Blood Moons

Blood moons. Much is being made by some of the evangelical Protestant leaders over what is called blood moons. What is the origin of this, what I would call a fad? The origin of this movement can be traced to Mark Biltz.

It's spelled B-I-L-T-Z, Biltz. Mark Biltz is pastor of El Shaddai Ministries, a Hebrew roots congregation in Tacoma, Washington. Mark is known for his 2008 theory on the four blood moons. He was viewing a popular photo of a blood-red moon, a full moon, over the Dome of the Rock. Of course, the Dome of the Rock is that big round building on the Temple Mount that the Arabs build somewhere around 700 AD. So there's a picture, quite famous, of this red moon, full moon, over the Dome of the Rock.

When he saw this, he recalled that the Bible predicted a blood-red lunar, and they say eclipse, before the return of Christ. But as we shall see today, the Bible does not mention anything about an eclipse. What we're going to see from the Bible is that God supernaturally intervenes. Biltz followed up on his idea by looking at NASA's tables for solar and lunar eclipses, and found a string of lunar and solar eclipses starting in 2014 through 2015, with them reoccurring on or near Bible Holy Days.

His intriguing discovery — I don't call it very intriguing, but that's what they say — his intriguing discovery caught the attention of prophecy buffs everywhere. He did an interview shortly after that with Prophecy in the News.com. Prophecy in the News.com features just about any kind of article that might have anything remotely to do with prophecy.

Shortly after that, WhirlnetDaily.com published an interview. As a side note with regard to WhirlnetDaily, WhirlnetDaily is a good news source in a lot of ways. The publisher of WhirlnetDaily, Joseph Farrar, is a Jew and anything Jewish kind of thing they generally jump on.

Biltz and John Hagey, along with 119 ministries across the nation, have speculated that solar and blood moon eclipses in 2014-2015 could fulfill end-time milestones of Bible prophecy. When Biltz first came upon the idea, he began to say that Jesus Christ was going to return in 2015, Feast of Tabernacles. Of course, his time has gone on. He is back off of that. And now some very significant events are going to happen during that period of time. And then John Hagey has a ministry that's on a lot of television stations around the world.

He has written, published a lot of books, jumped on the bandwagon, and wrote a book titled Blood Moons. Things are going to change something along like that. An eclipse of the moon occurs in a certain part of the earth when the earth, in its orbital path, stands between the sun and the moon.

Of course, the earth revolves around the sun, the moon revolves around the earth, and at certain junctures, depending on where you are on the earth, the light from the sun would be blotted out by the earth and you would have an eclipse of the moon. The moon, of course, has no light of its own. It merely reflects light from the sun. The earth's atmosphere extends up about 50 to 80 miles, and the colors of the moon during an eclipse are produced by the earth's atmosphere.

Depending on the particles that are in the earth's atmosphere, that will determine the color of the moon during that eclipse. During a total lunar eclipse, when the moon is submerged in earth's shadow, there is a circular ring around the earth. The ring of our atmosphere, through which the sun's rays approach.

It's like you have this spot and then a ring, like a halo around the earth, and that halo is the earth's atmosphere and the sun, shining into that atmosphere and hitting the moon, will determine what color it is during an eclipse. Sunlight is composed of a range of frequencies. As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the green to violet portion of the light spectrum is essentially filtered out. This same effect is what makes our sky blue during the day. Meanwhile, the reddish portion of the spectrum is least affected.

When the reddish light first enters the atmosphere, it is bent, and it's refracted, toward the earth's surface. And it's bent again when it exits on the other side of the earth. This double bending sends the reddish light onto the moon during a total lunar eclipse. It is not always red, but sometimes it is.

So why is the term blood moon being used to mean a full moon of a lunar tetrad? Now, what is a lunar tetrad? Well, the lunar tetrad is when four successive total lunar eclipses, with no partial lunar eclipse in between, each of which is separated from the other by six lunar months, six full moons. That makes the tetrad four successive total lunar eclipses, with no partial eclipses in between, each of which is separated from the other by six lunar months. A lunar month is 29 days and maybe a fraction. The term blood moon was attached to these eclipses because of the references in the Bible to the moon being turned to blood before the day of the Lord.

