by John Hagee
(MATTHEW 24:16–20)
This text proves that the Antichrist will come when Jewish law controls Israel. Praying that your flight “may not be on the Sabbath” could only be possible if the Jewish people were living in Israel and the Sabbath laws were in effect. According to Torah, a Jewish person may not walk more than “A Sabbath Day’s Journey” except in emergency situations. On that day, the exception to the rule applies and the Jewish people may run any distance to save their lives.
THE GREAT TRIBULATION
Matthew 24:21 says, “Then [after the Antichrist has committed the abomination of desolation to the Jewish Temple] there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Remember that Matthew 24 is a message from a Jewish Rabbi to His twelve Jewish disciples. Jesus says this time of great tribulation will be worse than anything ever experienced in history. When you recall the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the million-plus Jews who died when Titus besieged the city in AD 70, the monstrous acts of Hadrian in AD 130, and the systematic slaughter of six million Jews in Hitler’s Holocaust, it staggers the mind to grasp a kind of trial and tribulation that would exceed these atrocities. But Jesus, the all-knowing Lord, has said a greater tribulation than these is coming. The prophet Daniel describes this time as “a time of distress, such as never occurred since there was a nation” (12:1 NASB).
Some are teaching that we are currently experiencing the Great Tribulation. Our nation is under God’s judgment, but the times we are living in is a Shangri-La compared to what’s coming in the Great Tribulation.
We read in Revelation 9:15 that on a certain day during the Great Tribulation one-third of mankind will be killed. Think about it! There are about six billion people on the earth today. Think of two billion people being killed in twenty-four hours around the world!
Revelation 6 describes the red horse of war, the black horse of famine, and the pale horse of death. This trinity of torment thunders across the face of the earth, commanded by the Antichrist, who is riding the white horse of Revelation 6:1.
The Bible records that in the final battle for global supremacy at Armageddon, “blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs,” or two hundred miles (Revelation 14:20).
This kind of human suffering and massive death toll is beyond the mind of man to fathom and why Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accurately calls it the “great tribulation.”
This mega-eradication of lives seemed utterly impossible to comprehend, but with the holocaust that will result from the effects of a global nuclear war, killing two billion people in a day is inevitable.
The nuclear genie is out of the bottle and Armageddon is knocking at the door.
LIGHTNING FROM THE EAST
When Jesus came to earth the first time in Bethlehem, only Mary and Joseph and a handful of shepherds gathered at the manger for the birth of God’s Son.
When Jesus comes the second time, as described in Revelation 19:11–16, the whole world will see Him. The Bible reads:
For as the lightning comes from east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
(MATTHEW 24:27)
Have you ever been in a lightning storm? The brilliant flash of light rips through the heavens with such a dazzling display none can miss it. It’s so brilliant that it blinds the eye.
Darkness will envelop the earth in the latter part of the Tribulation, for the sun, moon, and stars will not give their normal light (Revelation 8:12). This supernatural darkness will be shattered by the breathtaking brilliance of divine glory such as mankind has never witnessed.
Remember, when the followers of Jesus saw Him on resurrection morning, they fell at His feet, and the Roman soldiers guarding the grave fell as dead men from the blinding light. John the Revelator fell at his feet as dead because “His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength” (Revelation 1:16). If you attempt to look directly at the sun in its full strength, which is millions of miles away, it will destroy your eyesight.
When Jesus returns, He will illuminate the heavens.
The book of Revelation declares that the New Jerusalem will have “no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. . . . Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there)” (Revelation 21:23–25).
The King is coming!
But before His triumphant return, there is a score to settle.
ISRAEL’S TORMENTERS
I believe there is a mystery verse in the Olivet Discourse that contains a hidden yet obvious meaning about all the nations that have—or will—torment the Jewish people and threaten to bring destruction against the land of Israel, the land of God’s promise. We read:
Wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
(MATTHEW 24:28)
The hidden meaning refers to the two evil empires that tormented the Jewish people beyond any other nations of the earth: the Romans and the Nazis’ Third Reich. Both of these nations fought under the flag and symbol of the eagle. Every Roman officer had an eagle on the end of his lance. Titus put an eagle on the Temple in Jerusalem and Hitler’s demonic Nazi flag was emblazoned with the image of the eagle.
Rome was responsible for the slaughter of the Jewish people under Titus and Hadrian in Jerusalem. Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich systematically slaughtered six million of the chosen people in the death camps of Europe. God Almighty has not forgotten, and He has a special payday for these evil empires.
