What interesting times we live in! I am going to give you some predictions about how the next couple years are going to play out based on my current understanding of Bible Prophecy combined with current events, and the verses from the bible to back them up. This will hopefully be a very interesting read.
Part 1: Lunar Eclipse (Blood Moon) Tetrad
First of all, let’s look at one of the most intriguing signs that we are witnessing. We are currently in a tetrad cycle of lunar eclipses. A tetrad is defined as a group of four, and NASA defines a tetrad of lunar eclipses as four consecutive total eclipses1. This is a relatively rare event and has only happened approximately 100 times in the past 2000 years. However, the Tetrad that we are currently in is even rarer for this reason: each of the blood moons falls on a Jewish Holiday on the Jewish calendar. This has only happened seven times in 2000 years, or eight if you include the current Tetrad. If you include the current tetrad, the past three have happened in the past 70 years and the other five happened from 0 AD – 1494 AD.
What makes these tetrad cycles interesting is the fact that there has been a direct correlation between biblical prophecies being fulfilled and the occurrence of a tetrad on Jewish Holidays. In 1949 and 1950 there was a lunar tetrad, and on May 15, 1948 Israel once again became a nation. In 1967 and 1968 there was another tetrad. In 1967 Israel recaptured Jerusalem. Both of these were very significant prophecies from the bible that came to pass2. The previous tetrad cycle occurred in 1493 to 1494. In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition occurred where all of the Jews were forced to either convert to Roman Catholicism or be killed or exiled. There was tremendous persecution against the Jewish people and they experienced horrific torture during this time.
So as you can see, there were 2 major prophetic events and another major event that affected the Jewish people in close proximity to the lunar tetrad. Here we are again in 2014 to 2015 experiencing another Lunar Tetrad.
An important question must be addresses in regard to the relevance of these blood moons. Does the Bible give any indication at all that signs in the sun, moon and/or stars may have significance in regards to Bible prophecy? The answer is “Yes”. Genesis 1:14 states “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” Notice here that the first purpose in the list was for signs. In the original Hebrew, signs is defined as a signal, flag, beacon, monument, omen, or evidence. In Matthew 2:7-9, the precedence is set for signs in the heavens indicating the fulfillment of prophecy when the wise men recognized the birth of, and located Jesus because of a star and their knowledge of the prophecies of Jesus.
This, however, is not the only mention of signs in the heavens. Joel 2:31 states “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” So we see here that there will in fact be signs in the heavens. In other words, there will be something that we can look to the heavens and witness that will have significance in regards to Bible prophecy. Not only will there be signs in the heavens, one of those signs will be the moon turning to blood, or a “blood moon”.
This raises an interesting question, “Is there about to be another major prophetic event to be fulfilled?” We will revisit this question in a few moments.
Part 2: Prophecies of Ammon, Edom, and Moab (Modern Day Jordan)
There are several very interesting prophecies about Ammon, Edom, and Moab which is the area of modern day Jordan. Jordan presently is arguably Israel’s best ally in the Middle East. They entered into a peace-treaty on October 26, 1994 and they have been very close allies ever since. However, the bible gives some interesting prophecies regarding Jordan.
In Zephaniah 2:8-11, God states that the land of Ammon and Moab will become a Wasteland forever because of their treatment of the Israelites. Well, clearly this has not yet been fulfilled because Jordan is not presently a wasteland, so this will be a prophecy that will be fulfilled in the future. This seems to be contrary to the prophecy in Genesis 12:3 that God will bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel. This is an indication that something is going to go wrong in the relationship with Israel and Jordan, and it must be something terrible for God to make Jordan a wasteland forever.
It is also interesting to note that according to Daniel 11:41, Jordan will never fall under the reign of the antichrist. Also in Deuteronomy 23:3-8, God indicates that Israel should never enter into a treaty with them. Remember this because I will revisit this in a few moments to tie everything together.
Part 3: Christian Anti-Christ & Islamic Mahdi
The bible gives us many prophecies of the coming anti-Christ, otherwise known as the son of perdition and the man of sin in the Bible, among several other terms. These prophecies will help us to identify the anti-Christ when he is in the world stage, because in order to be the anti-Christ that person must meet all of the biblical prophecies. In addition to the Biblical prophecies of the Anti-Christ, there is a very interesting correlation between the Christian Prophecies of the Anti-Christ and the Islamic Mahdi. The Qu’ran gives us some additional information about the Mahdi. The Mahdi is supposed to be a direct descendant of Muhammed, the central figure of Islam.3
So what do we know about the Anti-Christ? Daniel 9:27 indicates that he will confirm a covenant with Israel for 1 week (7 years), and in the midst of the week, an event called the abomination of desolation will occur. In 2 Thessalonians 2:4 we see that the Anti-Christ will claim to be god in the temple of god.
