Global SITREP C8-18: The Great Darkening - What it Really Means For This Earth! - PART II

20 August 2018: So we proceed with Part II of this subject. 

Eschatology Today believes it would be remiss to not begin with a brief side-bar regarding the brethren of Berea, Macedonia, due to the invoking that term we use today which carries the name of their city. 

How many are aware of the phrase "first to the Jew, then the Greek (Gentile)"? We all know it comes from Paul in Romans 1:16. We should also know that when the Apostles departed Israel to preach the Gospel their first stop wherever they went was to the local synagogue in the various foreign lands. The Jews were in diaspora all across the ancient world well before the Romans sack Jerusalem in 70 AD. Many Jewish communities, like the one in Berea, Macedonia had been there for as many as four centuries prior to the time of Jesus Christ on this earth. Jewish colonies existed throughout Asia Minor, Greece and ultimately Rome itself. The Book of Daniel contained the prophecy of the coming of the Greek Empire of Alexander, and its eventual division into four lesser kingdoms. Paul was himself a Hellenized Jew living is Tarsus, Seleucid Empire. 

So, it was to this Jewish diaspora that the Apostles first presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Messiah. The intense political upheaval within the Macedonian-Greek Empire after the death of Alexander the Great in the 2nd Century BC led to a pronounced revival of Jewish messianism. So, little wonder that Paul and Silas in presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Bereans in their synagogue received the word they preached after searching their Jewish Scriptures. See: Acts 17:10-15. "...they received the word in all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." This is what we should do also on a day to day basis to determine if something we read online is so, Eschatology Today included. There is no better example of a Jewish or Gentile Christian than those of ancient Berea, Macedonia.

In true Bereanism, more references to the unprecedented event have been found and need to be shared. In the second chapter of the prophet Haggai's book, there are a pair of distinct references indicating that shortly after the 3rd Temple is standing in Jerusalem the events discussed in this now two-part series will take place. In Haggai 2:6  and 2:22 there are what I believe a dual-purpose prophetic passages concerning the Lord's shaking of heaven and earth and judgment upon nations while the temple stands in Jerusalem.

Also direct your attention toward Hebrews 12:26 where the prophetic promise of a greater shaking is found: "Yet once more i will shake not only the earth, but also heaven." Verse 27 amplifies this by saying: (emphasis added) "Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain."

Then we have Isaiah 24:1-6. Many commentators of years past would explain this language as simply an ancient Hebrew prophet venting, as if he were going off on some kind of ancient Jewish rant. An "it's what they do" kind of thing. To that I say nonsense. The ancient prophets ALL spoke with the authority of God by the Holy Spirit. They spoke what He wanted to be written down. None of this is to be taken as merely figurative Hebrew language. 

And then there is a reference to the great darkening and the great shaking of heaven and earth in the very distinctive past tense. The reference is by John of Patmos, and it is found in Revelation 20:11 where we read, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them."

Another thought to consider. The others planets in our solar system. Mercury, Venus, Mars. The so-called wandering stars. Since the Lord shakes the heavens and the earth is moved out of its place, it stands to reason the other planets would not be immune to the Lord's handiwork.

The study continues...

Global SITREP C6-18: The Great Darkening - What It Really Means For This Earth!

4 August 2018: Many are there who erroneously teach, or repeat as teaching because they have been so taught, that the phrase "in that day" refers specifically to the day of the Lord, also known as the "tribulation" (Greek: thlipsis) and "great tribulation" (Greek: megas thlipsis). These prophetic periods of time are known on Eschatology Today primarily as the 70th Week per the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:24-27. I find this kind of teaching on the phrase "in that day" or "on that day" to be an considerably inaccurate interpretation of prophetic Scripture.

For example, the prophet Amos was speaking for the LORD God when he foretold 800 years in advance what would occur on the day our Lord was crucified: (emphasis mine)

“And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,

“That I will make the sun go down at noon,

And I will darken the earth in broad daylight..."

