by John Hagee
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.
(2:30–31)
The apostle Peter repeats Joel’s declaration during his sermon on the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts (2:19–20). The prophet Joel and the apostle Peter are giving exactly the same message. Luke alerts us that when we see these signs (Luke 21:25), “Lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).
As mentioned earlier, I believe that the heavens are God’s high-definition billboard. I believe that He has been sending signals and speaking to planet earth in the heavens since creation—we just haven’t considered the meaning of the signals.
It bears repeating that King David acknowledged the heavens were God’s billboard when he wrote:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
(PSALM 19:1–4)
PROPHETIC BULLS-EYE
Learning how to shoot a rifle in Texas is a rite of passage. My father gave me my first rifle when I was six years of age. It was a Marlin .22 caliber, and I carried it like Wyatt Earp going to the gun fight at the O.K. Corral.
It was a common practice for my older brother, Bill, and me to turn the hounds loose and to walk into the thick and tall Texas pine trees on hunting adventures that would make Tom Sawyer’s exploits pale by comparison.
About the age of thirteen I was invited to go deer hunting for the first time with a member of our church. I checked in my .22 caliber rifle for a 30.06 with a four-power scope ready for the shot of the century.
Dad took me to the firing range to introduce me to the difference between the modest pop of my .22 and the kaboom of the 30.06. The first time I shot it I thought a mule had kicked me in the right shoulder.
Most importantly, I learned how to focus the scope on the 30.06. After several shots had numbed my right shoulder and had my ears ringing like church bells on New Year’s Day, I could clearly see the target one hundred yards away.
Dad shouted, “Put the crosshairs of the scope on the bull’s-eye, then slowly squeeze the trigger—don’t jerk it! Unless you hit the bull’s-eye, all of your efforts are in vain.”
When you focus on the coming Four Blood Moons by remembering the events that took place on the dates of past occurrences, when you set your sites on the signs of the terminal generation and concentrate on the concept of the Shemittah year, then you will clearly see your target, squeeze the trigger, and hit the bull’s-eye! Remember the words of Jesus to His disciples on the Mount of Olives:
So you also, when you see all these things, know that it [My coming] is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.
(MATTHEW 24:33–34)
Look at the word generation. When God was speaking to Abraham in Genesis 15, He labeled a generation as one hundred years. Some interpret the word generation in this passage as “race,” meaning the Jewish people.
Jesus was presenting His Prophetic Conference to His twelve disciples, who were expecting the literal kingdom of God on earth in their lifetime.
Jesus was telling them that after the deception . . . after the wars and rumors of war . . . after the famines, the pestilence, and earthquakes in various places . . . after you are hated by all nations for My name’s sake . . . after lawlessness, anarchy, and false prophets . . . after an abomination of desolation on the Temple Mount . . . after being scattered among the nations (AD 70) . . . and after Israel is reborn (May 1948)—that generation will see My return in the clouds of heaven. We are that generation!
SIGNS OF THE TERMINAL GENERATION
I have listed the signs of the terminal generation in several of my books2 and some of them bear repeating, for we can’t deny their existence and their importance to the next series of Blood Moons.
1. Rebirth of Israel
2. The Ingathering
3. Jewish control of Jerusalem
4. Deception on a global scale
5. The resurrection of the Hebrew language
6. The knowledge explosion
7. The birth of nuclear warfare
I have touched on the first four signs of the terminal generation in previous chapters; allow me to expound on the remaining three.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,
That they all may call on the name of the LORD,
To serve Him with one accord.
(ZEPHANIAH 3:9)
The fulfillment of this prophecy began in 1881 when Eliezer Ben-Yehuda arrived in Palestine. Hebrew had not been the spoken language of the Jewish people since the time of the Bible and for centuries had been used only in study. Ben-Yehuda believed that Jewish nationalism was a twofold goal requiring the return of the Jewish people to their biblical homeland and the revival of the spoken Hebrew language.
Ben-Yehuda accomplished the nearly impossible feat of making Hebrew the modern language of the Jewish people yet never saw the creation of the State of Israel. He passed away only one month after British authorities declared Hebrew to be the official language of the Jews. His dream of the rebirth of the nation of Israel in its own land, speaking its own language, was a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.3
THE KNOWLEDGE EXPLOSION
But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.
(DANIEL 12:4 NASB)
My parents were born at a time when the majority of people still traveled by horse-drawn carriages just as King David. In fact, not much had changed in the way of technology since the time of my great-grandparents. There were no telephones, no television, no faxes, no Xerox machines, and no computers! People communicated in person by letter, and only when someone died would you receive a telegram.