There are too many prophecies about the Anti-Christ to go over them all, but these are a couple of the key prophecies. There is a man by the name of Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan who was born the year before Israel was re-established as a nation in 1948. He is the 42nd generation direct descendant of the prophet Muhammed.4 This is interesting because Jesus was the 42nd direct descendant from Abraham, and we know from the Bible that Satan wants to be like God (Isaiah 14:12-14, Genesis 3:4-5).
This man has won many awards for peace as you can see on his Wikipedia page. In addition, he has been consistently involved in and interested in the peace treaty with Israel and the Palestinians. You can do a quick google search for his name and the phrase “Israel Peace Treaty” and come up with many pages discussing his opinions, articles, and involvement.
Once again, remember this as we will come back to this when I tie everything up.
Part 4: Daniel’s 70 Weeks Prophecy
In Daniel 9:20-27, Daniel had a dream of seventy ‘sevens’ which represented the time it would take to bring in everlasting righteousness, put an end to sin, seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Holy Place. Simply put, when these seventy sevens are complete, God’s kingdom will be on Earth because we know that there will be no end to sin until He returns.
These seventy ‘sevens’ (a ‘seven’ is a week of years, or a 7 year period) are broken up into 3 different groups: a group of 7, a group of 62 and a group of 1 for a total of 70. Without going into the full detail, the first 69 weeks have already happened. This leaves us with 1 week (or 7 years) that have not happened.5 In Daniel 9:27 we see that this last week is broken into 2 smaller sections because in the middle of the week the abomination of desolation will occur (See also Matthew 24:15). This tells us that the last week of Daniel’s 70 weeks will be what most people call the Tribulation period.
Part 5: Obama vs Netanyahu
For those who have not paid any attention to the news recently, there has been a large rift forming between one of our closest allies, Israel and America because of the disagreements between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama. In the latest Israeli election that was just concluded a couple weeks ago, Obama even went as far as to fund the opposition party’s campaign against Netanyahu. In spite of Obama’s efforts, Prime Minister Netanyahu won the election. Obama was so furious that he threatened to abandon Israel at the United Nations Security Council to try to bring about a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.6
Part 6a: The United Nations Security Council
For those who are not aware of the structure of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), there are 5 permanent members, each of whom have veto power, and 10 rotating members who serve for 2 years each. The countries that have veto power are the following: United States, the UK, Russia, France and China. When a resolution comes up for a vote in the UNSC, if any of the permanent members veto the resolution, it fails. In other words, 14 members could vote for a resolution and a single permanent member (because they have veto power) could vote against a resolution and it would fail.
Because of the very close allegiance between Israel and the United States, and the fact that we have veto power, we have consistently protected Israel against any condemning resolutions. This threat from Obama to abandon Israel at the UNSC in order to establish a peace treaty means that all the US would have to do is refrain from using their veto power and a resolution against Israel to withdraw to 1967 lines would be very likely. A successful resolution would leave Israel in a very difficult place: Obey the UN resolution and withdraw to 1967 lines, or defy the UN and risk international sanctions or maybe even military action. Under these circumstances, it is likely that Israel would sign the treaty. I recommend researching the proposed two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians for a better understanding of the current peace efforts.
The Bible prophesies a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, and we know several key pieces of the coming deal. In Joel 3:2 we see that God brings all of the nations into the battle of Armageddon specifically because the nations divided the land of Israel. In addition to that, we know that the West Bank will be given to the Palestinians because of Matthew 24:15-21, and we also know that the Temple Mount will be shared between the Arabs and the Jews because of revelation 11:1-2. This is obvious because the temple must be constructed before the 3.5 year mark after the peace treaty is signed since this is where the Anti-Christ will claim to be God and where the identity of the Anti-Christ is confirmed. Don’t forget the previous prophecies in Daniel 9:20-27 indicating that the agreement will be a 7 year agreement.
Part 6b: The UNSC and Daniel’s Vision of the Modern Day World Powers
In Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel has a dream. In his dream, he sees four beasts: a Lion with Eagle’s Wings, a Bear, a Leopard with four heads and the wings of a fowl, and a fourth beast more ferocious than the rest. In this section, we will discuss the first three beasts. First, we need to know what these beasts represent. Daniel 7:17 informs us that these beasts represent nations that were not currently on the earth, but will be on the earth at a later date. Reading on, you can see that these are nations that will be on the earth in the end times because it talks about the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth around the same time.