The point, therefore, is that this phrase refers to a specific day and even to a specific time in which a specific event takes place. And with the LORD God, there have been and are yet to occur multiple appointments on specific days. 

This is exactly as Amos 8:9 foretold the events that would take place on the day of the crucifixion of our Lord. We know as fact from Matthew 26:45, Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:44-45 that the sun was darkened at the moment of our Lord's passing from this world from the 6th hour to the 9th hour. Sunrise marks the 1st hours, so the 6th hour is Noon, 12 PM, midday, and the 9th hour accordingly is 3 PM. 

This was a three-hour long eclipse of the sun by Almighty God. Did Amos spend the time to precisely calculate 800 years in advance a darkening of the sun  that would occur precisely at midday on the Jewish passover circa the year 33 AD? No, no need for that, God, as the text states told Amos directly what would take place in the future. God told Amos precisely what He would do on that day. God has appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, Job 9:7, Job 38:33 and Jeremiah 33:19-26 prove it is so, as least until the LORD God Almighty decides otherwise.

This celestial event is exactly what Amos foretold would occur "in that day" and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke confirm it as fact. So too did Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34) (a Greek man in Athens who became born again by the sermon of Paul at the Areopagus well after the crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ) made a record of the sun's darkening at the precise time of Jesus crucifixion. 

What we have learned in hindsight through modern technological means is that in the heavens above this event occurred at a position in the sky directly at the feet of the lamb, the constellation Aries. The sun, moon and the stars were used in what was the most important sign of all time - the redemption of all Created humankind by the Word, through whom all things were made. " All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." John 1:3.

All of this sets up the next great darkening as foretold in in Scripture: "For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light." Isaiah 13:10.

When does this next great sign take place? Jesus told us in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:29) that it will be, "Immediately after the tribulation (thlipsis) of those days..." Immediately after the first 42 months of the 70th Week in other words, at the conclusion of the thlipsis and before the start of the megas thlipsis. Mark 13:24 repeats this. Even earlier Joel 2:31 foretold this will occur BEFORE the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. In "that day" is, specifically, the megas thlipsis; the great tribulation; the final 42 months of the 70th Week. 

But wait, there's more. This day is also when Jesus opens the 6th Seal, as we read in Revelation 6:12-17. These prophetic verses inform that day includes a really great earthquake. Luke 21:25 expounds upon this, so that the entire earth quakes causing dismay among the nations of the world at the "roaring and tossing of the seas." A global quake that, in all likelihood, will be of a magnitude well beyond a 9 or 10 on the Richter scale.

So, what would cause a global quake of such an unprecedented magnitude? To learn the answer we must turn to Isaiah 13. Read this chapter carefully. Firstly, we find that Isaiah 13:6-10 provides incredible details for what is written in Luke 21:25. But then we come Isaiah 13:13 at which the LORD God provides an exquisite detail that answers the question of what would cause such a global earthquake:

"Therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth will move out of her place."

I know of no other way to interpret this other than the earth will be shaken out of its station in orbit around our sun which the LORD God has maintained since its Creation. This, in my interpretive view, is the direct result of Jesus opening the 7th Seal.  Imagine... the sun dark, blood red moon, stars not where mankind has known them to be since they were first seen and the earth moved out of her place in the order of the solar system. Yes, when the sun is dark, the stars can be seen during what would normally be daylight hours. This makes perfect sense of what Luke wrote immediately after verse 25:

"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." Luke 21:26

Who among you brothers and sisters does not now understand the full context of prophetic Scripture as presented here? I asked in another very recent post "Are You Ready?" To put it bluntly, anyone who is not ready to be taken in the Harpazo will have to live through the possibly fatal events described above. Why risk that when Jesus can keep you from it if you will believe on Him. It's a no-brainer.

UPDATE 15 August 2018: In line with a comment I posted to this SITREP yesterday, I believe the mystery of this unprecedented event has been revealed through Scripture! From Leviticus to the Book of Daniel to Paul's letters to the Thessalonians to The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the mystery of this is revealed in great detail. The Bible interprets the Bible, and the underlying truth of it all will probably stun you as it stunned me once it was all laid out in coherent fashion. 

