As Russia begins the annex of Crimea, Israel closes all of its foreign embassies around the world – for the first time ever – (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/23/us-israel-diplomacy-idUSBREA2M0ER20140323?feedType=RSS), Turkey shoots down a Syrian plane overnight (http://www.smh.com.au/world/turkey-shoots-down-syrian-plane-20140324-hvlzy.html) and the mystery of missing flight MH370 continues, we are certainly living in interesting times.
To top this off the first of the Blood Moons is due in 3 weeks, on Passover, April 14, 15. This Blood Moon will be the first in an unusual Tetrad of Blood Moons falling on Feast days in 2014 and 2015. In the Bible the books of Joel, Acts and Revelations talk of the Blood moons as one of the signs of the Day of the Lord. Could these signs be pointing to something significant for us?
Enoch Lavender has written on this fascinating topic…
Davo’s Big Break
David – or Davo as his mates called him – was over the moon. After years of patiently developing his business, his business ideas had caught the eye of the prominent Chinese business leader Mr. Wang. Mr Wang had announced that he was going to make a special trip to Australia to see David and find out more – and they had excitedly arranged to meet at the airport.
There was only one catch – they were to meet on Chinese New Year and Davo had no clue what this meant. “I reckon it must be on the 1st of January”, Davo said to himself, “she’ll be right mate!”
So on the 1st of January, Davo got up early, put on his best business suit and even combed his usually unkempt hair. “Today’s the day”, he thought to himself excitedly. Getting to the airport just in time, Davo was surprised to find no sign of Mr. Wang. Davo waited for hours, looked up and down the different parts of the airport and asked repeatedly at the information desk, but no one could help him. Finally Davo headed home. Disappointed, he thought to himself: “Why didn’t Mr. Wang come as he said he would?”
Soon Davo settled back into his ordinary routine and forgot all about Mr. Wang and his appointment. Then one February morning Davo was wakened by his phone ringing. With a sleepy voice he discovered to his surprise that it was Mr. Wang himself. Today was Chinese New Year! Mr. Wang asked with a disappointed tone in his voice: “David, why weren’t you ready for my coming?”
We all have an important appointment coming up with THE Mr. Wang Himself – Jesus our Lord and King (Wang means ‘king’ in Chinese). He is indeed coming soon! But to be ready for this once-in-a-lifetime divine appointment, we need to make sure that we too are on the King’s calendar.
The King’s Calendar
Many of us have a hard time reading the book of Leviticus, but in it are contained some very important treasures. Leviticus chapter 23 outlines for us the King’s calendar. Let’s read in verses 1-2:
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.”
The word translated ‘feast’ here, does not really refer to parties, food and celebrations – although God does indeed through some great celebrations. The Hebrew word for ‘Feast’ is actually better translated as ‘appointment’ – a ‘divine appointment’.
Note that God describes them as ‘My feasts’. They are not some antiquated Jewish customs to be brushed aside – they are His Divine appointments with us.
We will be learning more about the Divine Appointments later this year, but it is sufficient for us to now know that:
- There are 7 Divine Appointments and they all prophesy and foretell a future event that is important in God’s calendar
- The first 4 Divine Appointments where fulfilled on the Day during Jesus’ first coming in great detail
- The last 3 tell us of His Second coming – and warn us to be ready for the soon coming King
The big questions for us to consider are:
- How close are we to the last 3 Divine Appointments?
- Will we see them in our lifetime?
- Are we ready for them?
Signs in the Sky on the Divine Appointments
There are many things happening in our world that we should watch – including significant developments concerning Israel, the Nations, and concerning the great harvest of people coming into the Kingdom from every tribe, tongue and kingdom! All this points us to the fact that we are living in a time where Bible prophecy is being fulfilled at a scale that has not been seen in history since the time of the Book of Acts. I believe we are indeed getting closer to the Lord’s return!
The Bible tells us to look for signs in the sky as we get closer to the Lord’s return. One of many verses that say this is found in Acts 2:20:
“The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.”
The most literal way of interpreting this is that there will be solar and lunar eclipses around the time of the Lord’s return.
A Pattern of Signs in the Sky
A few years ago, a Messianic Pastor called Mark Biltz made a startling discovery of a pattern where from time to time 4 consecutive lunar eclipses take place – precisely on the first and last ‘appointments’ or Feasts of the Lord for 2 years in a row. This is an extremely rare event, and what is even more interesting is that it appears to happen at times when there are prophetically significant events taking place on the earth.
Let’s have a look at an overview of when it has happened in the past when these signs have been in the sky:
Around the time of Jesus death there were 4 partial lunar eclipses in a row on the ‘Divine Appointments’ – as if God Himself was signalling to all of mankind the importance of this event!
Since then, it has occurred 7 times – coinciding with:
- Major Persecution of Jews and or Christians
- Islamic attempts at conquering Europe (and the World)
- The Restoration of Israel and Recapture of Jerusalem
As we enter into 2014/2015 it is therefore important to watch and pray for Jews and Christians, for Israel and for the Islamic World.
Returning to the pattern, it is extra interesting to note that the 7th lunar eclipse cycle happened at exactly the time when Jerusalem was being recaptured by Israel – and 7 is the number of ‘completion’. It was truly a time of Divine completion of ancient prophecies!
The next time this will happen will be in 2014 and 2015!
For more information, have a look at this brief overview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EcCfFjko4U
Ok – sounds interesting – now what?
As a Church, we are being encouraged to fast, pray and spend extra time to seek the Lord at this time. Make sure your own life is in order with God. If you are struggling with issues, take them to the Lord and maybe get one of the leaders to stand with you in prayer that you might be able to live fully for the Lord.
Also, please pray for Israel and the Middle East at this time – her sworn enemies would like nothing less than the extermination of Israel and hope and dream for that day to come. Iran seeks to clandestinely build nuclear weapons and recently released a video proudly showing them launching a nuclear strike. At the same time other terrorist networks are seeking biological and chemical weapons to add to their arsenals. Daily anti-Semitic propaganda is being published across the Middle East, and the level of general hatred for the Jews is comparable to the situation in Germany at the time when Hitler came to power.
So, let’s fast a meal when we can and spend extra time to seek God at this crucial time in history. We are called to be history-makers and we have a role in interceding for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Enoch Lavender has a B.A. in Intercultural Ministry from Harvest Bible College (2008) and was a youth leader for 3 years in ECCC – Eastern Chinese Christian Church. Enoch is actively involved in a range of ministries including Shalom Israel, Ebenezer Emergency Fund and Teach All Nations (Dr. Kameel Majdali).
Enoch has been studying Hebrew and Hebrew roots for the past five years, and has a keen interest in the Middle East from a Bible prophecy perspective
Grace and Truth 