This page was posted in early March 2014, in advance of the April 15, 2014, lunar eclipse, which is the first of four eclipses you will see associated with 'blood moons' and linked to biblical themes by various writers. If you read this before or after the 'blood moons' occur, you, and we all, may gain some unique perspectives. We will add events to the WindowView Timeline as they unfold. As of this writing, the world is on edge in various ways and even without biblical implications, we are far from tranquility and global peace.

The following contains excerpts from a report, dated April 2013, entitled: 'SIGNS OF THE TIMES,' written By David Dolan. The report starts with a disclaimer warning readers of all and varied perspectives—thus, the writer understands all will not agree with what he reports.

IMPENDING EVENTS SOON TO HANG OVER US?

To the point Dolan states:

"Last year, I sent out to my large email list some of my salient thoughts concerning the possible prophetic significance of the dramatic events that have been unfolding in recent years here in the turbulent Middle East and elsewhere on planet earth."

And to this we add that on an earth where light pollution increasing removes the night sky from urban view, there is a global astronomical perspective of interest to address here. This regards what Dolan addresses in a section entitled: DARK MOONS ON THE HORIZON. The linkage between what is both science (see related NASA page) and Scripture enters the view here:

"... I want to focus this time on the upcoming cycle of lunar eclipses that scientists inform us will coincide with the first evening of Passover during the next two years, and also with the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles in 2014 and 2015. ... "

While scientists note it is fairly uncommon for this phenomenon to occur, it is even rarer for all four of the total consecutive eclipses to coincide with the full moons that signal the beginning of the two annual Feasts of the Lord. In fact, they say it has only occurred seven times since the era when Yeshua ministered on earth just before the Roman destruction of the Holy Temple here in Jerusalem and the subsequent scattering of the Jewish people from the land. However, after several centuries when no such Tetrads took place at all, there have been no less than two since 1949, with a third cycle beginning next Passover. Scientists say it will be the only Tetrad taking place on the biblical feast for the rest of this century. So a remarkable three such Tetrads are taking place in the space of just 70 years after centuries with none at all.

Here is some historical perspective on 'blood moons' ('Tetrads:' eclipses being in groups of four) in prior times ...

... previous Tetrads that coincided with the biblical feasts, including one that took place just as the Jews of Spain were being forcibly expelled from that land in 1494, at the end of the horrific Spanish Inquisition.

... besides the Tetrad which began on Passover in 1493 soon after the large Jewish community was ordered out of Spain (followed by the expulsion from neighboring Portugal in 1497), the two full eclipse cycles that occurred in the 20th century coincided with seminal historic occurrences in Israel’s short modern history. The initial Tetrad began on the first night of Passover on April 13, 1949. That date was just a little over one month after Israel’s blood-soaked War of Independence came to a successful end. The next Tetrad cycle also began on Passover, in 1967, which that year fell on April 24. That means it was just over six weeks before the short, but intense Six Day War broke out. A solar eclipse closely preceded it on April 20. As you all know, what looked like a probable terrible outcome for vastly outnumbered Israeli military forces turned out to be a stunning victory for them, as was also the case in the earlier Independence War.

If we closely examine the last three recorded Tetrads that began on the full moon of Passover and ended a year later on the first night of the annual Feast of Tabernacles, we can clearly see that they have three things in common—all involved the shedding of Jewish blood. The forced exile from Spain and Portugal and the Inquisitions that preceded them left untold numbers of Jews dead or wounded, while the Independence War took 6,373 lives (about 4,000 of them soldiers and around 2,400 civilians). Many more were wounded. Despite its short length, the Six Day War left nearly 1,000 Israelis dead and over 4,500 injured. Of course many Arab soldiers and civilians were either killed or wounded in the two wars as well, and others became refugees.

Not every negative event can or should be ascribed to the 'blood moons.' In fact, we might see what appears to be miraculous and significant events. But think "big picture" here, these events may also be part of laying the ground work for the larger known sequences of events to come as we head toward the end of this age.

... the 1949 Israeli victory in its fierce year-long War of Independence was certainly not a given, especially since Jewish fighters were battling much larger and better equipped Arab forces from several countries that had declared a war of annihilation on the fledgling Jewish State. The June 7, 1967 conquest of Jerusalem’s walled Old City and of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula were both totally unexpected and truly phenomenal, if not miraculous.

So if this same pattern holds true for the Tetrad beginning next Passover, Israel will face war, or at least great bloodshed, that will probably eventually end in some sort of victory. This could precede the first full moon eclipse, as was the case in 1948-49, or follow it as in 1967. In the Independence War, the first Passover lunar eclipse took place a full year after the conflict began, meaning if the pattern recurs, Israel could face a major war (both previous conflicts were major ones, to say the least) at virtually anytime. If the 1967 pattern was followed, then warfare could break out sometime after Passover next year. If the 1493 pattern prevailed, then bloodshed would precede the coming Tetrad, meaning it could also begin at any time.

