On the evening of September 27, the last of four “blood moons” in a will occur. The term blood moon is relatively modern and used by some to describe a full lunar eclipse. During a full lunar eclipse the moon takes on a deep orange color which has prompted the creative designation “blood moon”. Much attention has been given recently to the lunar eclipses, and especially the phrase blood moon, due to the conjunction of four lunar eclipses in a row, called a tetrad. Each of these four eclipses also coincide with a Jewish festival day. Since the death of Jesus a series of eclipses that also coincides with Jewish feasts has happened a handful of times.

The unique series of eclipses has prompted several men of different Christian denominations to publish books about the prophetic significance of these blood moons. The authors claim that the blood moons of 2014-2015 are significant signs regarding the end of this age and portend major, possibly catastrophic events that probably also indicate the soon return of Jesus. These teachers make such claims because of the uncommon occurrence of a sequence of lunar eclipses each falling on Jewish feast days and because several prophetic passages refer to the moon being turned to blood as a key event taking place shortly before the return of Jesus.

The original Biblical passage is Joel 2:31 which says, “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord.” Just before the Messiah comes as King to judge the earth, the moon will be turned to blood. In Acts 2 Peter quotes the prophecy of Joel and proclaims it was partially fulfilled in Jesus. The fulfillment was partial because Jesus is the promised Messiah who sent His Spirit upon men as He promised and Joel prophesied. The entire prophecy of Joel has not yet been fulfilled because Jesus has not yet come as a conquering king to establish His worldwide kingdom. Revelation 6 contains the last prophecy about the blood moon. Revelation 6 prophesies that the moon will be turned to blood during the final judgments just before Jesus returns. Because this is an event has not yet happened, some men are seeing great significance in the current series of lunar eclipses.

The Bible does not use the phrase blood moon, but it does describe the moon being turned to blood. To understand the Bible’s teaching on this subject, two questions have to be answered. First, is a lunar eclipse what the Bible is talking about when it says the moon will be turned to blood? Second, can we learn anything about when Jesus will return from normal astronomical events? The next article will attempt to address these two questions.