However, times have changed! Within the last few decades technology has exploded to the point that one can use a mobile phone to speak to anyone in the world and send messages via email, text, Twitter, and Facebook. We log on to the information highway by means of the Internet allowing access to any search engine available. You can watch your favorite television programs and movies through devices that can fit in your coat pocket. We share pictures, videos, and news instantly! Daily, this technology exponentially increases—just think of the number of times that you purchased the latest gizmo and it became obsolete before you walked out of the store!
There is no doubt that we are the generation that has experienced the knowledge explosion, but does more knowledge produce wisdom?
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
(PROVERBS 9:10)
THE BIRTH OF NUCLEAR WARFARE
This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day people will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another.
(ZECHARIAH 14:12–13 NIV)
Zechariah is describing the effects of an intense heat from a nuclear blast. What advances has man made in warfare technology since the time of this prophecy?
For eleven centuries, from AD 9 during the Tang Dynasty through the twentieth century, prior to WWII, the main source of warfare, using explosives, was gunpowder. Then in 1939 the Manhattan Project was born, usheri
ng in the nuclear age with the invention of the atomic bomb, followed by the hydrogen bomb, which can produce 1.5 million degrees of heat in a fraction of second. This is why the Bible describes flesh falling from the body before the corpse can hit the ground.
The world still remembers the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were the only events in history where nuclear bombs were used in warfare. In the book of Revelation, John tells that four angels are going to be released to destroy one-third of the earth’s population in one day. Before hydrogen bombs this was not possible! Now the world has enough nuclear power owned by the nations of the world to kill everyone on planet earth twenty times over.
Iran, with its radical religious leadership, has promised to share nuclear weapons with terrorist organizations around the globe. If and when Iran becomes nuclear, it will threaten and destabilize Western civilization. Iran’s radical theology worships death, and a nuclear bomb will serve their theological concepts perfectly. It’s only a matter of time before the nuclear genie is out of the bottle and a mushroom cloud covers the earth.
THE COMING SHEMITTAH YEAR
We detailed the importance of the Shemittah year in chapter 3. In short review, a Shemittah year occurs every seven years; it’s known as a time of rest for the land much like the Sabbath, which occurs every seven days, is a time of rest for man. While observing Shemittah guarantees abundance, neglecting it leads to judgment.
Every seven years we experience a Shemittah year in which God allows something to happen that gets our undivided attention whether we are ready or not! Just look at what happened in the last several Shemittah years:
• The Shemittah year of 1973: The Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade occurred, which has resulted in the deaths of more 60 million unborn babies.
• The Shemittah year of 1980: Saddam Hussein invaded Iran to signal the beginning of the Gulf War years.
• The Shemittah year of 1987: A supernova that could be seen by the naked eye for the first time since 1604 occurred. A supernova is the explosion of a star that has reached the end of its life; this brilliant point of light can briefly outshine entire galaxies and radiate more energy than our sun will in its entire lifetime.4 That same year the U.S. stock market crashed.
• The Shemittah year of 1994: Yasser Arafat returns to the Middle East. A rare earthquake occurred in North America on the New Madrid fault line; it spanned the Midwest of the United States up to Canada.
• The Shemittah year of 2001: America was attacked by radical Islamic terrorists killing nearly three thousand Americans on 9/11. This day became America’s new day of infamy.
• The Shemittah year of 2008: America experienced a stock market crash on September 29 when the market fell 777 points in one day. It was the greatest one-day decline in the history of Wall Street.
Add seven years to 2008, and you have the year 2015, in which you also find the last two Four Blood Moons of 2014–15. Remember, God does everything at a “set time” (Psalm 102:13).
We know that only three Tetrads have occurred in the last 500 years that are significant to Israel and also fall on the Jewish Feasts. We also know that these are the only Tetrads that have had a total solar eclipse somewhere within the series. The coming Tetrad in 2014–15 will also contain a total solar eclipse within its series. But what is different between the previous three Tetrads significant to Israel and the coming Tetrad?
Unlike the others, this series of Four Blood Moons contains a Shemittah year beginning September 25, 2014, and concluding on September 13, 2015. Astoundingly, this Shemittah year will begin on the first day of the Jewish New Year (Feast of Trumpets) of 2014 and conclude on the following celebration of the Jewish New Year (Feast of Trumpets) in 2015. Follow this phenomenon:
• The occurrence of a lunar eclipse is common.
• The occurrence of a total lunar eclipse is less common.
• The occurrence of a Tetrad or four consecutive Blood Moons (total lunar eclipses) is rare.
• The occurrence of a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse within its series is very rare.
• A Tetrad with a total solar eclipse that is significant to Israel’s history and the Jewish Feasts is very, very rare.
