I have come across an interesting discovery that I believe is worthy of thinking about.

It appears that something historically significant happens whenever a  “blood moon” or lunar eclipse coincides with a Jewish Feast day. A Jewish pastor named Mark Biltz, who pastors a Messianic congregation near Tacoma, Washington, has made an interesting discovery. He found out that NASA has posted the precise dates of all lunar eclipses and solar eclipses for a 5,000 year period, from 2000 BC to 3000 AD. He learned that  four blood moons (called a tetrad) or lunar eclipses  will occur on the exact Jewish Feast days of Passover and Feast of Tabernacles in both the years 2014 and 2015. This is extremely rare, and in fact will not occur again the rest of this century.

Then he went back to see if and when in the last century four blood moons occurred on the Jewish Feast days, and discovered that this phenomenon happened in 1967 and 1968, during the re-capturing of Jerusalem in the Six-Day war!  Going back a little farther, he found the next occurrences in 1949 and1950, right after Israel became a nation. Then he went back several centuries and the next time four blood moons occurred was in 1493, right after Columbus sailed to the New World, and the Jews were kicked out of Spain during the Inquisition (see my article on Christopher Columbus here for more details and the significance of this event).

The root word for signs in Matthew 16:3 (“You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”) according to  Strong’s Concordance means “To mark, indicate or signify” and the Webster’s gives the word SIGNAL as one of the words to define signify.  Are these celestial happenings signals to us? It is very interesting at the least!

You can go to prophecyinthenews.com and watch “New – Interview with Mark Biltz on Solar and Lunar Eclipses in 2014-2015.” There are parts 1 and 2, about 28 minutes each. Though I have studied about the Jewish Feasts and prophecy for a long time, Mark has some fresh takes on things I had not heard before.  One is where he quotes Alfred Edersheim’s discussion of the Temple captain of the guard, the High Priest, and “the thief in the night.” 

Thief in the Night
We often take the scripture, “that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2) to mean that we will have no idea when the Lord is coming back.  But Paul goes onto say in that same passage, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”  

There is a context to the thief in the night passage that sheds light on its meaning. Jesus said to the lukewarm church of Laodicea, in Revelation 3:18, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see….”  Later, He again refers to “shameful nakedness” in Revelation 16:15:  "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."

According to Jewish biblical scholar Edersheim, these verses literally describe the punishment awarded to the Temple guards if they were found asleep at their posts. During the night the captain of the Temple made his rounds. On his approach the guards had to rise and salute him in a particular manner. Any guard found asleep when on duty was beaten, or his garments were set on fire, exposing his nakedness! Also, preparations for the morning service required those on duty to rise early.  They were also charged with keeping the holy flame on the altar lit. The priest whose duty it was to superintend the arrangements might any moment knock at the door and demand entrance. HE CAME SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY; NO ONE KNEW WHEN.1

There are already enough signs of the times for us to be watching already, aren’t there? This discovery of the lunar and solar eclipses just might be one more sign or signal to  get this generation’s attention, even though, sadly, most people are walking around asleep, as it was in the days of Noah!

Remember, it is the dead church, the lukewarm church that will be overtaken “like a thief in the night.”  I repeat, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”

It is indeed time to watch and pray!

 Maranatha!
Pastor Ray

Your comments and feedback are welcome here: media@maranathachapel.org



1. Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, Chapter 7, At Night in the Temple,  http://www.velocity.net/~edju/PForum/Watches.htm