by John Hagee
Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
than she gives birth to her children.
(ISAIAH 66:8 NIV)
The first permanent Israeli government took office on January 25, 1949. During the next several months, a series of four Israeli War of Independence truce agreements were signed: with Egypt on February 24, with Lebanon on March 23, with Jordan on April 3, and with Syria on July 20. All of these agreements created armistice demarcation lines, which established Israel’s borders.8
It was during this process of Israel’s rebirth and the establishment of her borders that on Passover 1949 God splattered the heavens with the first Blood Moon of the second Tetrad. The Jewish people had endured the severe tribulation of the Holocaust, the trials of rebirthing a nation, and now it was a time of triumph; they were officially home and home forever.
The Jews had returned to the covenant land of Israel but something was missing. The third series of Four Blood Moons would signal the complete restoration of their beloved capital, the city of God.
CHAPTER 15
The Four Blood Moons of 1967–68
Yet I have chosen Jerusalem,
that My name may be there.
—2 CHRONICLES 6:6
The third occurrence of a Tetrad of Blood Moons significant to Jewish history, as reported by NASA, was in 1967–68. Why was this significant to Jewish history? 1967 was the year the city of Jerusalem was reunited with the Jewish people for the first time in nearly nineteen hundred years.
This was a monumental prophetic event and God lit up the heavens in celebration of what took place; for Jerusalem is unlike any other city on the face of the earth . . . it is the city of God.
BLOOD MOONS OF 1967–68
The Tetrad of Blood Moons of 1967–68 occurred on the Jewish holidays of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles:
1. Passover, April 24, 1967
2. Feast of Tabernacles, October 18, 1967
3. Passover, April 13, 1968
4. Feast of Tabernacles, October 6, 1968
BLOOD MOONS OF 1967–68
This third Tetrad, beginning in 1967, occurred on the Jewish holidays of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles with the total solar eclipse occurring on November 2, 1967, before Passover of 1968.
What was happening to the Jewish people during this time?
THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE
See how your enemies growl,
how your foes rear their heads.
With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish.
“Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation,
so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
(PSALM 83:2–4 NIV)
Israel was at war from the moment they declared statehood.
The War of Independence of May 15, 1948, through March 10, 1949, occurred the day after Israel’s rebirth. Seven Arab nations came against the apple of God’s eye. The war was fought along the entire length of the country’s border; against Lebanon and Syria in the north; Iraq and Transjordan in the east; Egypt, assisted by contingents from the Sudan, in the south; and Palestinians and volunteers from Arab countries in the interior of Israel.
It was the bloodiest of Israel’s wars with a total of 6,373 killed in action. The jubilant celebration of the nation’s rebirth was over. Sandwiched between the War of Independence and the Six-Day War was the Sinai War of October 29 through November 7, 1956, which was fought against Egypt over the control of the strategic Sinai Peninsula.
In 1967, the Arab nations, committed to driving the Jewish people into the sea, once again rallied against Israel. On May 15, as Israel commemorated their Independence Day, the buildup of Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai near the Israeli border. By May 18, Syrian troops were prepared for battle along the Golan Heights.
The growling voices that King David prophesied concerning Israel’s enemies echoed through the airwaves.
On May 18, 1967, The Voice of the Arabs radio station proclaimed:
As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.1
On May 20, Syrian Defense Minister Hafez Assad threatened Israel with the following declaration:
Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united. . . . I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation.2
On May 27, Nasser of Egypt challenged Israel:
“Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight,” he said.3 . . . The following day, he added: “We will not accept any . . . coexistence with Israel.”4
On May 30, King Hussein of Jordan signed a defense pact with Egypt. Nasser then announced:
The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel . . . to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations.5
President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq joined in the vicious war of words:
The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear—to wipe Israel off the map.6
On June 4, Iraq joined the military alliance of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.
The Arab rhetoric was matched by the mobilization of hostile Arab forces. Approximately 465,000 enemy troops, with more than 2,800 tanks, and 800 aircraft surrounded Israel.7
THE HAND OF GOD
He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.
(JOSHUA 4:24 NIV)
The Six-Day War was a war of miracles. God gave Israel triumph after triumph against their ancient enemies that had occupied their land and divided the sacred city of Jerusalem for centuries. There was no military reason for their victory; it was simply the hand of God!
Allow me to share some eyewitness testimonies of the miracles in the Six-Day War.