In the past, the hunter's moon, the first full moon after the harvest moon, was often referred to as blood moon. Now, the harvest moon is generally the brightest and closest to the earth during this time. That's why it's called a harvest. You could stay in the field longer and harvest, do whatever. But the first full moon after the harvest moon, the earth has moved in from that time, of course, and it doesn't appear on the horizon as quickly. It rises about 20 minutes later, so the nights are darker.

That's why it's called a hunter's moon. In the past, oftentimes, hunter's moon was referred to as blood moon. There have been movies made titled blood moon. There have been books written titled blood moon. So John Hagee, as we've already mentioned, picked up on Biltz's idea and wrote a book titled Four Blood Moons. And depending on the conditions of our atmosphere at the time of the eclipse, the dust, the humidity, the temperature can all make a difference.

The surviving light will illuminate the moon with a color that ranges from copper colored to deep red. The eclipse that is going to occur in April around Passover time may or may not be red. There's a total eclipse of the moon coming in April on Passover, just a couple of months from now. And the color will depend on the particles in the atmosphere. Here are the dates for the upcoming tetrad, four successive total lunar eclipses in the years.

There'll be a total lunar eclipse April the 15th on Passover, total lunar eclipse October the 8th, Feast of Tabernacles. Then in 2015, total lunar eclipse April the 4th, Passover, and a total lunar eclipse September the 28th, Feast of Tabernacles.

Proponents of Bible prophecy regard the upcoming tetrad, these four full moons that fall on Passover and Tabernacles, as especially significant because it coincides with Holy Days. It's ironic that three of these four lunar eclipses will not be visible at all in Israel. And they talk about, well, on these tetrads, significant things happen in the nation of Israel. And trying to deduce from that, well, probably significant things are going to happen again. So, Hagy and others point to significant events that have occurred in Israel's history during blood moons. Now, there are other Jewish dates, and I've given a sermon on this, the 9th of Av, A-V, it's a month, I think it corresponds with July. The 9th of Av, all kind of significant events have happened in the history of Israel. But that doesn't mean that this coming 9th of Av, a significant event is going to happen. Neither does it mean that, because these four full moons are going to occur on feast days, that significant events are going to happen. There have been eight of these tetrads, four full moons, blood moons, that fall on holy days since the time of Christ. So it's a rare phenomenon, no doubt about that. But it is a phenomenon that is of the natural course of things. And there will be some tetrads later this century, but not falling on holy days. But what we shall see here today is that the blood moons spoken of in the Bible are not the result of natural phenomenon, as we think of it today, brought about by the orbital paths of the heavenly bodies. The blood moons of the Bible are the direct result of God's intervention in the course of events in the world. There are two extremes at each end or ditch of the prophecy continuum. Those with itching ears, desiring to hear something new. Those who cling to and or are turned to fables, who think they heard it once and it's all settled, so don't confuse me with Scripture. Of course, they will say that the preacher is the one that confused them, not the Scriptures themselves. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 4. There's just something about people cannot resist wanting to know what's going to happen in the future. I mean, that's why the palm readers and the soothsayers and fortune tellers and all those kind of people can survive the astrologers and on and on it goes. 2 Timothy 4.1, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, that word reprove is elancho, which means convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after itching ears, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. So tell me about something new. Oh, blood moons falling on holiday? Oh, boy, I know about that.

They shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. Now, I don't think any of us, hopefully, we are well enough grounded that we would not get our colon tied into a knot over this.

So let's read this. There are three scriptures that state the moon will be turned to blood. Three scriptures in the Bible. Let's go to Joel 2.

So listen carefully to the Word of God. Think about it. Write down the reference.

Read it for yourself. Think about it. Joel, what a beautiful name. Joel is a contraction of Yahova, Yave, and El.

I guess the most spiritual name you could have. Joel, a compound name of two names for God.

In Joel 2, verse 31, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

When will it be turned into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord?

It's important to remember that. When? Before. The great and terrible day of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call unto the name of the Lord shall be delivered.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and the remnant whom the Lord shall call.

