Accuweather is forecasting that the full moon will turn blood red on Friday, July 27, “as the longest total lunar eclipse of the
century takes place in the skies from Australia through Africa…For those in North America, the century’s longest lunar eclipse will not be visible as it will take place during the day on Friday.”Blood moons, also known as total lunar eclipses, take place about twice a year. This is not to be confused with end times prophecies of the moon turning to blood coinciding with the return of the Messiah. Many Christian teachers often point to these naturally occurring events to predict the end of times or the rapture, however, they do not meet the criteria as prophesied in the Bible.
Joel 2:31 says, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD comes.” Revelation 6:12 is speaking of the Day of the Lord, and says, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.” Isaiah 13:10, also speaking of that Day of the Lord’s coming, says “For the stars of heaven and its constellations shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine.” Many prophets, including Ezekiel, Joel, and Amos, as well as Job and John speak of the same event when the Lord returns.
While extremely interesting, the reddish moons we have seen in recent time are not the way the moon is prophesied in the day of the Lord. First, there wasn’t a great earthquake. The sun did not turn as black as sackcloth, and the moon really didn’t turn as blood. Jesus said in Matthew 24:29-30,”Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory.”
Most importantly, the Lord has not returned after past “blood” moons. He will…eventually. I dare say, however, that there will be no doubt in the heavens when the Lord returns. It will be an awesome moment. But before he returns, there are certain events that scripture says will happen. Paul writes in Thessalonians 2, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” This is very clear: 1) don’t be deceived, 2) falling away, 3) antichrist (beast) revealed, 4) sits in the temple as God. Keep watching. Keep praying. Keep reading your Bible. Keep discerning. And do not be deceived.