Of course, no one can say that the previous three Tetrads that took place on the biblical feasts were anything more than coincidental with the dramatic events that seriously affected the Jewish people. However both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures do speak of celestial signs in relation to the Jewish people and their biblical homeland. Therefore, it is certainly noteworthy that the last three historic Tetrads that coincided with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles did indeed either immediately precede or quickly follow some of the most noteworthy events in Jewish history. It is also interesting to me that each of the string of four full eclipses in a row began on Passover, with none beginning as they could have on Succot. According to the Bible, the Jewish New Year begins in the spring just before Passover.

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WAR ON THE HORIZON

You don’t need to gaze at the moon to know that the tense Middle East is gearing up for another major eruption. While Israel itself has not been directly involved with the violent revolutions that began in Tunisia over two years ago and then spread to Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, ... it has been the object of existential threats emanating from Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and from the besieged Syrian Assad regime ... Hizbullah says it is ready to ply Israel with thousands of deadly rockets at any time, as does Iran which continues to enrich uranium at an escalating pace, it is not hard to imagine that a major war is looming. Of course, Israeli government and military leaders are not just imagining such a scenario, but are busy preparing for it.

Any new Middle East conflict would naturally have significant implications for the rest of the world as well, especially Jews residing around the globe. Financial markets would probably take a nosedive. Violence could be expected to spill over to many other places ... . Plus terror and/or military attacks might also take place in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, as both Iran and North Korea are currently threatening to unleash.

... while the 1949 cycle of eclipses was easily viewable in the skies above Israel, the 1967 cycle was almost exclusively visible only in the Jewish Diaspora. Could this have been a Divine message to the Jewish people around the globe that it was time to come home to their ancient Promised Land? Whether or not that was the case, the Six Day War did in fact spark off a tremendous wave of Jewish immigration to victorious Israel. The Independence War did the same ...

According to NASA charts, only the final total lunar eclipse of the upcoming Tetrad will appear in the skies above Israel. That will begin on September 28th 2015 just after midnight and reach its peak at 4:48 AM local time. However it will also be one of the longest total eclipses that ever occur, with full darkness lasting for over one hour. The other three eclipses will only be viewable further to the east in Asia, in Australia, over the Pacific Ocean and in the Americas, meaning Jews in Europe and Africa will also not be able to see them. Could this mean that the large Jewish community in North and South America (which when combined contains many more Jews than currently reside in Israel) and the substantial community in Australia might be the prophetic focus of the upcoming string of full moon eclipses until the very last one takes place? Only time will tell.

At this point in Mr. Dolan's article is discussion of other topics which may interest those who delve into prophesy and anticipated biblical events. You can read the full text of that discussion here at WindowView on the Signs of the Times page. At this point, lets look at a few points related to current events and what the biblical text addresses.

ISAIAH 17 AND PSALM 83

As I wrote before, I suspect that the next major regional war will begin with the fulfillment of Isaiah 17, which speaks of the total destruction of Damascus along with great suffering for Israel. This may well coincide with or ignite a conflict with Iran and other allies of the embattled Assad regime. It is true that the ancient Assyrians, who are spoken of extensively by the great prophet, conquered the Syrian capital city in his era. However historians say it was not the utter destruction of Damascus that is described in verses 1-3: "It will be for flocks to lie down in, and no one will (be around to) make them afraid." A fuller examination of this prophecy can be found in my book Israel in Crisis.

I suspect a war between Israel and Syria and its allies would probably be followed, either quickly or after a short period of time, by the fulfillment of the conspiracy involving several regional Arab neighbors that is foretold in Psalm 83. There we are told they will join together in an attempt to "wipe Israel out as a nation" (vs. 4), which is of course precisely what Iran, Hizbullah, Hamas and others have stated many times is their ultimate goal. A key to the fulfillment of that prophecy is the country of Jordan, which at this time still has a functioning peace treaty with Israel (unlike the collapsing treaties with Egypt and the Palestinian Authority). Several of the 10 Arab countries or tribes that are listed in Psalm 83: 6-8 resided in what is today territory under Jordanian control.

Of course, nobody can say for sure that the coming Tetrads will prove to be anything more than just a series of interesting celestial events with little or no prophetic or historical significance at all. Some of the Tetrads that took place on Jewish feast days in the last 2,000 years cannot be clearly traced to any important events in the Jewish world. However the last three certainly can be. I also find it quiet interesting that we have had seven Tetrads since the time of Yeshua that occurred on Passover and Succot. Seven is obviously a significant number in the Bible, beginning with the seven-day week. So this next one will be number eight…also a significant biblical number signaling completion and fulfillment. Are we about to witness some shattering events on planet earth? Stay tuned….

"How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart are the highways to Zion (Psalm 84:5).

Joel 2:28-32

29* And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30* And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31* The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. 32* And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.; (NKJV)

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