Peter quoted from these verses here. He quoted starting back up in verse 28. And we'll go back and read the whole thing on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent.

And we might call that the birth of the New Covenant Church.

Verse 28, it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and it began on the day of Pentecost.

The Church of God is the kingdom of God. The Israel of God in embryo will be born at the resurrection.

Pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions.

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

God is the one who is in control, as we shall see.

Now we go to Joel 3 and verse 12.

Joel 3 and verse 12.

I don't want Joel 3 and verse 12 right now.

Okay, let's go to Acts 2, verse 20.

First of all, I want to look at specifically the moon turned to blood.

And what we'll find here in Acts 2, 20, Peter is quoting from what we just read here in Joel.

In Acts 2, the day that the Holy Spirit was sent, as recorded here, the goings on that starts in verse 16, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Verse 19.

I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord comes.

So we have Joel 2, 31.

We have Acts 2, 20 that says that the moon turned into blood.

One more place where it specifically says the moon turned into blood, and that's Revelation 6.

Revelation 6 and verse 12. And going way back decades ago, the booklet from worldwide titled The Book of Revelation Unveiled, it shows how the heavenly signs introduce the day of the Lord.

So in Revelation 6, and what Revelation 6 deals with, and we need to do this.

We'll go back after we read this verse in just a moment.

Verse 12.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake.

The sun became black as sackcloth, and the moon became as blood.

So there are the three places that say that the moon becomes as blood.

Joel 2, 31. Acts 2, 20. And Revelation 6, 12.

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth.

Now, literally, the stars, the smallest stars, larger than the earth.

So the literal physical stars, that's not what he's talking about.

It cannot be, because it would stack up, I don't know how far it'd stack up.

You have one star fall, larger than the earth.

Stars also represent symbolic of angels.

There are good angels, and there are bad angels.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air.

Ephesians 2, verses 1, 2, 3, long and dear.

Satan is the prince of the power of the air.

And, as we'll read later from Revelation, that Satan and his angels are cast down.

During this time of approaching the day of the Lord and the end of the day of the Lord, the activity of Satan will be greatly increased, and I believe it's already started.

Because every week we hear more and more, I can't believe that happened.

And now, what's going on here? People are absolutely going mad.

The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig cast her untimely figs, when she's shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it was rolled together, and every mountain and island was moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every bondman, every free man, hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains.

Now, the rich and famous, and a lot of the governmental officials and those who are in the, quote, know, they have dug out for themselves various tunnels and underground places in the mountains, especially in the west, Colorado being one of the main places, because they think some great, catastrophic event is going to take place, and if they have this underground home in the event of a nuclear attack or that kind of thing, that they can go there and they'll be safe.

They can ride it out, as it were. So they'll try to hide themselves in the rocks and the mountains, and say to the rocks and mountains, Fall on us, hide us from the face of Him. Notice this.

From the face of Him that sits on the throne, God Almighty, and, and, most people don't look at the end, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath has come, and whos shall be able to stand.

Now, six seals opened. Now, before the sixth seal, obviously you got five that have been opened, and look at this. We go back earlier in this chapter.

The white horse goes forth, conquering and to conquer.

And then the second seal is open. The red horse goes forth, making war that they should kill one another.

And the third seal is open. The black horse, representing a scarcity of food and famine.

And when you'd opened the fourth seal, the voice said, come and see a pale horse, death, and death and hell, and power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth to kill with a sword, and with hunger and death, and with all the beasts of the earth. That hasn't happened.

So, we haven't had a fourth of the people of the earth killed in this manner.

So, obviously, that seal has to be opened before the sixth seal is opened.

And when you'd opened the fifth seal, I saw the altar of the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they had held.

Here are people, and this is a vision where he's seeing symbolically those that have been martyred through the ages for their faith in the word of God.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed, and they, as they were, should be fulfilled.

So everybody's not going to be protected. They're going to be martyrs, of course, but many will be.

So the sixth seal introduces the day of the Lord.

We read here, verse 12, we've read it.

Beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo, and the moon became his blood.

And then we see, introduced here, the day of the Lord.