So we know the beasts are nations that will be around in the end times. Can we know what nations they represent? Yes. Let’s start with the first beast, the lion with eagle’s wings. In Daniel 7:4 we see the wings being plucked off of the lion and becoming its own being. Well everyone knows that the Eagle is the Symbol of the US, and most people will also recognize the Lion as the symbol of the UK. On July 4th, 1776, The United States signed the declaration of Independence declaring the United States of America as its own sovereign country independent from the UK. It is interesting to note that our independence day is 7/4 and the wings were broken off of the lion in verse 7:4. In Other words, the wings of the eagle (America) were broken off the Lion (The UK) when America became a country on July 4th 1776.
If you pay any attention at all to the news, it is very easy to identify the Bear as Russia. You hear the talk all the time about the Russian Bear. This leaves us with the leopard with four heads with the wings of the fowl. Well, the symbol of France is a Rooster, a fowl, and the unofficial symbol of Germany is the leopard. On January 22, 1963, France and Germany signed the Élysée Treaty ending centuries of rivalry between them. In fact, their allegiance is so strong that they are often described as the “core countries” or the “twin engine” in the EU.7
So out of the 5 permanent members in the UNSC, four of them are represented by the vision in Daniel 7. This is too much to be coincidence.
Part 7: Bringing it all Together
I know I went over a lot of information, but it is hard to see the big picture unless you have understanding of current events and bible prophecy, and the workings of the UNSC. So let’s try to tie this all together and make some sense of it all.
As we saw in Part 1, lunar tetrads in the past several centuries, but especially in the past 70 years (since Israel became a nation again) have been tied to major prophetic events concerning Israel. This begs the question, “Will this current lunar tetrad follow the pattern of the past 3 lunar tetrads?” If so, what could the event be? In parts 4, 5, and 6 we see that not only is there a peace treaty prophesied between Israel and the Palestinians, but such a treaty actually appears to be a very likely scenario because of the structure of the UNSC, and Obama’s threat to abandon Israel at the UNSC to push a peace treaty.
We know some of the details of the coming peace treaty so that we will recognize it when we see it. In Part 6 we learned that the land of Israel will be split and that Judea-Samaria (The West Bank) will be given to the Palestinians (Joel 3:2), Judea-Samaria will have Jews living in the land after the treaty, that the Jews living there after 3.5 years will be in significant danger (Matthew 24:15-21), and that the temple mount will be shared (Revelation 11:1-2) to allow a place for the Jewish temple to be constructed. We also know that the Anti-Christ will be involved in this treaty (Daniel 9:27, 2 Thessalonians 2:4).
Do we have any indication as to who might fulfill the role of the Anti-Christ? Yes. It appears that the Prince El-Hassan Bin Talal fits not only the prophecies of the Bible, but also at least some of the prophecies of the Qu’ran and the Hadiths. (I am not as educated in the Qu’ran so I cannot speak of the other prophecies that I do not know.) This candidate makes sense for several reasons.
First, we know that God promised to make Jordan a wasteland forever, in spite of the fact that right now Jordan is Israel’s closest ally in the region. We know that God told Israel in 23:3-8 to never make a treaty with them. We know that Jordan will never fall under the rule of the Anti-Christ, and that Jordan, and specifically El Hassan Bin Talal, has consistently been involved with the peace process.
We know that God refers to the 7 year periods as ‘weeks’ in Daniel’s vision. Well, weeks have definitive starting and ending points. I personally find it hard to believe that God would start the final 7 year period, arguably the period in time with the most prophecies concerning it in the entire bible, in the midst of another week. I tend to believe that God will start the final 7 year period when it should be started on the Hebrew Calendar, right after the end of the previous week. Making this assumption, though it could be an invalid assumption, when would that indicate the final 7 years possibly beginning? I would argue that would be sometime this year after September 14-15 which is Rosh Hashana or the Jewish New year.
I come to this conclusion because we are currently in the Sabbath year in the Jewish calendar, or the 7th year of the ‘week’ of years. This means after September 14-15 we will be in the beginning of another ‘week’ on the Jewish calendar. Considering the push from the UN for a peace treaty with Israel and the Palestinians, the threat from Obama to abandon Israel at the UNSC for a peace treaty, the Blood Moon Tetrad, and the fact that we are starting another ‘week’, the timing appears to be perfect for the signing of the peace treaty within the next year or so.
As though this is not enough, guess who will be the president of the UNSC from April to December 31, 2015 – Jordan. Guess who will be the president of the Arab League during this same time – Jordan. The same country that God will turn into a wasteland forever, the same country that God warned to never make a treaty with, and the same country that will never fall under the rule of the Anti-Christ, and the same country that has a 42nd generation direct descendant from Muhammed as part of the ruling family. All of this during a small overlap into the new ‘week’ on the Jewish calendar. To me this seems like too many coincidences to be a coincidence.
