living Word!
He is the Word that “became flesh and dwelt among us”:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(J
OHN
1:14
NIV
)
Jesus took His twelve disciples up the slopes of the Mount of Olives to give them the Spine of Prophecyâit was everything they needed to know from that moment until His glorious second coming.
The Spine of Prophecy is revealed in
chapter 4
.