• The occurrence of a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse historically significant to Israel and Jewish Feasts that includes a Shemittah year within its series is very, very, very rare.
• But a Tetrad with a total solar eclipse, historically significant to Israel and falling on the Jewish Feasts with a Shemittah year that corresponds with the Feast of Trumpets (the Jewish New Year) within its series is astronomically rare!
THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
Say to the Israelites: “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the LORD.”
(LEVITICUS 23:24–25 NIV)
Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year” or “first of the year.” Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year and is a time of introspection.
The name Rosh Hashanah is not used in the Bible. This holiday is instead referred to in the Hebrew as a day of remembrance or the day of the sounding of the shofar. It is called the Feast of Trumpets. One of the most important observances of this holiday is hearing the sound of the shofar (a ram’s horn that sounds like a trumpet) in the synagogue. Some believe that the blowing of the trumpet is the call to repentance. Religious services for the holiday focus on the concept of God’s sovereignty.
Another practice of the holiday is Tashlikh (“casting off”). Some of those observing this feast will walk through flowing water, such as a creek or river, on the afternoon of the first day and empty their pockets into the river, symbolically casting off their sins. The Shemittah year and Feast of Tabernacles begin at sunset September 25, 2014.
These occurrences are not coincidental! This is the hand of God orchestrating the signs in the heavens. The final Four Blood Moons are signaling that something big is coming . . . something that will change the world forever. But the bigger question is, are we watching and listening?
THE LIGHT OF ISRAEL
There have been sages within the centuries that have devoted their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures. They have faithfully watched and waited for the signs in the heavens that God has given mankind. Now let’s consider the foresights of one of these pious men, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel.
Rabbi Judah ben Samuel (1140–1217) was a legendary German rabbi of the twelfth century. He was an extremely devout man of God who gave a series of prophecies concerning the future of Jerusalem, all of which came true to the day.
Rabbi Samuel based his prophecies on the year of Jubilee. According to Leviticus 25, one Jubilee period is fifty years, in which during the fiftieth year each person would regain ownership of his or her land. All indentured servants were set free and all debts were forgiven.
The Ottoman Empire (Turks) captured the city of Jerusalem in 1517. Rabbi Samuel prophesied three hundred years previously that the Turks would control Jerusalem for eight Jubilees. Eight Jubilees would be eight times fifty—exactly four hundred years. The rabbi’s prophecy came true! The Turks were conquered in 1917 when the British army, under the command of General Edmund Allenby, liberated Jerusalem on Hanukkah (the Festival of Lights), December 17, 1917.5
Rabbi Samuel’s next prophecy stated, “Afterwards Jerusalem will become a no-man’s land for one Jubilee.”6 Again, one Jubilee is fifty years.
What is the meaning of “no-man’s land”? Exactly this: under the British Mandate the Jews were permitted to immigrate to what was then called Palestine, which is today Israel. While a limited number of Jews were permitted to immigrate into the land, they were not permitted to rule themselves; instead they were ruled by the British, who were favorable to the Arabs at the time.
As Rabbi Samuel had prophesied hundreds of years earlier,
Palestine was indeed a “no-man’s land”! The “no-man’s land” prophecy was to end after one Jubilee, which was fifty years added to 1917—making it 1967, the year Jerusalem was reunited with the State of Israel and the Jewish people for the first time in nearly nineteen hundred years.
Rabbi ben Samuel’s biblical calculations (Gematria) were purely theoretical; there was absolutely no sign at the time they were given of their fulfillment, for it was three hundred years after his death that the first prophecy would come to pass.
But independent of his yet-to-be-fulfilled foresights, Rabbi Judah ben Samuel’s students testified that he was a godly man, a model of abstinence and selflessness who was waiting with a burning desire for the coming of the Messiah. The Rabbi was often called the “Light of Israel.”
If anyone asked him where his wisdom came from he would answer, “The prophet Elijah, who will precede the Messiah, appeared to me and revealed many things to me and emphasized that the pre-condition to answered prayer is that it is fueled by enthusiasm and joy for the greatness and holiness of God.”7
THE ISLAND OF FREEDOM
One of Israel’s greatest prime ministers, Golda Meir once said, “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” Since the nation of Israel became a state in 1948, they have endured repeated attacks and wars. They have constantly faced the threat of a hostile Arab world that wants to destroy them.
This nation that could fit inside the borders of Lake Michigan with room to spare is surrounded and greatly outnumbered by its enemies. Israel’s survival from its inception to the present is surely a result of the Hand of God and the staggering sacrifice on the part of generation after generation of the Jewish people.