THE CONQUEST OF SHECHEM
Israel’s military commanders recognized that the taking of Shechem would be one of the toughest and bloodiest battles of the war. The largest crossing of the Jordan River began in the country of Jordan and continued through the Samarian Mountains and into the city of Shechem. Abraham used this very crossing as he entered into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12: 6).
The Jordanian army assumed that Israel would enter Shechem through their coastal region so they placed their heavy artillery and tanks on the other side of the city overlooking the roads leading to Shechem from the west. The IDF (Israel Defense Force) decided to outmaneuver the enemy by first fighting to the north and west and then coming back down to enter Shechem from the east, which was “the back door” of the city.
Colonel Uri Banari gives his eyewitness account:8
At the entrance to Shechem stood thousands of Arabs who waved white handkerchiefs and clapped their hands. In our naiveté, we returned greetings and smiles. We entered the town and wondered: We are advancing and there is no disorder, no panic, the local armed guards stand by with rifles in their hands keeping order, and the crowds are cheering.
Suddenly something happened which changed the entire picture in a moment. One of our officers wanted to disarm an Arab guard. When the latter
refused, our officer fired a shot in the air. At that moment, all the crowds disappeared and streets emptied out. The Arabs began sniper fire.
I didn’t comprehend what had transpired. Only later, did I understand.
The residents of Shechem thought that we were the Iraqi forces who were due to arrive from the direction of Jordan. The numerous enemy tanks were situated on the west side of Shechem. They woke up to their error very late.
The Arabs were surprised; the fear of the Jews fell upon them. In Hebron, and in Shechem, in Jenin and in Jericho the Arabs were heavily armed. There was not even one small Arab village without arms. With great haste, the Arabs, however, hid their weapons and didn’t consider using them. They raised their hands up, and flew white flags of surrender from every edifice.
The fear of G-d fell upon hundreds of thousands of proud Arabs, who were filled with hatred and loathing for Israel. Only yesterday, they had sworn to fight until their last drop of blood.
A DIRECT HIT
In the late hours of the night, an IDF truck loaded with arms and shells parked next to a building in Jerusalem. Its mission was to bring a fresh supply of ammunition to the front line outposts. The element of danger was great for if the truck was hit by enemy fire, the subsequent explosions of all the ammo would bring all the buildings in the area down on their inhabitants.
Suddenly the whistling of an approaching enemy shell was heard, and the shell, indeed, scored a direct hit on the vehicle. But the Arab shell did not explode. It remained perched atop the pile of Israeli shells in the truck.
EIGHTEEN AGAINST TWO
Yisrael, a cab driver who was drafted to fight in the Six-Day War as part of the paratroop unit assigned with conquering the Straits of Tiran, gave the following account upon his return:
The Israeli soldiers didn’t have to parachute out of the Nord airplanes which took them to the Tiran Straits. They landed like spoiled tourists in the airport, because the Egyptian regiment which was on guard there fled before the Israeli troops were visible on the horizon.
After landing, I was sent with another reserve soldier, an electrician, to patrol the area. When we had distanced ourselves two kilometers, an Egyptian halftrack appeared before us filled with soldiers and mounted with machine guns on every side. We had only light weapons with a few bullets that couldn’t stop the halftrack for a second. We couldn’t turn back, so we stood there in despair, waited for the first shot, and for lack of a better idea, aimed our guns at them.
But the shots didn’t come.
The halftrack came to a halt, and we decided to cautiously approach it. We found eighteen armed soldiers inside sitting with guns in hand, with a petrified look on their faces. They looked at us with great fear as though begging for mercy. I shouted “Hands up!”
As we were marching them and I had returned to a state of calm, I asked the Egyptian sergeant next to me, “Tell me, why didn’t you shoot at us?”
He answered, “I don’t know. My arms froze—they became paralyzed. My whole body was paralyzed, and I don’t know why.”
It turned out that these soldiers didn’t know that the Straits of Tiran were already in Israeli hands; why didn’t they eliminate us?
I don’t have an answer. How can one say that G-d didn’t help us.
THE FINGER OF GOD
IDF Director of Operations Maj. Gen. Ezer Weizmann was asked by Mr. Levanon, the father of a fallen pilot, how he explains the fact that for three straight hours, Israeli Air Force planes flew from one Egyptian airstrip to another destroying the enemy planes, yet the Egyptians did not radio ahead to inform their own forces of the oncoming Israeli attack.
Ezer Weizmann, who later served as president of the State of Israel, was silent. He then lifted his head and exclaimed, “The finger of G-d.”