Part 8: My OPINION on What Will Happen In the Next Few Years
I believe that we will witness the signing of a peace treaty with Israel and the Palestinians sometime shortly after Sept 14-15 of 2015. I would argue that the treaty will be before December 31, 2015 because Jordan will be the sitting president of the UN and the Arab League, and also just shortly into the new ‘week’ of years on the Jewish calendar. I believe that shortly after this event, we will witness the blowing of the 6th trumpet from Revelation 9, or what most will call World War 3. I believe this war will be judgement on the world for both its wickedness, and also for dividing the land of Israel.
I believe this war will change the world forever, and the Anti-Christ will bring order out of Chaos and will be seen a Messiah-like figure. He will them implement the Mark of the Beast after claiming to be God, and will likely advertise it as a way to provide security and help in preventing another World War because it will help them track terrorists etc…
There will be a worldwide hatred of Christians and Jews, and eventually the UN will invade Israel, likely over the fact that Israel still has not given Half of Jerusalem to the Palestinians which will likely be part of the 7 year agreement for Israel to withdraw from half of Jerusalem over a number of years. After the invasion of Israel has begun, the UN will take most of Israel at which point Jesus will return and battle on behalf of Israel and the church will be raptured. Much of this is actually prophesied in the Bible, but my opinion is specifically in regards to the timing of the signing of the peace treaty and WW3 based on current events.
Part 9: Afterthoughts
It occurred to me that people may ask some of the following questions:
- Why does it matter? We can’t change any of this if it is true.
- Why should we care about any of this?
Well, I will give you my thoughts on this. I think it is very important to understand the times that we are in (and we CAN understand the times we are in). In fact, 1 Thessalonians 5 states that we are children of the light, so that this time will not overcome us like a thief. In other words, those that are following Christ will be aware of the time that we are in because we are children of the light. We are not walking in darkness. God will reveal himself to those who seek Him, and we will know the season of his coming.
With this said, understanding the time that we are in is of utmost importance because it allows us to be prepared. We can prepare spiritually, emotionally, and even physically.
Spiritually because we can start praying for the strength to deal with the things that are just ahead of us. In fact, the time just ahead of us now is going to be the worst time in all of the history of mankind like has never been seen before and will never be seen again (Matthew 24:21), and will be so bad that men’s hearts will fail them in fear (Luke 21:26). If you are caught unprepared, and you are not right with God then you will be in trouble. On the contrary if you can discern the times that are ahead of us you can get right with God and start developing a relationship with him. You can repent and be baptized and get saved. You can recognize that there is a time of great tribulation that the world will experience and you can pray for the protection of your family. You can bring them to salvation. You can pray for the strength to get through this time, and for God’s mercy on your family, etc…
Emotionally, we can recognize and acknowledge that we are likely to lose friends and family in the upcoming war that will kill 1/3 of mankind at the sounding of the 6th trumpet (Revelation 9). You can start salvaging the relationships and start making sure you have no regrets and that nothing is left unsaid or unforgiven.
Physically, you can set aside food and guns and ammo to protect your family in self-defense if necessary from those who would try to harm you or your families. You can start making preparations for physical needs like water in the form of water filtration devices.
Finally, you can start dealing with the question of “Why will god let all of this happen to the world if god is a good god?” Get prepared for an answer to this question. The reason: free will. God gave us His Commandments and has defined good and evil. He has defined family structure and the ‘chain-of-command’ in the family. He has given us instruction on how to deal with loss and tribulation. However, the world has disregarded God’s definition of good and evil. In all of our wisdom we thought we knew better than God and we rejected his definition for our own definition. We have turned from his ways because mankind thought they had a better way.
After centuries of mankind walking in his own ways, constantly redefining good and evil as some relative standard, we are going to deal with the repercussions of our actions. We cannot expect to completely disregard God’s laws, and then blame him for letting evil happen. It was not His fault we turned from Him and went in our own direction as a society. If we were a God Fearing people, we would fear God and walk in His Commandments and we would not witness the things we are about to witness and experience the things we are about to experience. God cannot be a convenient scapegoat when things go bad, and people cannot question why bad things happen when we constantly turn away from him at every moment that we can.
Finally, I believe it is important to know the times that we live in, especially as Christians, so that when these things happen, we can lead people to Christ through our knowledge of His word because we can show people that these events were prophesied thousands of years ago and are coming to pass just as the Bible says they would. This shows the authenticity of the Bible, through the precise accuracy of His word. There is no other book like the Bible. In fact, In John 1:1 it says “In the Beginning was the Word, and the word was with god and the Word was God.” If you want to know God, just read His Word.
In conclusion, you may not like what is going to happen, and you may want to wish it wasn’t going to. You can even deny that it will. However, it is prudent to discern the times we are in and get prepared. It is better to be prepared and know what is going to happen so that you can handle it when it does. In the end, we are going to have to deal with it regardless if you want to or not, so you might as well get prepared for it.