Blood Moons, and Other Signs…Something To Ponder

I tried to get a glimpse of the Blood Moon last night. In case you don't know, the blood moon (so called because of it's red hue), occurs when the moon is entirely immersed in the Earth's shadow and can take on that murky 'blood red' color due to the scattering of sunlight through the edges of the Earth's atmosphere.  You can see the progression in this series of shots here:

Photo courtesy of Nick Taylor. Used by permission

I live in Pacific time zone so I stayed up long enough to go outside to see if I could get some good photos. No such luck, our normally clear skies were not so clear. The moon was so shrouded in clouds I could barely tell where it was. So I checked back in about twenty minutes and still, there were too many clouds.  So...disappointed, I went to bed. Awakening a bit later I went outside and the clouds had moved on, but so had the eclipse. It was at the tail end of the phase so it was no longer really red and just looked like a fuzzy sliver of crescent moon.

Thankfully other's were able to get off some great shots, such as the time lapse series posted above, courtesy of Nick Taylor. His photo below was featured on KRNV news.

Used by permission of photographer Nick Taylor

Because I have this fascination with the moon, I have been known to take crazy amounts of photos just to get a handful of great shots. Like this Super Moon shot…

Photo credit. Gay Idle, photographer

I took this shot, June 23, 2013, with a Nikon P500(in case you don't know it's NOT a DSLR)…handheld…no tripod, no timer, so I'm kind of proud of this shot.

Last night's event was the beginning of a rare event called an eclipse tetrad…the occurrence of four blood moons over a span of around 18 months. The three other total lunar eclipses will occur on October 8, April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015. I say rare because apparently there have been no tetrads at all during the 300 years from 1600 to1900. Single blood moons happen fairly regularly, but from what I have gleaned from my research, four appearing so close together…that's rare. This has happened only a handful of times over the past 50 years. That's a big deal!

There are those who would make a big deal that these "blood moons" are occurring on major Jewish holidays or feast days …the Passover and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles).  They say that there is much historical significance in the "rare appearance of four blood moons on these feast days" and that it has "coincided with major events for Israel and the Jewish people" down through the ages.

John Hagee is one of those taking note of these events. He has written a book that talks about this very phenomenon, titled, Four Blood Moons: Something Is About To Change.  I have not read the book…so please don't take this post as an endorsement, nor as a critical commentary on his book. I just know from reading the description of the book that he brings up some interesting things to ponder. It explores the prophetic significance of such "signs" in the sky. He believes that God is sending to our generation a signal from these tetrad occurrences that something big is about to happen.

I don't really know a whole lot about these things. I love the moon because I am fascinated with all of God's creation. What I do know is that God is in control. Yes, He has given us prophecies in His word concerning the signs in the sky.

  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming or the great and awesome day of the LORD. Joel 2:31

…there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars…Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. Luke 21:25a, 28 

No doubt, there will be those who read of these prophecies in the Bible and make the connection to the current happenings with the "blood moon" as a sign of the end of the world as we know it.  While some may fear the 'end is near'...I do not. God's Word tells us,

However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. Matthew 24:36 NLT

I do believe we are living in the 'end times'…but I don't believe anyone knows how long the 'end times' will last. No one knows but God Himself. There very well may be something big about to occur with the nation of Israel and in the Middle East. I really don't know and honestly, don't care to speculate.

What I do know is that God is good. He is in control and I have nothing to fear…for even death itself holds no power over me.  The passage in Matthew states that when these things begin to happen we are to look up, our REDEMPTION is near! That, my friends, is good news!


Sunday is Easter…Resurrection Sunday! Because He rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God the Father I too will one day rise to be with Him! I know my Redeemer lives…and because He lives, as the beloved song goes, I can face tomorrow.

Now THAT is worth pondering!