The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
– Joel 2:31
They predicted a bad moon rising.
More specifically, a “blood moon.” I really didn’t want to awaken from a deep sleep to gaze at the skies. But I had asked my husband a few hours earlier to awaken me to see the lunar eclipse with him. So I stumbled downstairs to witness the rising of the blood moon everyone was talking about.
The fitful night sky cooperated with us, parting the occasional sea of clouds long enough for us to get a good look at the spectacle. It would have been an interesting sight at any time, but this one had been propelled into the news by a book connecting the tetrad phenomenon (a string of four partially or completely eclipsed moons) with the Jewish Passover and end-times events.
Scriptures from the book of Joel, Acts, Matthew 24:29-30, and Revelation 6:12 do warn of terrible signs and wonders in the sky, including references to the moon, as heralding the coming “day of the Lord,” the return of Christ. There is a problem, however, with connecting these Scriptures with a lunar eclipse.
The Bible makes it plain that during the traumatic last days before Christ’s return, the blood moon will only be a part of a cataclysmic judgment executed upon a rebel world. The earth will be in complete turmoil, reeling from war, pestilence, famine, and disasters on an epic scale.
Stars (probably meteors or asteroids) will fall to the earth. Much of the world’s water supply will be polluted. Many animals and people will die. There will be a great earthquake so powerful it will move islands and mountains out of their places.
It will be a time marked by fear for those who rejected the gift of redemption offered by God through His Son, Jesus Christ. They will not be standing on their porches admiring the moon. According to Revelation 6:15, they will be running into caves and praying to the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.
If anything, last night’s display is a solemn reminder the grace of God won’t last forever.
Today He is mocked and ignored by an arrogant generation. He waits in silence, holding out His hand and beckoning us to come to safety. But one day, without warning, the door will close.
And God will judge with a heavy heart.
The blood moon tetrad phenomenon is a beautiful display of God’s creative power. But if we’re looking for signs and wonders, we haven’t seen anything yet.
