The Total Solar Eclipse: Part Two

Well, I hope and pray that everyone is doing well and blessed as we come together tonight!

I was so happy when I walked outside this morning and felt the cool air on my face. (I am looking forward to Fall!)

The sun was shining across the dew on my lawn this morning and it was beautiful. (As well as the little spider webs that show up when the morning dew is all over them and the sunlight shines through and it glistens and sparkles as if it were the most detailed and delicate of all glass work ever made!)

Now I realize that the weather started to change as the morning progressed with the clouds coming in and bringing in rain. But, I was very happy and thankful to be awaken with the sunlight and all of its beauty this morning, AMEN?!

"Somebody has well said that there are only two kinds of people in the world - there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord," and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good Lord, it's morning!”

Which one of those applies to you?

A couple of little humorous things I came across to share with you guys this evening:

The poor country pastor was livid when he confronted his wife with the receipt for a $250 dress she had bought. "How could you do this!" he exclaimed."I don't know," she wailed, "I was standing in the store looking at the dress. Then I found myself trying it on. It was like the Devil was whispering to me, 'Gee, you look great in that dress. You should buy it.'""Well," the pastor persisted, "You know how to deal with him! Just tell him, "Get behind me, Satan!""I did," replied his wife, "but then he said "It looks great from back here, too!"

This Baptist couple felt it important to own an equally Baptist pet, so they went shopping. At the kennel specializing in this particular breed, they found a dog they liked quite a lot. When they asked the dog to fetch the BIBLE, he did it in a flash. When they instructed him to look up , he complied equally fast, using his paws with dexterity. They were impressed, purchased the animal, and went home. That night they had friends over. They were so proud of their new Baptist dog and his major skills, they called the dog and showed him off a little. The friends were impressed,and asked whether the dog was able to do any of the usual dog tricks as well. This stopped the couple cold, as they had never thought about him doing "normal" tricks. "Well", they said, "Let's try it out." Once more they called the dog, and they clearly pronounced the command, "Heel!" Quick as a wink, the dog jumped up, put his paw on the man's forehead, closed his eyes in concentration, and bowed his head. They knew they had been deceived!

He was Pentecostal!!

This evening, I would like to revisit and finish what I began speaking on last Wednesday evening. (How many of you were here last Wednesday?)

OK, well just as a recap, let me brief everyone in, quickly.

I started speaking last week about the amazing event that took place the Monday before last, August 21, 2017, which we all remember to be the...................right, the Total Solar Eclipse!

I started the message off with a disclaimer that I want to even more so stress again tonight. (Especially since many people have been discussing and looking into a lot of what I was speaking on.)

I am by no means, making any claims or predictions about the the days in which we are living as to what events are getting ready to take place. I am NOT saying or predicting that the rapture or the tribulation or anything else is getting ready to happen within the next week, month or year!

I had you all read back the affirmation to me last week from the projector screens, in which you stated that you understood that I am making no claims about anything, right?

So, I will spare you from reading it back to me again this week, since I think the majority were here to read out loud last week!

OK, so last week I gave you some really interesting little facts about the occurrence of the eclipse and its relevance today. Did you guys enjoy, or find anything interesting about some of those little tidbits of knowledge?

Well, I am not going to recant all of those again tonight, but I do want to mention a very relevant portion, which I stressed last week.

In , which reads,

Genesis 1:14 ESV

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,

OK, so what did God say that the heavenly bodies that He created and placed into the sky were there for?

Right, for signs. The heavens are like God’s billboard to us!

I also mentioned that the Hebrew word used there for seasons is “mô·ʿēḏ”, and it means, “appointed times”, designated time, seasons, feast, i.e., a festival of celebration and/or worship, with a focus that this is a time appointed by an authority; more particularly, including the festive meals and offerings to God!

So, this word for seasons, “mô·ʿēḏ”, is there to refer to the specific Hebrew calendar of feasts and celebrations, “appointed times”, as God would give His people!

An example of the use of this word, to validate this, is in , where God asks, “What then will you do on festival (mô·ʿēḏ) days? How will you observe the Lord’s festivals?”

Remember, that I also mentioned that Jesus, Himself made mention of the heavenly billboard that we should observe, as we find in ,

Luke 21:25–26 NLT

“And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

I think that this is already happening and that other events, such as the timing of the blood moons and now this eclipse as well as the future heavenly signs that are coming, validate what Jesus and His Father put into place for us to observe as signs and seasons!

These signs do not give a timetable for us, but none the less, they are just indicators to let us know that the days are closing in!

Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man.…”

So, Jesus makes it clear, that we will not know the day or the hour. And yet He and His Father have given us things to look for so that we can know that the time is getting close!

And His festivals that He gave

Jesus said that the nations will be in turmoil. Well, there is a lot of turmoil in the world right now!

OK, so quickly, I mentioned to you last week about what the Apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom.”

