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This article forms part of a series presenting varied interpretations of different aspects of eschatology. You can find the others here. It is an area where there are many different viewpoints, and we encourage healthy and constructive discussion. We ask readers to reflect on the various studies put forward, and we welcome comments that are respectfully made. If you wish to contribute an article on any area of eschatology to our series, you can find our guidelines here.

In 2014-15 there was a special tetrad of ‘blood moons’. Many Bible commentators wrote about them. What did they signify? Many Christians saw them as a sign from God – but what was God showing us?

Signs in the sky

Genesis 1:14 tells us that God created “lights” in the sky “for signs and seasons”. The Hebrew word translated as “seasons” (in most English Bibles) is ‘moedim’, which really means God’s appointed times, fixed times, important pre-determined times, and ‘feasts’. Whenever something mega-important happens, God puts a sign in the sky. When Jesus was born there was a special star. When Jesus died on the cross there was an extended period of supernatural darkness. And when Jesus eventually returns, Matthew 24:30 tells us that “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.”

God puts special signs in the sky to highlight that something incredibly important is taking place on earth at that very time. Joel 3:31 says: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.” The moon will be turned into blood? What does that mean? A ‘blood moon’ is a total eclipse of the moon that is visible somewhere (but not everywhere) on earth.

Tetrads

Actually, individual total lunar eclipses are not uncommon, and even consecutive pairs of total eclipses are quite common. However, the fact that partial eclipses often occur in between total eclipses makes a sequence of four total lunar eclipses in a row something quite special. A sequence of four total lunar eclipses (without any partial eclipses interrupting the sequence) is called a tetrad.

Tetrads in which all four blood moons occur on Biblical ‘Feast Days’ only occur on average about once every 250 years.

Tetrads are not evenly spread throughout the passage of time. They are like London buses – you can go quite a long time without seeing one and then several seem to come along all at once. However, on average, tetrads occur maybe once every 35 to 40 years. Now, there is a special kind of tetrad. Tetrads in which all four blood moons occur on Biblical ‘Feast Days’ only occur on average about once every 250 years. There were no ‘Feast Day’ tetrads in the 16th century, and no tetrads at all (of any kind) in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century there were five tetrads, of which just two were ‘Feast Day’ tetrads. And these ‘Feast Day’ tetrads in the 20th century were highly significant, as I will explain later. There has also been one ‘Feast Day’ tetrad in the 21st century – and it was also highly significant. There will be no more ‘Feast Day’ tetrads in the 21st century though. In fact, according to the NASA website, the next ‘Feast Day’ tetrad is projected to occur around 560 years in the future! Let me put this another way. If we consider a period of more than one thousand years, which extends from before the year 1500 up to some point after the year 2500, it contains just three ‘Feast Day’ tetrads of blood moons. These special ‘Feast Day’ tetrads occurred in 1949-50, 1967-68 and 2014-15.

Revelation 11

If we want to understand the significance of these three special tetrads then it would seem sensible to search the Bible. Is there any passage in Scripture which focuses on just three main events, three key events that are prophesied by God, three things that God would consider important enough to highlight for us by putting a special sign in the heavens? And the answer is “Yes!” There are exactly three key events that are referenced in the first ten verses of Revelation chapter 11, and each of these three events is linked with a prophesied time-span.

There are exactly three key events that are referenced in the first ten verses of Revelation chapter 11, and each of these three events is linked with a prophesied time-span.

Revelation 11 begins when “the court which is outside the temple” is given over to the Gentiles. In an article earlier this year, 1 I explained my understanding that this occurred in 688 A.D., when the court that was once situated just outside the sanctuary of Solomon’s temple was given to the Muslims to build their ‘Dome of the Rock’. This date of 688 A.D. serves as a chronological bench-mark in the Book of Revelation. If we jump ahead from the beginning of Revelation 11 to verses 11 and 12, we can see these verses clearly describe the ‘rapture’. Thus, the first ten verses of this chapter cover quite a long period of time from 688 A.D. right up to the ‘rapture’. And now we need to consider what events God considers important enough to mention in these ten verses. What events between 688 A.D. and the ‘rapture’ does God choose to focus on?

The modern state of Israel

Well, alongside describing the ministry of his two witnesses, God identifies three key events by associating each of them with a specified period of time. We can read of a period of “forty-two months” in verse 2, there is a period of “1260 days” in verse 3, and there is a period of “three-and-a-half days” in verses 9 and 11. Again, in an earlier article, 2 I advocated the period of 1260 days in Revelation 11:3 refers to a period of 1260 years. This time-span is also mentioned in Revelation 12, and it is the time, measured from 688 A.D., when the Jewish people were “wandering in the wilderness”. Counting on 1260 years from 688 A.D., we come to the year 1948 – when the children of Israel stopped “wandering in the wilderness” and the modern nation state of Israel was formed. Amos 9:14 commences: “I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them…”. Of course, the Muslim Arabs did not like it when the state of Israel was formed in 1948, and immediately the Muslim nations around Israel tried to destroy the new-born state of Israel. Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt joined forces with the Muslim Arabs inside Israel and tried to annihilate the Jewish population – and these hostile Arabs vastly outnumbered and out-gunned the Israelis.

The Muslim Arabs did not like it when the state of Israel was formed in 1948, and immediately the Muslim nations around Israel tried to destroy the new-born state of Israel.

