Hi all,
Barb propped the side door part way open as she leaned in to yell, “John, where are the pots for the plants?” I was in the living room writing or Skyping or emailing someone, so doing the typical male thing, I listened with 1/2 an ear and responded, “What box for the pants?
She yelled a little louder (that always helps), “No, the pots for the plants!” I of course I replied a little louder, “What box for the pants?”
We garden and have clay and plastic pots scattered around various raised garden beds, a garden shed and so on, and she was trying to save time by asking me where I had stored the big ones rather than launch herself into a scavenger hunt around the yard.
In my mind, I thought she was doing a seasonal clothing swap from closet to storage and storage to closet, so asking about a box with pants seemed logical.
I got out of the chair to go to her, she stepped into the house to come to me, and we had a good laugh – well, I laughed, she mumbled something about me getting my hearing checked before letting a chuckle escape as she headed out the door.
Scriptural blood moon
We Christians have our own language. 2 Christians can be talking about the same phrase, but hear 2 completely different things based on what x teacher taught, what book has been written, or what video has been watched. Pretty soon emotions become involved, allegiances formed, and one says pots and plants but the other hears box and pants.
All prophecy revolves around what Jesus said. Jesus establishes original context. Not what a teacher, book, video, or conference said – but Jesus. So I’ll start with Jesus so we can gain a common understanding where a blood moon and darkened sun fit in prophecy.
Jesus is ground zero
Everything in the epistles is based on what Jesus taught and can be traced directly back to Him. For instance, when I Peter mentions some 15 or 16 times about suffering persecution for doing right and being a disciple, he refers back to the example and teaching of Jesus in the gospels.
When Paul says in Romans 14 it is up to each of us to decide on what day we worship and what food we will consume for what we choose we do unto Him, we can trace that back to Jesus talking about how the Sabbath was made for man, not for God, and it isn’t what goes in a person that defiles him.
And so it goes, all the epistles are derived from teachings by Jesus and can be traced back to what He said. The same is true with us today. Anything He reveals or speaks to us, can be traced back to Him as the Word and consistent with the gospels and epistles.
This is also true of prophecy. Much error has happened because someone bases their teaching on a single verse, maybe from the Old Testament or maybe from the Revelation, ignoring not only the Foundation of what Jesus said on the subject, but ignoring the rest of scripture on a subject.
All prophets and prophecy prior to Jesus – the Old Testament – answer to Him, and all prophets and prophecy after, including in our day, answer back to Him. They may add detail to His foundational truths, but they all trace back to Him. He establishes context and timing. And so it is we must turn to Matthew 24 to understand the original intent and context set by Jesus concerning the sun and moon subject of today.
When the blood moon happens
Matthew 24 is Jesus’ teaching answering the question the disciples asked in v4: “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?”
In v15 He says this, “When you therefore see the abomination of desolations spoken of by Daniel the prophet, then let those in Judea flee to the mountains…” His reference to Daniel is from Daniel 9:27 about a leader who comes into the temple at the midpoint of a 7 year peace treaty and betrays Israel. Called anti-Christ in the NT.
Jesus said in v21 that event starts what He called a time of ‘Great Tribulation’ whose days would have to be cut short or no one on earth would survive.
Then in verse 29 He closes that time frame with His return, saying: “Then immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, for they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory and He will send forth the angels to gather His elect from one end of heaven to the other…” (Fortunately He doesn’t say the elect are gathered from the 4 corners of the earth, but from one end of heaven to the other)
What other prophecy says – details added
Note the characteristics surrounding His return: Sun dark. Moon dark. Stars falling. Shaking of earth and universe. Mourning by people. This is AFTER the tribulation at His return.
We turn to The Revelation 6:12-17 to see what Jesus said with a bit more detail: “I looked when He broke the 6th seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”
“Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
These events are clearly His return as noted in Matthew 24, but with more detail.
Same sun, moon, starts, shaking
Here John includes the moon becoming like blood, the sky rolling up like a scroll, a world-wide earthquake, and people hiding themselves from Him at His return in the caves and what we would call bunkers.
So we see the blood moon during the return of Christ. I shared last week how anytime the moon is low on the horizon and there is dust in the air it can be a blood moon. But we are looking to tie a particular combination of events to a particular blood moon. Notice the sun, moon, stars, earthquakes, sky rolled up – all happen at this particular blood moon event at the return of Christ AFTER the great tribulation of which Jesus spoke.
Now that we have context set by Jesus with additional detail provided by John in The Revelation, we can move on next week to what Joel and Peter said, which also confirm the blood moon context of Christ’s return. We don’t want anyone saying pots and plants but hearing box and pants.
Until next week then…blessings upon you and yours,
John Fenn
Just FYI
I have a series on The Revelation focusing on the natural events of that time, complete with a handout which lays out what each seal, trumpet, and bowl mean.