HA’ARETZ NEWSPAPER’S BOTTOM LINE
Following his blow-by-blow analysis, the military correspondent for the secular Ha’aretz newspaper summed up the Six-Day War with the admission: “Even a non-religious person must admit this war was fought with help from heaven.”
A JOURNALIST’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
A German journalist summarized:
Nothing like this has happened in history. A force including 1,000 tanks, hundreds of artillery cannons, many rockets and fighter jets, and a hundred thousand soldiers armed from head to toe was destroyed in two days in an area covering hundreds of kilometers filled with reinforced outposts and installations.
And this victory was carried out by a force that lost many soldiers and much equipment, positions, and vehicles. No military logic or natural cause can explain this monumental occurrence.
Scripture declares in Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes” (NASB).
King Hussein of Jordan proposed a cease-fire before the IDF could take back the Old City of Jerusalem. World leaders put increasing political pressure on Israel, demanding that they accept the proposed truce. Then suddenly, King Hussein changed his mind, refusing to submit to the very conditions of the cease-fire that he personally put in place! God’s intervention allowed the IDF to bring the Old City under Israeli control.
The Old City had been under Jordanian control since 1948. For nineteen years the Jewish people had been prohibited from the Western Wall where they had prayed for thousands of years before. It took just three days for Israeli forces to defeat the Jordanian army. On the morning of June 7, the order was given to take back the Old City of Jerusalem.
Israeli paratroopers stormed the city and secured it. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan arrived with Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin to formally mark the Jews’ return to their historic capital and their holiest site. At the Western Wall, the IDF’s chaplain, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, blew a shofar to celebrate the event.
In total, 21,000 of Israel’s enemies were killed during the Six-Day War; Israel lost 779 soldiers. Jerusalem became the capital of the Jewish people once again. David Ben-Gurion was right when he declared, “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.”
God’s signature was on the miraculous victory of the Six-Day War. He signaled this historic event with the third series of Four Blood Moons. The trials and tribulation of war finally brought forth triumph for the Jewish people—the unification of their beloved Jerusalem.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
(PSALM 14:7 NIV)
There will be a fourth series of Four Blood Moons in the near future. NASA has stated that this will be the last appearance of a Tetrad in this century. What historical event will take place during their occurrences that is significant to Israel and the Jewish people?
More importantly, what is God saying to mankind?
CHAPTER 16
The Four Blood Moons of 2014–15
Now when these things begin to happen,
look up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption draws near.
—LUKE 21:28
The next time the Four Blood Moons begin to appear will be in April of 2014. NASA has projected that the Tetrad will begin on April 2014 and end in September 2015.1 It will occur in the following sequence:
1. Passover, April 15, 2014
2. Feast of Tabernacles, October 8, 2014
3. Passover, April 4, 2015
4. Feast of Tabernacles, September 28, 2015
BLOOD MOONS OF 2014–15
After the appearance of the second Blood Moon and before the third Blood Moon there will be a total solar eclipse on March 20, 2015.
What is the prophetic significance of these Four Blood Moons?
To help answer this very important question, we must review the journey we have taken since the beginning of this book.
It is very rare that Scripture, science, and historical events align with one another, yet the last three Four Blood Moon series or Tetrads have done exactly that. Remember, several
Tetrads have occurred in the past five hundred years; only three have corresponded to the Jewish Feasts as well as being linked to historical events significant to Israel. Seven more Tetrads will take place in the twenty-first century, however only one of these seven, the Tetrad of 2014–15, will align itself with the Feasts of the Lord.
What were the common denominators of 1492, 1949, and 1967? They all centered on significant events related to Israel and the Jewish people, and they occurred on the Feasts of the Lord, but what about the future?
The Jewish people are still the apple of God’s eye. They are still cherished and chosen of God. And they are still the people of covenant—a covenant God has pledged to keep forever. Therefore we can rightly conclude that the next series of Four Blood Moons of 2014 and 2015 will also hold significance for Israel and the Jewish people.
Each of the three previous series of Four Blood Moons began with a trail of tears and ended with triumph for the Jewish people.
The Old Testament prophets clearly state that when the Jewish people return from their second exile, they will never be removed from their covenant homeland again. Therefore, China, Iran, Russia, and the uprising of the Arab Spring will NOT remove the people from the land or the land of Israel from the earth!
God Almighty is going to defend Israel Himself, and Israel will prevail over all adversity and adversaries!
As we learned in chapter 1, the prophet Joel sends a clear and powerful message to the world and to Israel:
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
