Blood moons are hot right now! They are big, beautiful, and red, but are they biblical signs? Pastor John Hagee and others believe they are both biblical and prophetic, but his statements should be reviewed.

A blood moon is simply a total lunar eclipse. The earth blocks the sun’s light from reflecting off the moon and the only hue of light that makes it through the earth’s atmosphere is red, casting a blood-red hue on the moon.

These total lunar eclipses often happen in tetrads (fours) over a period of a year’s time. Hagee believes significant Jewish events happen during these tetrad of blood moons, and argues something powerful and significant is going to happen to Israel between April 2014 and September 2015.

Below are three reasons I believe these blood moons bear no connection to events in Jewish history and have no biblical reference.

1. Biblical Blood Moons Don’t Function Alone

There is no doubt the prophetic Scriptures mention a blood moon in the end times. The biblical book of Joel is the first to envision an apocalyptic “blood moon” as he prophecizes about the “great and terrible” coming of the Lord, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31). Luke borrows the words of Joel in Acts 2:20 and John also uses this illustration in Revelation 6:12.

Each time the blood moon is mentioned, it’s with reference to multiple cosmic apocalyptic events happening simultaneously like, “the sun shall be turned to darkness.” However, the “blood moons” pushed by John Hagee and others function alone, all by themselves with no other cosmic events occurring. Also, all three “blood moons” from the Scriptures are the same blood moon, so each author (Joel, Luke, John) is pointing to the same cosmic event. However, proponents of connecting blood moons to Jewish history are dealing with multiple blood moons that have appeared over a period of 500 years, which have no biblical basis.

2. The Blood Moons Dates Don’t Match

John Hagee and other prophecy gurus argue that a tetrad of total eclipse blood moonsare often associated with significant events in Jewish history. For instance, they say a tetrad of blood moons happened during the Jewish expulsions from Spain in 1492, another tetrad of blood moons revealed their reddish hue during Israel’s Independence in 1948, and again in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

The problem correlating blood moons with these historical events is that some of the dates are off a bit. For instance, Israel’s independence happened in 1948, yet the first blood moon happened in April of 1949, after most of all the armistice lines were drawn between Israel and its enemies. In addition, the tetrad of blood moons didn’t begin until 1493, a year after the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492.

So do the blood moons happen during the events, like the Six-Day War in 1967, or do the come after the events, like Israel’s independence and the Jewish expulsion from Spain? These inconsistencies show how proponents of the view are stretching to make them fit into their presuppositions.

3. There Is Only One Biblical Blood Moon

Those who want to see prophetic value in the blood moons connect them to significant Jewish/Israeli events from history as I mentioned earlier. Interestingly, these are the most random Jewish/Israeli events: (1) Jewish expulsion from Spain (1492), Israel’s independence (1948), and Six-Day War (1967).

To begin, some of these Jewish events are joyous occasions that involved a serious struggle like Israel’s independence and the Six-Day War. Israel declared an independent Jewish state after more than 2,000 years in diaspora and defeated its enemies in both 1948/1949 as well as 1967. On the flipside, the Jewish expulsion from Spain was that of extreme persecution resulting in the death of thousands of Jewish people after a long and vibrant history in Spain, with no great outcome. So what’s the purpose if blood moons only occur during those three random events?
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Second, there are many Jewish holidays, biblical events, and historical affairs that have extreme significance in Jewish history like the destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C. and A.D. 70, as well as the recent Holocaust (1938-1945), yet there is no tetrad of blood moons during these powerful Jewish events.

There is only one biblical “blood moon” that will happen in history and it will shine in the place of a darkened sun and burnt out stars when the Lord judges this world once for all.

CJK

About the Author

Chris Katulka

Chris Katulka is the director of North American Ministries for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, the host of The Friends of Israel Today radio program, a Bible teacher, and writer for Israel My Glory magazine. He is also the author of Israel Always: Experiencing God’s Pursuit of You Through His Chosen People. If you would like to support Chris, please click here.