Now, the day of the Lord, what is meant by the phrase, the day of the Lord, is a time when God directly intervenes in the course of world events and begins to personally call these shots, direct the affairs of what's going to happen.

He is in overall control of what happens from this point forward.

Yet, yes, he still allows some latitude for Satan, the beast, and the false prophet, as they scheme and deceive the whole world in trying to thwart the plan of God, defeat God, and kill the saints especially.

Satan as angels will be cast down, and demonic activity will increase dramatically.

Now we go to Revelation 12, verse 9.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out unto the earth and his angels, the demons, as we call them, fallen spirits.

And there are various orders in this demonic realm, various powers and orders in the demonic realm.

And his angels were cast out with him.

And a heard loud voice saying, in heaven now is come salvation and strength in the kingdom of God.

So we know this event is taking place right at the end of the age.

Now is come. Salvation, strength, the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.

For the accuser of the brethren is cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night, and they overcame him.

Here's how you and I can, will, should, hopefully will overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, that we in faith believe that God and Jesus Christ will deliver us.

And by the word of their testimony, we may be, it may look like we're going to die any moment, but you tell the truth, and they love not their lives under the death.

Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them, wote in the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, where the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows he has but a short time.

So you know that when he is cast down with those fallen spirits, that demonic activity is going to greatly increase.

When God is in control, he's calling the shots, God controls the seven trumpet plagues, as we shall see, God controls the seven vials of wrath.

Look at Revelation 16, verse 12. This gives a little glimpse of, you see, Satan, the beast, and the false prophet are still at work here when the vials of wrath are poured out.

The sixth angel, this is pouring out of his vial upon the earth, the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs, notice how often this thing of demonic activity takes place.

I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty.

Why are they coming there? They're coming there to defeat Jesus Christ. And all this stuff about UFOs and all of that will probably play into it of, we're going to have this invasion from outer space, and are we going to be ready?

Now let's read all the verses that have the phrase, the day of the Lord in them. Let's go to Isaiah 2 and verse 12.

Look at verse 10.

Isaiah 13 is most interesting.

It would deserve sermons for which we would not be ready.

But we want to focus here.

I have also called my mighty ones, for mine anger even them that rejoice in my highness.

The noise of a multitude in the mountains like his great people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together, the eternal of hosts musters the host of the battle. The eternal of hosts musters the host of the battle.

They come from afar country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land.

How, ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand, it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be afraid.

Pains and sorrow shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman that travails.

They shall be amazed one at another. Their faces shall be as flames.

Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel both with a wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners out of it.

Verse 11, I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity, and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

And I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even a man, than the golden wedge of hofer.

A lot of people are going to die.

Now look at Isaiah 34, verse 8.

Isaiah 34 and verse 8.

Isaiah 34, verse 8.

We'll start with verse 5.

For my sword shall be bathed in heaven. Behold, it shall come down upon Edomia, is another name for Edom.

The nation that God has the most anger toward is Edom.

Second is Moab.

It shall come down upon Edomia, Edom, and upon the people of my curse to judgment.

The sword of the Eternal is filled with blood. It is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of their kidneys of rams.

For the Eternal hath a sacrifice in Basra, Basra's principal city in Edom, and a great slaughter in the land of Edomia, Edom.

And the unicorn shall come down with them, and bullocks with the bulls, and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year recompense for the controversy of Zion.

Of course, this controversy over Zion is obviously demon-devil-inspired, because it is the seat of God's government. It was the seat of God's government under the Old Covenant. It will be the seat of God's government under the New Covenant.

It is the great controversy even now with their peace talks.

Well, let's settle everything else, and then let's see what we can do about Jerusalem.

Now, in Jeremiah 46, verse 10, one of the things that I've learned in recent years is just to take something like this, a phrase, blood, moon, the day of the Lord, whatever it might be, and read every scripture that deals with it. In today's world with computer, it is just so really easy to do. In Jeremiah 46, verse 10, where this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Him of His adversaries, and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate, or full, and may drunk with her blood, for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

See that the day of the Lord is, to a large degree, equated with the day of vengeance.