As we saw in all of the above discussed prophetic Scripture God is going to move the earth out of her orbit around our sun. Put any thought to this whatsoever and what jumps out at you? The times and the seasons would have to change as a natural cause and effect. Who set the times and the seasons at Creation? The LORD God did!

When Daniel was seeking the correct interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream from God (Daniel 2), God immediately provided the interpretation to Daniel in a night vision. In responding to God for providing him the night vision Daniel said, "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and seasons..." Who has the power to change the times and seasons of the earth? God alone does.

How many times have you read the phrase here, "the past as/is prologue"? Bunches of times, and with this subject the phrase "past is prologue" is more relevant than ever. The 70th Week is all about Israel, the salvation of all Israel, and to a lesser extent, the innumerable multitudes of gentiles who will be saved by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish missionaries of every tribe of Israel. And during the 70th Week what will be of tantamount importance to the Jews who will have had the Holy Spirit poured out upon them? Keeping the festivals and ordinances set by God for their worship in the coming 3rd Temple on the Mount.

Leviticus 23 lists these ordinances of God for Israel. These ordinances are the ordained holy days or festivals of Israel, they are the God-given laws of Israel! They also foretell the future sequencing of prophetic events. I am sure many of you are quite aware of this aspect, so for brevity sake I'll present them in exsum fashion. They are the four of the spring season: The Sabbath, Passover and Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Weeks. Jesus completed the prophetic aspect of these with His death, resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit in the spring of 33 AD. The next three are the fall festivals and they foretell the future: Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. These should be studied by all in detail, but not within the context of this SITREP. Yet I believe in them we can see the sequential three major end-times events: Harpazo, Atonement of Israel and New Jerusalem.

With the earth shaken and moved out of its place how could the proper timing of the festivals be known? They are based on the lunar calendar. Sounds very problematic, but not more so than immediately after the Antichrist attempts to usurp the ordinances of God by proclaiming himself God in the Temple of God at around the mid-70th Week and in the overcoming of the Two Witnesses. Satan, in the person the Antichrist, attempts to usurp the role of God Himself. And then, after Antichrist is laid low by what I believe will be an assassination attempt, Scripture tells us (in the Gospels and in Revelation) about the Abomination of Desolation. This is where the false Prophet will cause evil men construct and stand up in the Holy Place within the 3rd Temple the image of the Antichrist. Daniel 7:25 speaks to this concerning what Antichrist will try to do, saying: (my emphasis added).

"He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,
Shall persecute the saints of the Most High,
And shall intend to change times and law.
Then the saints shall be given into his hand 
For a time and times and half a time."
 
So, by the Scripture-based events described in the original part of this SITREP, detailed expressly in Isaiah 13:13, God thwarts Satan's intended plan (Satan indwells Antichrist during the final 42 months of the Megas Thlipsis (Great Tribulation) to change the times and the laws established by God by moving the earth out of its place, thereby fulfilling Isaiah's and Daniel's prophetic words (Isaiah 13:13 and Daniel 2:21). Satan's plan to usurp the authority of God is made null and void by the very deliberate act of God in moving the earth out of its place, thereby changing completely the times and the seasons so that they can no longer be accurately measured or observed. Satans attempt to usurp the place of God and His ordinations will amount to the most epic fail of all time.

As Paul explained to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5), we who are watching, sober and wise, understand these things. But to those of the night and darkness (the unrepentant, sinners) these things are and will remain incomprehensible. And we have covered what Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 on a couple of occasions, yet in the context of this SITREP, verses 3 and 4 are of paramount importance. Now we all can understand why the prophecy of Isaiah 13:13 and all of those related to it will take place. Our God is in complete and total control and always will be.

Addendum: There are numerous other verses in Scripture, many of which are Jesus' own spoken discourse, that directly relate to this topic. A couple to note are Matthew 24:15-22 and 29-31, and the parallel verses of Luke 21:25-28. Study and see how many more you can find!