Blessings to all of you are actively watching and praying!
I believe that God and his word gives the church one last sign of Christ’s imminent return in the clouds to get his church.
I believe we see this sign in two passages:
Matthew 25 (NIV) in the Parable of the Ten Virgins
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
The second is in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost as he quotes Joel 2 found in Acts 2
I have always found it odd that Peter in his sermon on the first day of the church (the birth of the church) would quote from Joel which clearly points to the last days.
Let’s take a closer look at what Peter quotes form Joel 2:28-32 and where he stops quoting. I will concentrate on the passage from Joel 2 from the Amplified version:
First of all, the section heading in my NIV just before verse 28 says “The Day of the Lord”. The Amplified is a little different here but not by much. The section heading before verse 28 says “The Promise of the Spirit”. But there is another section heading before verse 30 that says “Day of the Lord”.
I will address this “day” in another study that hopefully will post right after this one! I think that an understanding is critical.
@ 1 Cor 10:31: Your observations and questions are dead on in your post from 26 July 2020 about the “Day of the Lord!”
Please see the next post, it's dedicated to you!
I will comment in Red
Joel 2 (Amplified)
Section heading: The Promise of the Spirit
28 “It shall come about after this
That I shall pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
29 “Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
It says here that God will pour out his spirit on everyone. I believe there are two reasons for this.
1. The church will need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to help us get through the time that remains for us on the earth and it's clear that it won't be long!
2. God will give everyone one last chance!
Section heading: The Day of the Lord
30 “I will show signs and wonders [displaying My power] in the heavens and on the earth,
Blood and fire and columns of smoke.
31 “The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.
The things listed here are the last signs that the Church will see. Also notice that these things will take place BEFORE the great and terrible day of the Lord. More on the “Day of the Lord” in another a mini study that should post today!
So what are we to expect?
· Signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth
· Blood and fire columns of smoke
· Sun will be turned into darkness – Solar Eclipse
· The moon into blood – Lunar eclipse
I will comment first on the next couple of verses and then come back to these signs. They will all take place before the end of this year in a matter of a couple of days!
32 “And it shall come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Will be saved [from the coming judgment]
---- this is where Peter stopped quoting from Joel ----
Here we see proof positive that everyone will get one final chance!
Also notice that we once again have the promise that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved from the coming judgment! Can’t emphasis this enough – right from God’s own mouth and preached by Peter at the Birth of the Church!
Up to this point, the message has been to the church. What follows does not apply to the church but we know who this does apply to! No time to get into that here.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the Lord has said,
Even among the remnant [of survivors] whom the Lord calls.
Ok, so let us now take a closer look at the signs!
It turns out that all of these signs will take place in a very short time starting on the 30th November 2020 running through the 21st December 2020! I will address these separately and provide a link to each event chronologically.
30 November 2020
30 November 2020 – Monday – Lunar Eclipse - Blood Red Moon over the USA
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2020Nov30N.pdf
Notice over the USofA. The pdf is somewhat deceiving since the dark part is where the lunar eclipse will not be seen, careful!
9 December 2020
9 December 2020 – Wednesday – 24 day of the 9th Month of KISLEV on God’s Calendar – God Shakes the Earth
First all, this date marker is based on a prophesy from Haggai 2. In that prophesy we see it clearly states that God will shake the earth in the distant future on this day. The event is also tied to “overthrowing thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the [ungodly] nations” which we know is tied to the “Day of the Lord.” This day is referenced as the 24th day of the 9th month. Youhave back up a couple of verse so that is clear.
The problem that we have in getting the date here is that current Jewish calendar could be off by a couple of days. If we use “God’s way" of when a month starts, we need to go back and see when the new moon is expected and add 24 days to the new moon for month 9 which is Kislev.
https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/israel/jerusalem?year=2020
The above website tells is that the new moon “should be” visible on the 15th of November 2020. So this places Kislev 1 on the 16th of November. Remember that Kislev 1 actually starts on the evening before at sundown and the new moon then starts the new month.
So the 24th of Kislev or the 24th day of the 9th month would then be Wednesday December 9th.
Here is the passage from Haggai 2:
Haggai 2 (Amplified)
20 And again the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month (Dec 18, 520 b.c.), saying, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will [in the distant future] overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the [ungodly] nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them, and the horses and their riders will go down, every one by the sword of his brother [annihilating one another]. 23 On that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you [through the Messiah, your descendant] like a signet ring, for I have chosen you [as the one with whom to renew My covenant to David’s line],’” declares the Lord of hosts.
Now you have to back up a bit to see that this is the 9th month but the Amplified solves that problem for us on verse 20. Notice how it says – in the distant future! Again we see this hint of the Day of the Lord, a day tied to death, destruction, and God’s wrath. 1 Thessalonians 5 ring a bell?
Now one could argue that this is the Battle at Armageddon but date and month would be wrong. I think that most (if not all) believe that Christ will return on the Feast of Trumpets and the Battle at Armageddon will happen then.
14 December 2020
On the 14 December we have three events all on the same day!
- New Moon
- Solar eclipse
- Geminid’s Meteor Shower
A quick note on the meteor shower
Even though Joel 2 does not explicitly say that there are “stars falling from heaven”, it does say “Signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth”. Take a closer look at Matthew 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27. These passages will make it totally clear that there will be stars falling from the sky on that day!
New Moon as seen from Jerusalem 14 December 2020
https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/israel/jerusalem?year=2020
The new moon sighting will take place on the evening of the 14 of December.
We see that the current Jewish calendar is off here:
https://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/month.asp?tdate=12/1/2020
We also see that we have a solar eclipse on the day:
Link to a pdf with a picture of where:
Pacific, s S. America, Antarctica
[Total: s Pacific, Chile, Argentina, s Atlantic]
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot2001/SE2020Dec14T.GIF
And here is a link to an animation of the eclipse:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEanimate/SEanimate2001/SE2020Dec14T.GIF
There is also a meteor shower (Geminids Meteor Shower) peaking on the 13th and 14th of December
Actually, the meteor shower lasts for a couple of days but it peaks on the 13th and 14th. So we have are “falling stars!”
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/meteor-shower/geminids.html
December 10th – 16th 2020
Festival of Lights or Hanukkah December 10th – 16th
I wonder what God is trying to tell us with this?
It’s not an official Jewish festival from the Bible even though the festival is mentioned in the Bible.
Here is the quick and dirty:
Antiochus Epiphanies was a ruler in Syria in 165 BC and sacrificed a pig on the alter of the 2nd Temple. The Maccabees fought against Antiochus Epiphanies and took back the Temple Mount and cleansed it and rededicated it. But there was only enough oil to light the Temple menorah for one day. It takes 8 days for them to make oil the way the Old Testament dictates how to make the oil. So there was a miracle and the oil that they had that technically would only last for one day lasted for the full 8 days until more could properly be made.
Oil, light, the trimming of the lamps by the virgins. All this is tied together but I am not 100% sure how!
The festival is mentioned in the Bible where it is also called the Feast of Dedication. Here is where the Bible mentions it:
John 10 (Amplified)
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. 23 It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple [area] in Solomon’s portico.
There are a couple of facts that make Antiochus Epiphanies a type of Anti-Christ:
- He desecrated the temple by placing an abomination there – sacrificed a pig on the alter
- He occupied Jerusalem for 3 1/2 years
- He forbid the daily sacrifice of the Jews
- He was driven out by the Maccabees
December 21st – The Winter Solstice
Simply another marker of time. Signals the start of Winter! We know that the lights on the sky also portion out the seasons.
Hope you are as blessed as I was putting this together!
Peter
Vienna Austria