Now to Ezekiel 13, verse 5. Ezekiel 13, verse 5 should sober the church of God, and the ministry in the church of God, and the leaders in the nation, but the leaders in the nation have forgotten God. And that's, to a large degree, what Ezekiel 13 is about. That the leaders have forgotten God.

In Ezekiel 13.3, thus says the eternal God, woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. They have not gone up in the gaps, neither made up the hedge, for the house of Israel to stand in the battle, and the day of the Lord.

In Ezekiel 30, verse 3. Of course, we can look at that and we can ask ourselves, are we committed to, first of all, we have to prepare ourselves? It seems to me that in the church, to a large degree, we are, it's like we are already prepared. We're just waiting for everybody else to get prepared. Whereas the Bible is written first and foremost to us, and we must make sure that we are prepared.

In Ezekiel 13, the word of the Lord came again unto me, sent a man prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord God, Adonai, El, How you woe worth the day! How you woe worth the day! For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day. It shall be the time of the nations, that word heathen be translated nations, because God is going to plead with all flesh. Now to Joel. In Joel 2, on New Year's Day, 2003, no, not 2003, on New Year's Day, 1983, New Year's Day, 1983, was a Sabbath. And a couple of weeks before that Sabbath, a coworker letter, might have been a member letter, came out from Mr. Armstrong, declaring a fast on that New Year's Day. And we were living almost on Orange Grove Boulevard, where the Rose Parade starts. And of course, the carrying on all night long and fasting was not pleasant. But in that letter, here's what he quotes.

Joel 2, 1, blow you the trumpet in Zion. And of course, Zion is a geographical place, sometimes used interchangeably for environs of Jerusalem. Zion also is symbolic of the church, as in Hebrews 12, 22, as I've mentioned several times. Blow you the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord comes, for it is nigh at hand. The day of the Lord. In Amos chapter 5, you hear a lot of people say, and of course, we're supposed to pray. Christ said in the model prayer, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. But the kingdom does not come before the events that are prophesied for the day of the Lord comes. The day of the Lord, as we have read and are reading these verses, and we've got a lot more to go, as you can see, is a day of great anguish and suffering and misery. In Amos chapter 5 and verse 18, Woe unto them that desire the day of the Lord! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light, as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him, or went into his house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it. In Obadiah chapter 1 verse 15. Obadiah is the next book, just a few pages over. One chapter, verse 15. Obadiah 1.15. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done unto you. Your reward shall return upon your own head. Now to Zephaniah. Zephaniah has several references, and the theme of Zephaniah is the day of the Lord. What introduces the day of the Lord? Before that great and terrible day of the Lord, the sun should be darkened and the moon turned into blood. In Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the eternal sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the kings' children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. Remember the sermon that God is in the clothing business? You better have on the right garment. In the same day also I will punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their master's houses with violence and deceit. That is a very interesting verse, but we will pass on for now. And it shall come to pass, and that day says the eternal, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the second, and a great crashing upon the hills. Verse 14, The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and haste greatly, and the voice of the day of the Lord, the mighty men, shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of waste and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the eternal, and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

And of course, verse 18, neither their silver or gold will save them during the day of the Lord.

In Zephaniah chapter 1, I see time is fleeting. I was wanting to read all of these and then come back to this. But anyhow, of course, one of the things that God promises is protection. This is the most direct verse with regard to what people can do, should do, to be protected during the day of the Lord. Zephaniah 2, verse 1, Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O nation not desired. And the church of God, the Israel of God, is the nation not desired by the world. Before the decree bring forth, before the day passes the chap, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you, seek you the Lord, all you meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment. And this is like doing the wayier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, that have wrought His judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. That is one of the most direct verses I hope to get to a couple more if we have time. In Zechariah chapter 14. In Zechariah 14. It's taking longer. I'm doing too much commentary to read these verses than I thought. In Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 1, Behold, the day of the Lord comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you. In Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5. Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5. The last occurrence of the day of the Lord, that phrase in the Old Testament. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Of course, that's been a controversial thing. Who is Elijah? When does he come? Christ said, if you will receive him, speaking of John the Baptist, this is the Elijah. And of course, from that time to the present time, people are being prepared for the day of the Lord and for the kingdom of God. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Of course, you can say a lot of things, and we're not getting sidetracked on Elijah at the moment. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Now, it says in Luke chapter 1 that that is what John the Baptist did. And of course, we are to continue to do that.