The next major prophetic war that is coming to the Middle East will be the Gog-Magog War. Among those nations coming against Israel is Germany, who will follow Russia and Iran. They will be joined by Ethiopia, Libya, and Turkey (Ezekiel 38:5–6).
God has not forgotten ancient Persia’s (modern day Iran) attempt to annihilate the Jewish people through Haman’s plot. He still remembers the abomination of Epiphanes, Titus, and Hadrian. He recalls the pogroms of Russia that slaughtered hundreds of thousands of His beloved chosen. The blood of the six million cries out to Him. And just as Hitler planned a “Final Solution” for the Jewish people, God is planning a final solution for the enemies of Israel.
The prophet Ezekiel makes it very clear—God will kill 84 percent of the Gog-Magog army when they place their feet on the sacred soil of Israel (Ezekiel 39:1–2 KJV). God will do it by stoning from His very hand, with massive earthquakes, and by causing “every man’s sword [to] be against his brother” (38:21).
The original Roman Empire will be reborn and be led by the Antichrist into Israel for the Battle of Armageddon, which is the last battle in the book of Revelation. Jesus Christ is going to slaughter the invading armies for their carnage against the Jewish people (Revelation 19:13–15).
Again, this references the hidden meaning evidenced by the eagles on the carcass. The carcass speaks of death. The eagles, the translation of which can be “buzzards,” represent all the nations who tormented Israel.
The obvious meaning of Matthew 24:28 is revealed in Revelation 19:17–21, when God Himself is going to invite the birds of the earth to eat the dead flesh of those who have attacked Israel. The Bible describes the scene very graphically:
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” . . . And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
(REVELATION 19:17–18, 21)
The nations that have touched the apple of God’s eye—and will attempt to torment them in the future—will be utterly destroyed on the hills of Israel by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It’s going to h
appen!
Having told His disciples of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15–29), the Rabbi continues His Olivet Discourse by describing the next major event in this prophetic digest of tomorrow’s world.
CHAPTER 11
The Second Coming
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will
mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
—MATTHEW 24:30
Jesus Christ is coming back the second time to a world living in the unspeakable terror of the Great Tribulation. People are looking for any glimmer of hope; they are even following false prophets in search of their redemption. In desperation, they will believe and spread false reports saying, “Look, He is in the desert” or “Look, He is in the inner rooms!” (Matthew 24:26).
During this time, the false prophet of the Antichrist will be performing miracles, and because of them, deception will be rampant: “to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (v. 24). Christ warns His generation and those generations to come, “Do not believe it” (v. 26). The Rabbi describes His second coming not as someone in the desert, but “as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west” (v. 27). I believe Jesus will appear first in Jerusalem (the east), and His radiance will reach the west as the sun shining at full strength.
The second coming of Christ will cause “all the tribes of the earth [to] mourn” (v. 30). Why? The vast majority of the people who do not take the mark of the beast will be killed by the Antichrist and many of the people who remain will be demonized disciples of the prince of darkness.
The “tribes of the earth” are the same people who will give celebratory gifts to each other when the prophet Elijah and Enoch are killed in the streets of Jerusalem by the Antichrist (Revelation 11:10). These people are reprobate, God-hating, devil-worshiping servants of the Antichrist who mourn because Jesus Christ is going to destroy the godless kingdom they idolize.
POWER AND GLORY
Jesus said that He will return “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
The first time He came, He was the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the earth who opened not His mouth, who was led to the slaughter for your redemption and mine. When He returns the second time, He will be the Lion of Judah who roars and makes the earth tremble with His power and His glory. He will crush the kings of the east (China) and the west (Europe) who will be led by the Antichrist.
The first time He came, He was dragged before Pilate and Herod. The next time He comes, kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, senators and governors from the nations of the world will line up in Jerusalem to bow before Jesus Christ, the carpenter’s son, the Son of King David, a blood descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible says that “every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).
The first time He came, He rode a donkey into Jerusalem. The second time He comes He will be mounted on a white stallion, His name will be called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He will judge and make war. His eyes will be as a flame of fire, and on His head will be many crowns. He will be clothed with a robe dipped in the blood of His enemies and the enemies of Israel, and His name will be called the Word of God. The armies that are in heaven, adorned in white linen, will follow Him on white horses.
Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, which is His spoken Word. He will strike down the nations and will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God Almighty. And He will have on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
(REVELATION 19:15–16)
GATHERING THE ELECT
God created the earth, and as the Owner of planet earth He made a divine covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that the land of Israel was theirs forever. From the book of Genesis until this day, tyrants and dictators have done everything in their power to take the land of Israel away from the Jewish people.
The day is soon coming when God Almighty is going to crush the enemies of Israel once and for all. Remember, the references in the Olivet Discourse to “the elect” (Matthew 24:24, 31) refer to the Jewish people—not the church.
The “elect” is the nation that God has chosen, as recorded in the book of Exodus 19:5–6:
“Now therefore, if you [the Jewish people] will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel.
During the Tribulation the Jewish people will be protected by the hand of God at the natural fortress of Petra located in Jordan. When the enemies of Israel are destroyed, God “will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect [Jewish people], from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31).
During the golden age of peace—the millennial reign—the righteous Gentiles and the Jewish people will be center stage with the Messiah. All others will be cast into outer darkness for eternity. Men will study war no more, and every man shall “beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4). The wolf will not devour the lamb and the kingdom of our God shall endure forever.
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
(ISAIAH 11:6 NIV1984)
Beginning with the study of the signs in the heavens and walking through the Spine of Prophecy, I have attempted to build a scriptural foundation for God’s prophetic depiction regarding the coming Four Blood Moons. Without a clear and concise understanding of God’s plan, which is revealed in Scripture, then the Four Blood Moons would be nothing more than a spectacular cosmic occurrence as opposed to the fulfillment of prophecy. There is a reason God has alerted us to “look up” for the coming of the Lord.
His return is closer than you think.
Scripture and human history will once again align with the sun, moon, and the stars as we discover the truth of the Four Blood Moons.
Prepare to be amazed!
SECTION 3
THE FOUR BLOOD MOONS
CHAPTER 12
The Four Blood Moons and Two Feasts
I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath.
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and
awesome day of the LORD.
—ACTS 2:19–20
I began my search for answers to Pastor Mark’s challenging question, “Have you ever considered the sun, moon, and stars in the study of prophecy?”
NASA DISCOVERY
My first attempt was to open the NASA website and search for lunar signals. I’m not a computer whiz. My secretary is; I am not. But she wasn’t with me, so I just kept searching and could find nothing to validate the connection of the Four Blood Moons to prophecy.
The Scriptures speak of “signs in the heavens,” many of which have been confirmed by NASA. The Bible and America’s best scientists are in agreement that planet earth is watching the signs in the heavens that are dramatically increasing in number and intensity. But still, I could not find the connection to prophecy.
Then I thought for a moment and remembered my conversation with Pastor Mark; maybe these lunar signs are meant for Israel. God is the defender of Israel. He created Israel. Israel is His firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). So I chose the first date that came to my mind, which was the year of Israel’s rebirth, and typed in the following statement: “Total moon eclipse in 1948.”
What I saw in the middle of the computer screen made me liter
ally leap out of my chair.
Four “blood-red” total lunar eclipses will fall on Passover and Sukkot in 2014 and 2015, the same back-to-back occurrences at the time of 1492, 1949 and 1967.1
Those three dates were the most important dates in all of Israel’s history!
There have been several Tetrads (four consecutive blood moons) since NASA first recorded their occurrences, but Tetrads linked to significant Jewish history have happened only three times in more than five hundred years. These specific occurrences could not be ignored. My further research led me to the unmistakable biblical and scientific truth that they are about to happen a fourth time.
I considered my next step. When I discover a potential new prophetic revelation, I go to the absolute truth of the Word of God, which is the foundation of all sound biblical research and teaching.
THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH
God Almighty is the Creator of heaven and earth. The first chapter of Genesis is the most God-centered chapter in the Bible. God is mentioned by name thirty-two times in thirty-one verses. The statement “God created the heavens and the earth” in Genesis 1:1 sweeps away atheism by asserting God’s all-powerful existence. God is! He’s not trying to be—He is!
From the first word in Genesis to the last in the book of Revelation, there is one God.
He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the One who scooped up a handful of dirt, breathed into it, and allowed man to become a living soul. He is the One who sent His Son to die on the cross for our redemption. He is the One who holds the seven seas in the palm of His hand. He is the God who created Israel (Genesis 12) and He is the Defender of Israel (Zechariah 12:8).