Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. – Leviticus 23:24

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 7, 2015): Leviticus 23

Sometimes we Christians can sound just a little like Chicken Little – the sky is falling, the sky is falling. I have lost track of the number of times someone has predicted the end of the world just during my lifetime. Some insist that this experience has left me a little jaded. But the reality is that I really strongly believe that we are not supposed to know the time and date of the end. We are to live our lives with the expectation that we will live to be a hundred, but not be surprised if it all ends tomorrow.

And so as we enter into September, we are closing in on yet another date in which the world is supposed to end. And this one has its roots in the prophecy that has become known as the “Four Blood Moons.” According to the prophecy, there is an important noise being made by the sky over our heads. In 2014 – 2015, we would experience four blood moons (they are called blood moons because of the coppery color that the moon takes on during a lunar eclipse), and each blood moon would be separated from the next by six lunar months. Also of significance, there will be a solar eclipse between the second and the third blood moon, completing what is known as a tetrad. Also of interest to prophecy buffs, the four blood moons would fall during significant Jewish holidays. The first blood moon would be experienced on April 15, 2014 during Passover, the second would take place on October 8, 2014 during Sukkot (the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles remembering the desert wanderings of Israel under Moses), and then the Solar Eclipse on March 20, 2015 followed by the third Blood Moon on April 4, 2015 during Passover. The final blood moon would take place in September 28, 2015 completing the tetrad during the celebration of Sukkot. And after that – well, according to some there is no after that. September 28, 2015 is the end.

Okay, so a little perspective. While the existence of a tetrad is interesting and special, it is not totally unknown. We have seen tetrads at various places on the earth 62 times since the death of Jesus. And for some what is even more important is that of the events in this tetrad, only the blood moon on September 28, 2015 would have been visible in Israel (allowing one person to comment “what good is a tetrad if God can’t see it?” Okay, a little overstated, but we get the point.)

But another interesting point is that just before the final blood moon, Israel will celebrate a very special Rosh Hashanah (The feast of Trumpets that was instituted in Leviticus 23:24.) Rosh Hashanah celebrates the day that the world was created. But there is a problem that surrounds Rosh Hashanah - the date is arbitrary because we don’t know exactly when the world was created. Jesus comment about not knowing “the day or the hour” of his return is actually a phrase that some have argued was instituted at the celebration of Rosh Hashanah indicting that we do not know the day or the hour of creation. But while we do not know the day or the hour of creation, those that hold to a “6000 year earth” seem to believe that this Rosh Hashanah, which is set to be celebrated on September 13, 2015, is the 6000^th year of the earth – the 6000^th birthday of the earth will be celebrated just two weeks before the last blood moon of the current tetrad. For many, this is a significant prophetic development.

Did that give you Goosebumps? Some of those who are walking among us are freaking out at this point. I have to admit that much of this is hard for me to write with a straight face (but you can’t see my face.) My suspicion is that September 29, 2015 will be just another Tuesday. I already have bookings for that day and the rest of the week. But my advice remains the same - work as if you have another 100 years left on this planet, but don’t be surprised if Jesus shows up tomorrow (or on September 28, 2015.) Because we do not know the day and the hour of either the beginning of the world or of its end. But that does not mean that we shouldn’t take every chance and celebrate what we know God is doing in between the beginning and the end. And that is something that we should know.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 24