Now, in the New Testament, we have read Acts 2.20 about the day of the Lord. Now we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, and verse 5, where once again we see this phrase, the day of the Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, as you're turning there, the context is the Corinthians had an incestuous fornicator among them, and they had done nothing. It was like what he does is his own business. Paul said, a little leaven leavens whole lot, so you need to what we would call today just fellowship this person so that maybe you get his attention and he will be saved later.

In 1 Corinthians 5, 4, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together, in my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 1.14.

I have these pasted in, but I'm turning with you.

In 2 Corinthians 1.14, As also you have acknowledged us in part, that we now are rejoicing even as you are, hours in the day of the Lord Jesus. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 2, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 especially should be read carefully because it gives many things that have to do with preparation for the day of the Lord. Now, this same phrase here, Hekuriyakehemera, is translated in Revelation 1.10, is translated on the day of the Lord, on the Lord's day, which some try to make into Sunday. But it's the same Greek phrase both in 1 Thessalonians 5.2 and Revelation 1.10. 1 Thessalonians 5.1, But at the times and seasons, brother, you have no need that are right unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. Verse 4, But you, brother, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. And so the message is to always be prepared. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 10 also says the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Revelation 1.10 says, I was in spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. Now here is a significant point to indelibly stamping your minds. Before the day of the Lord, the moon is the color of blood. Blood moon. During the day of the Lord, the moon is dark. We go back to Joel chapter 2, and I would encourage you to put in your search engine or in your concordance. Day of darkness, as we'll not read every verse that has darkness in it regarding the day of the Lord, but we'll read this one here, maybe one or two more. In Joel chapter 2, verse 2, we read one about blowing the trumpet and Zion, getting people prepared.

In Joel 2.2, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountain, a great people and a strong, there shall not ever be the like, neither shall be any more after it, even the years of many generations.

Verse 10, the earth shall quake before them. This is God's great army, which is another sermon that may not be preached till the two witnesses, but let's see. The earth shall quake before the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw, there shining. So during the day of the Lord, it is darkness, a day of gloominess and of clouds, of thick darkness. So once again, the destruction that occurs, as we've seen here, during the day of the Lord, is under the direction of God.

Now we go to Revelation chapter 8. Remember that heavenly signs introduce the day of the Lord. Before that great and terrible day, the sun shall be black and the moon turned to blood. During the day of the Lord, the sun and the moon are dark and the stars not shining. It is a day of gloominess, a day of darkness. In Revelation chapter 8, we see that the first four trumpet plagues are poured out. These trumpet plagues are on the environment. The sun, the moon, the stars are smitten.

And the fourth trumpet plague introduces the three woes. So in Revelation chapter 8, verse 12, Revelation 8, verse 12, And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, the third part of the moon, the third part of the stars. So as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise, it ties in once again a day of darkness and gloominess.

And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe! So here come the three woes, to the inhabitors of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. And so in chapter 9, verse 1, the fifth angel begins to sound. So the first four trumpet plagues smite elements of the physical creation. Now these last three woes smite humankind and Satan and his minions. The irony of this is that God permits Satan to torment humans, the very humans that are denying God.

And yet, they continue to worship Satan and the devils. The fifth angel sounded, I saw a star fall from heaven under the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. I would encourage you to look at every scripture in the Bible, bottomless pit.

I think you'll learn a lot. And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace in the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions to the earth have power. They were not to hurt the environment, but they are to hurt the men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. 144,000 are sealed in chapter 7.

Verse 6, And those days, shall men seek death, shall not find it, shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. So this sounds to me like, I mean, whatever this is, it's stinging and hurting and tormenting men, and they seek to die, the pain is so dreadful, but they cannot die. So obviously, there's supernatural involved in it. You look at verse 10, And they had in their tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months.