The Israeli War of independence, in which Israel fought for its very life, lasted well into 1949. One by one, however, the nations attacking Israel eventually agreed to a cease-fire. The last nation to declare an armistice was Syria, in July 1949, when Israel’s War of Independence was finally over. Amos 9:15 declares: “‘I will plant them [the Jews] in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them’, says the Lord your God.” The firm establishment of the modern nation state of Israel, which was only complete when Syria agreed to a cease-fire in July 1949, was the first key End Times event to be highlighted by a ‘Feast Day’ tetrad of blood moons. The tetrad was in 1949-1950. During that time, when the four blood moons gave out their eerie red light, the Arab nations finally saw that Israel was here to stay. It is also worth noting that the all-important date in July 1949, when Israel’s War of Independence was finally over, occurred between the first and second blood moons in the tetrad.

Jerusalem recaptured

The second key End Times event that can be obtained from a time-span in Revelation 11 relates to the “forty-two months” in Revelation 11:2. This verse tells us that the Gentiles “will trample the holy city [Jerusalem] for forty-two months.” On the Julian calendar (in use when the Book of Revelation was written), 42 months is typically 1279 days. Using the same time-code that days represent years, this means the Gentiles would control Jerusalem for 1279 years from 688 A.D. – which takes us to 1967, when the Israeli army recaptured Jerusalem during the Six Day War.

The all-important date in June 1967, when the Israeli army took control of the old city of Jerusalem, occurred between the first and second blood moons in the tetrad.

The second ‘Feast Day’ tetrad of blood moons in the 20th century actually occurred in 1967-1968. During this second great heavenly sign of the End Times, it was as if the Lord God were saying: “Look! Something hugely significant is happening right in front of your eyes. I have fulfilled another great promise to Israel. The times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled (Luke 21:24) and My people now have control of Jerusalem again.” Again, it is worth noting that the all-important date in June 1967, when the Israeli army took control of the old city of Jerusalem, occurred between the first and second blood moons in the tetrad.

The Beast

The third and final ‘Feast Day’ tetrad of blood moons that God instituted as a sign of the End Times occurred in 2014-2015. Perhaps you remember it? It was beautiful. But more than just being a very special sight to behold, it was also a very special message from God, who was saying: “Look! Something hugely significant is happening right in front of your eyes.” I am certain this tetrad was God’s way of highlighting the third and final key event which would warn us that Jesus will be returning quite soon. Unsurprisingly, this third sign of the End Times relates to the third and final time-span given in Revelation 11 – the period of “three-and-a-half days” in verses 9 and 11. Revelation 11:7 tells us that when God’s two witnesses (the Messianic Jews and the faithful Gentile Christians) 3 approach the effective end of their God-ordained period of ministry, “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome [some of] them, and kill [some of] them.”

Revelation 11:7, therefore, describes the ‘beast’ as one who will eventually rise from the dead.

The “bottomless pit” is just called “the pit” in Isaiah 24:18, and it is also described as the “waterless pit” in Zechariah 9:11. It is a standard Biblical (Jewish) metaphor for Sheol, the place of the dead. Revelation 11:7, therefore, describes the ‘beast’ as one who will eventually rise from the dead. Revelation 11:9 implies that the ‘beast’ makes war for “three-and-a-half days”, during which Christians are killed but do not receive a proper burial. I suspect these “three-and-a-half days” might well have two meanings – a double fulfilment. I believe that the first fulfilment of time-spans quoted in days in the Book of Revelation is such that the ‘days’ always represent years. However, we cannot rule out a second fulfilment when the days are literal days as given.

Islamic State and the restored Caliphate

I believe, therefore, the primary fulfilment of the ‘beast’ making war for “three-and-a-half days” refers to the three-and-a-half years that Islamic State had authority over the population of a defined geographical area in Syria and Iraq, which I have noted as the fulfilment of Revelation 13:5 in an earlier article.4 These three-and-a-half years, during which Islamic State overcame and killed many people, commenced on 29th June 2014 – when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of the restored Caliphate. At this specific time, I believe that al-Baghdadi was revealed to be the End Times antichrist through his fulfilment of Revelation 13:14-15. Notably, this unveiling of the antichrist on 29th June 2014 occurred during the time of the ‘Feast Day’ tetrad of blood moons in 2014-2015. And, yet again, the key date of 29th June 2014 actually occurred between the first and second blood moons in the tetrad.

The key date on which each of the above events was fulfilled always occurred between the first and second blood moons in the tetrad.

Summary

Let me now summarise what we have learned. In Revelation 11:1-10, God references the following three very important events, each of which is associated with a specified time-span:

  • The establishment of the modern nation state of Israel.
  • Israel regaining control of the old city of Jerusalem.
  • The unveiling of the End Times antichrist.

For each of the above events, God sent a very rare ‘Feast Day’ tetrad of blood moons. The key date on which each of the above events was fulfilled always occurred between the first and second blood moons in the tetrad as follows:

  • The end of Israel’s War of Independence in July 1949 occurred between the first and second eclipses in the tetrad of 1949-50.
  • The capture of Jerusalem by the Israeli army in June 1967 occurred between the first and second eclipses in the tetrad of 1967-68.
  • The unveiling of the antichrist on 29th June 2014 occurred between the first and second eclipses in the tetrad of 2014-15. But who understood? To me, this confirms the identity of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the End Times antichrist beyond all reasonable doubt. If al-Baghdadi was only another foreshadowing (like Antiochus Epiphanes) of an even bigger antichrist yet to come, does anyone seriously think we shall have to wait another 560 years until the next special tetrad for this super-antichrist to appear?

End Notes

1 See ‘Biblical Symbolism and Idioms – Days and Years’2 Ibid3 See ‘Biblical Symbolism and Idioms – The Menorah and the Olive Tree’4 See recent article, ‘The Assyrian Antichrist’