Posted By Jay Jones on Mar 6, 2015

There has been much talk recently of the four “Blood Moons”, with the introduction of a book written by John Hagee as well as a follow-up movie. As end-times are quite important to the faith community, it’s important for us to biblically understand the topic. So, let’s talk about the End Times.

The end times actually began on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. This was also the beginning of the era of the church. God devotes a significant portion of scripture on the topic of the last days, and the driving reality that we must be ready for the coming of Jesus.

Predictions

Many have taken to task the futile pursuit of predicting the time of the end.

• Edgar C. Whisenant said that Jesus would return in 1988
• …and then predicted He would return in 1992
• …and then predicted He would return in 2011
• Harold Camping predicted Jesus would return September 6, 1994
• …and then predicted He would return in 2011

And now…

• John Hagee, in his book, “Four Blood Moons: Something is about to change”, claims this special time will align with moon eclipses.

Blood Moons

First to note is that a “blood moon”, as spoken of in scripture, is not a literal moon turning to blood, but has to do with the appearance of the moon becoming red like blood. This is actually a natural occurrence that results from the sun’s light bouncing through the earth’s atmosphere during a total lunar eclipse, coloring the moon a deep shade of red.

Specifically, Hagee speaks of what is called a, “Tetrad” – or 4 blood moon eclipses that appear directly one-after-another. And, in this case, that Fall on Jewish Feast days.

Hagee claims there have only been three blood moon tetrads in the last 500 years.

However, according to the NASA website, from the year 1AD to the year 2013 there have actually been fifty-five tetrads to occur, and there have actually been seven to occur within the last 500 years.

Hagee also says the blood moons always happen on Jewish feast days (Passover and Sukkot), and always follow major events for Israel… Note this… DESTRUCTION, followed by PEACE.

1. 1. 1492 Jews expelled by Catholic church, Spanish inquisition (Fall of Spain), Columbus discovers America
      1. followed in 1493/1494 by four blood moons
   2. 1948 Holocaust (Jan 30, 1933-May 8, 1945), then Israel statehood – Rebirth of the Jewish nation
      1. followed in 1949/1950 by four blood moons
   3. 1967 Israel recaptured Jerusalem (6-Day War)
      1. followed in 1967/1968 by four blood moons

In his book, Hagee points to the present tetrad of blood moons that span 2014/15.

• April 15, 2014 – Jewish Passover
• October 8, 2014 – Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
• April 4, 2015 – Jewish Passover
• September 28, 2015 – Feast of Tabernacles

If this Tetrad is to be significant as Hagee proclaims, then it would have been preceded by both destruction and peace for Jerusalem. Since the tetrad began April 15th of 2014, we can see that this has not happened.

Of the 55 tetrads that have occurred, there are 7 additional tetrads that aligned with Jewish feast days that Hagee doesn’t account for. Interestingly, these additional 7 tetrads have no coinciding major Jewish events. If that’s true, that makes 7 non-aligning tetrads against 3 aligning tetrads, which actually goes against the teaching that this occurrence is significant.

Hagee says in his book that this occurrence (a tetrad with a total solar eclipse in the middle) is exactly repeated in Acts 2. This is not true.

Obviously, this is not describing a tetrad, but a single blood moon.

Also, Hagee believes coming tetrad will signal the great war between Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38-39 where Russia, Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Turkey all invade Isreal.

Let’s look closely at the teaching again:

1. 1492 Jews expelled by Catholic church, Spanish inquisition (Fall of Spain), Columbus discovers America
   1. followed in 1493/1494 by four blood moons
2. 1948 Holocaust (Jan 30, 1933-May 8, 1945), then Israel statehood – Rebirth of the Jewish nation
   1. followed in 1949/1950 by four blood moons
3. 1967 Israel recaptured Jerusalem (6-Day War)
   1. followed in 1967/1968 by four blood moons

We can see that the 3 tetrads he references do not signal an event, but they follow an event.

So, in order for the present tetrad to have followed a major world event for Israel, such as the great war of Gog and Magog, it would have had to happen and be peacefully completed sometime before April 15th, 2014. It did not happen.

Furthermore, the battle of Gog and Magog CANNOT happen now anyway. Scripture tells us that the battle of Gog and Magog is the same battle called Armageddon in the book of Revelation, which happens after the Tribulation and the Wrath of God. They both end at the same one-time event, the Supper of our Great God.

So, since the Tribulation and Wrath are supposed to occur over a 7-year span, and Armageddon happens after that, we see that this is impossible to happen during this Tetrad, let alone before it.

Blood Moons in Scripture

Let’s look at the significance of blood moons mentioned in Bible. Note again, never does the Bible mention 4 blood moons, but rather only 1 blood moon in eight different passages of scripture. Also, in each of these passages, it never mentions or alludes to a destruction of Israel followed by peace.

A couple of important things to note here are that 1) the sun and moon signs appear after the tribulation, not before. and 2) the blood moon signifies the Wrath of God, not the Tribulation.

Also reference Joel chapters 2 and 3. There are others as well, but the important thing to extract is that each of these appear to be the same occurrence, and happen “immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days”, and not prior to as Hagee suggests.

If the timing Jesus spoke of is true, then the blood moons cannot be true links to the rapture, because the Tribulation has not happened yet.

The blood moon shown in multiple scriptures always indicates the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

In addition, Rev. 11:15 describes that Jesus will come after the Last Trump…

…and immediately after this, the wrath of God is poured out.

So, let’s recap the claims of the book:

• Have there only been three tetrads to occur in the last 500 years?
  • No, there have been many more than that.
• Have there only been three tetrads to occur that have been directly tied in to Jewish feast days?
  • No, there have been seven additional ones that are not accounted for in Hagee’s book.
• Did the battle of Gog and Magog happen before this present Tetrad?
  • No, it did not.
• Do blood moons signal that there will be a time of Destruction followed by a time of Peace for Israel?
  • No. According to the Bible, a single blood moon will give the signal that the second coming of Jesus is soon to occur.

So, looking at these facts, we see no true significance in the claims made by John Hagee’s book.

Will the present tetrad signal some major event for Israel like a World War 3 that will kill 1/3 of mankind? While it is POSSIBLE, there is no scripture to indicate it.

Will the present tetrad coincide with a major event for Israel? While it is POSSIBLE, there is no scripture to indicate it.

So, how should we approach the concern by John Hagee and Others that there is significance in these four blood moons? As we have just studied, there is no true significance. However, as Jesus said, we must always be prepared for his coming, and to reach the Lost world with the saving message of the Gospel of Christ.