And they had a king over them, which is the angel. This is not a good angel. The angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, or Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

So what is the meaning of these terms here? Abaddon means destruction literally, and so does Apollyon. Strong says with Abaddon, The name of the angel prints of the infernal regions, the minister of death, the author of havoc on the earth, and is rendered in the Greek as destroyer. And Apollyon only appears once in the Bible, and it means destroyer. And Strong says, The angel of the bottomless pit, the destroyer.

The sixth trumpet plague is somewhat similar to the fifth, which is the second woe. Verse 14, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet loose, the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates. So here are four angels bound in the great river Euphrates. So about the time that the flood was preparing, and evil was so bad upon the earth, Jesus Christ visited the angels, the fallen angels, and he preached to them.

Oh yeah, it's in the Bible. We'll read it. So we first look at 1 Peter, I mean 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. We'll see where they were cast down and placed in a condition of restraint. King James translates it as Tartaroo. We know what it is. Tartaroo is a condition of restraint. King James translates it as hell. In 2 Peter 2, starting verse 4. To whom coming as unto a living stone? That's 1 Peter. 2 Peter 2, verse 4.

For if God spared not the angels at sin, would cast them down to Tartaroo, a condition of restraint, and deliver them in the change of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. At this sixth trumpet plague, the second woe, angels bound in the river Euphrates are released. Now go to 1 Peter 1 and verse 3 and see what the one who became Jesus Christ did during the time of Noah and shortly thereafter. In 1 Peter 3, verse 18. For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit, the resurrection from the dead, the firstborn among many brethren, by which he also went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

So they are placed in this condition of restraint, and by the Spirit Jesus Christ went and preached to them, according to the Bible. By which he also went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. What was that disobedience? Well, that's another sermon. The like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us, not the putting weight of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of the dead.

So the baptismal waters symbolizing putting to death the old man, that old world was put to death, we're raised up to serve the living God in righteousness. Now notice the bottomless pit in Revelation 11 and verse 7. Revelation 11 and verse 7, who kills the two witnesses? And when they shall, they being the two witnesses, have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. Revelation 17.8 also refers to the bottomless pit.

Now the conclusion of the matter for today, we go to Revelation 19. Revelation 19. In verse 19, pictures the return of Jesus Christ, the wedding ceremony, first part of 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him, that is against Jesus Christ coming on the white horse with the saints that set on the horse and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive in the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeds out of his mouth, which is the word of God. And all the fowls were filled with their flesh. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having their key to the bottomless pit, the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.

And after that he must be loosed a little season. In verse 7, and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be bound or loosed out of his prison, shall go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. Now this Gog and Magog, that's an interesting thing. Commentators vary with, are these nations, or are they fallen angels? And they went up to the breadth of the earth, encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

And the devil that deceived them was cast in the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were, not are, because they burned up their flesh, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they shall be tormented, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Now, you might say, well, Satan is a spirit being, how is he tormented? It's not altogether clear. It seems to me that fire does not consume him, since he is a spirit being. But the torment probably results from the fact that he is rendered of non-effect. As Jude talks about, 2 Peter talks about clouds foaming out their shame and darkness forever and ever.

He will not be able to have any influence on anything or anyone from that point forward. Now, Isaiah, I encourage you to read Isaiah 24, the whole chapter. Isaiah 34, the whole chapter. And then Isaiah 35. We have read Zephaniah 2, 1 through 3, how you might be protected. Now we close with Revelation 12. We read down to verse 13. Revelation 12, verse 13.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman, which brought forth the man-child. The woman can represent Israel, a nation, or it can represent the church, and it can represent the false church.

But here it's the woman, this would be the true church, who were given two wings of a great eagle that she should fly into the wilderness and to her place where she is nourished. So God Almighty is the El Shaddai, the nourisher, for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, represents Satan's army, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was mad with a woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. And we know that if you would enter into life, you must keep the commandments. So, brethren, I hope you will do follow-up study on this, and maybe somewhere along the line we can have a follow-up sermon or Bible study on this. It is a... I mean, once you get in there and really begin to dig at what's here, it is absolutely astounding. And you will know that when any of these Protestant, religious, or political commentators, or whatever they are, talk about blood moons, you'll know what the real blood moons are all about.