Does the ‘blood moon’ predict the ‘Day of the Lord’ in 2014?

A reader sent me the following from the Jewish Press:

There will be a string of four “blood moons” in the year 5775, and one of them will shine over the Passover seder. Whenever this happened in the past, enormous events took place in Jewish history.

It starts with the Book of Joel, Chapter 3:3-4: “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”

The verse about the sun turning dark and the moon turning to blood, is at the center of a new, hot, Christian bestseller titled “Four Blood Moons,” by Pastor John Hagee.

The science of the “blood moon” phenomenon is fairly simple. It is created by a partial lunar eclipse. When the Earth’s shadow covers the moon completely, we get a total eclipse. A partial lunar eclipse happens wen the Earth’s shadow covers the moon only partially. The earth atmosphere bends light around its edge, and scatters out shorter-wavelength light (green through violet), leaving longer-wavelength light (red, orange, and yellow) in the Earth’s shadow. This is also why sunsets and sunrises generally appear red.

As is the case with most miraculous events that can be explained scientifically, the miracle is not in the natural phenomenon, but rather in its timing. So the Book of Joel describes solar eclipse, followed by a partial lunar eclipse, as precursors of the Day of the Lord…Blitz noticed that “blood moons” result from lunar eclipses. http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/messianic-blood-moon-rising-on-passover-seder/2013/10/06

The Jewish year 5775 begins September 25, 2014 and runs until September 13, 2015.

WND has reported that at least one will be earlier than that:

Have you heard about the “blood moons” coming in 2014 and 2015?

Might they herald an event of prophetic biblical significance?…

On Passover 2014 the first of a series of mysterious astronomical events will occur that will have the whole world looking up at the night skies…

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When checking the schedule for eclipses, Biltz found two – one on Passover the next on the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. Two more take place in 2015, also on biblical “feast” days. http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/are-you-ready-for-2014-biblical-blood-moons/#S7jmGXUUVkEO7Yet.99

The above is quite odd because Passover is on or near a night of the full moon, whereas Rosh Hashanah (which is also known as the Feast of Trumpets) is on or near a night of a “new” moon. I have not read the information from Biltz that presumably tries to explain this; but suspect that someone meant to refer to the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot, which starts on or near a night of the full moon, as opposed to the Feast of Trumpets–and a video I watched from John Hagee referred to Sukkot and not Rosh Hoshana as did one I later saw by Mark Biltz.

I probably should add that when I went to a NASA website today to try to validate some of the report (the dates) shown in World News Daily, the following message appeared:

Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.
We sincerely regret this inconvenience.

So, I was unable to find the type of confirmation from NASA I had hoped to.

A while ago, another reader sent me the following old news item (also from WND) suggesting that Jesus will return in 2015 based upon the biblical calendar and data from NASA:

Blood moon eclipses: 2nd Coming in 2015?

Minister uses NASA forecasting to study signals of Jesus’ return

Will Jesus Christ return to Earth in the year 2015?

And can studying NASA’s website provide evidence for such a scenario?

A minister who promotes the Old Testament roots of Christianity suggests a rare string of lunar and solar eclipses said to fall on God’s annual holy days seven years from now could herald what’s come to be known as the “Second Coming” of Jesus.

“God wants us to look at the biblical calendar,” says Mark Biltz, pastor of El Shaddai Ministries in Bonney Lake, Wash. “The reason we need to be watching is [because] He will signal His appearance. But we have to know what to be watching as well. So we need to be watching the biblical holidays.” “There are no more of these for the rest of the century.’ http://www.wnd.com/2008/04/63076/

I actually reported about this a number of years ago, nearer when this story came out.

Despite blood moons, Jesus will not be returning in 2014 or 2015. There are simply too many additional biblically-required signs that Jesus listed in Matthew 24 that cannot occur between now and then. Also, the fact that the “seven-year covenant” of Daniel 9:27 does not seem to have been confirmed, also suggests that it is impossible for Jesus to return prior to 2020, and, even that is too early. Nor will 2014 signal the final ‘Day of the Lord’ of biblical prophecy.

As far as blood red moons go, the Book of Revelation teaches the following:

12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17).

So while Jesus would not return with a red moon, notice that the red moon appears just before the Day of the Lord begins–possibly as soon as the evening before (and perhaps up to a month or so before, cf. Revelation 8:1). Notice again that a blood moon is also tied into the Day of the Lord in the Old Testament:

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. (Joel 2:31)

So if God is intending to use natural phenomena (as opposed to performing a specific and separate miracle, which He certainly could do), then since it is most likely that the Day of the Lord begins on the Feast of Trumpets (as the seven trumpets begin the Day of the Lord, per Revelation 8:2), then the Great Tribulation would begin about 2 1/2 years prior to that. But the prophesied blood moon, if it is related to a full moon (and it would not seem to have to be), would need to be about two weeks prior to the Feast of Trumpets.

Notice what NASA has reported:

When four consecutive lunar eclipses are all total eclipses, the group is known as a tetrad. The following tetrads occur during this century:

Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2003 – 2004
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2014 – 2015
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2032 – 2033
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2043 – 2044
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2050 – 2051
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2061 – 2062
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2072 – 2073
Tetrad (Four Consecutive Total Eclipses): 2090 – 2091 (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat/LE2001-2100.html viewed 5/01/08)

At this moment, it would appear that the prophecy in Revelation and Joel about the blood moon will NOT be related to any NASA blood moon prediction (unless NASA comes up with a different table or something else) or if Jesus’ return is not until after 2032. The blood moon of biblical prophecy could be related to some natural phenomena that is unclear to scientists at this time or it could be a miracle from God–or it could be that God will affect some natural phenomena to make it happen.

But either way, while Jesus will return, it will not be in 2014 or 2015. Jesus will not return prior to 2020, and even that is too early.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2021 or 20xx? There is also a video titled The 6000 Year Plan: Is the end of humanity’s reign almost up?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2014, 2015, or 2016? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2013 o 2014? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language video The Great Tribulation Will Not Begin Before 2017.