The Jews looked for sign within the ancient Hebrew writings as well as the celestial signs. Greeks (gentiles) were looking for wisdom, knowledge, cold hard intellectual facts that they could discuss.

I went on to mention about Jesus and the Pharisees, when they would come to him and demand a sign from Him to validate His claims. Jesus made the statement, as found in ,

Matthew 12:38–40 NLT

One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

If you were here last week, then you will remember that I showed of how the sign of Jonah may have actually been linked to, or a direct reference to the great Bur-Sagale solar eclipse which occurred in 736 BC.

This eclipse came during a time in the history of Nineveh, where they had suffered famine, civil rioting, earthquakes, the Total Solar Eclipse and then more famine.

So, when Jonah comes walking in to Nineveh and declares “If you do not repent within the next 40 days, then God is going to destroy you”, the people were already primed in their, pagan wicked hearts to receive the truth about Yahweh!

Then, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, the sign for the wicked religious leaders was revealed, just as it was to the wicked people of Nineveh, the earth shook and THE SKY GREW DARK!

I showed you last week the picture of the path of the eclipse that took place on August 21 (show slide) and of how the path touched on the major fault lines as shown.

I think that I also mentioned that in 7 years, another total solar eclipse is scheduled to come across America again, and it path is going to cross this last one’s, forming an X.

At the center of that X, is right around the New Madrid fault line!

Jesus fulfilled the 4 Spring feasts/festival of the Jewish calendar with His death (Passover), burial (Unleavened Bread) , resurrection (First Fruits) and then outpouring of the Holy Spirit on (Feast of Weeks/Pentecost)!

So, now everyone’s attention is much more in tune with the Fall feasts/festivals, as these have not been fulfilled as many believe to be linked with His return!

Now, that being said, the eclipse that just took place on August 21, (at the exact time the sun was growing dark here, over Oregon, the sun was setting over Jerusalem, which is an amazing thing), at this exact time, the Jewish calendar started into its final annual month, called Elul!

Elul, refers to, or means, “a harvest”!

What an amazing parallel to a time that COULD refer to the coming of Jesus for His church; A HARVEST!

Now, the month of Elul, to the Jewish nation, also starts the 40 days of repentance that lead into the Holy Holidays of the Jewish year end, called, Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), followed by Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).

OK, so each day from the 1st of Elul, which starts the 40 days of preparation and repentance, a shofar is blown as a reminder to the people to repent and draw close to God.

Then on September 21-22 we find the Holy Holiday of Rash Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), which also begins the 1st month of the Jewish civil calendar and more importantly, the 7th month of the Jewish religious calendar, of Tishri.

Now there is quite a bit that is happening in this short period of time.

At the time of Rash Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets) the Jewish people begin a blowing of the shofar that lasts for 100 blasts of the trumpet in a set cycle of sounds.

It is interesting, that right after the 99th blast, the trumpeter takes a long breath and holds a sustained blast that is called, in the Jewish, the Tekiah Gedolah, a very long sustained note, that the Jewish people commonly refer to as, “THE LAST TRUMP”!

Remember what Paul mentioned in ,

1 Corinthians 15:51–52 NLT

But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.

We know that Paul wrote this before he had any idea of and before John had written the book of Revelation, so the last trumpet is not referring to the Seven Trumpet Judgments of Revelation.

Especially since Paul was a Jew of Jews and he knew very well all of the religious practices and their names; so him calling the last blast of the feast, the “last trumpet” was a common and natural thing.

Now, am I saying that this means that the rapture is happening on this date? NOOOOOO!

As we said earlier, no man knows day or the hour of Jesus’ return.

There is one more interesting thought that goes with this.

When Jesus said that no MAN knows the day or the hour, some people think that He may have been referring to the Feast of Trumpets, but not one specific one.

The reasoning is, since the Jews didn’t have a calendar with all of the moon phases on it, like we have, or a computer to look at and tell them ahead of time.

Rather, what they had to do, was sit and begin watching, after the closing of the full moon, for the new moon to emerge. Two or four men would be sent out to watch and wait for the new moon to appear and then they would report straight back to the priests that it was time.

Then, the priests could announce the it was time for the festival to start!

The people didn’t know the day or the hour, which was a common phrase for the Jews of that time, and an expression that when Jesus gave it, it would have made perfect sense to them, because they did this every season as they awaited their new moons!

So, tie this in with the blast of the last trumpet and no one knowing the day or the hour that it was going to happen, and you have a more compelling argument that we can know the signs and the seasons, just not the EXACT day or hour!

As I have already mentioned, I am not stating anything is going to happen, I’m just making everyone aware of what all is taking place in this short window of time!

So, we come right of Rosh Hashanah and then the next day, that Saturday, which is the Sabbath that falls right between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, is called the Shabbat Shuvah.

Shabbat Shuvah, literally means, “the Sabbath of Return”!

It would make a perfect time for His calling of the church out of here, or for His glorious return to reign on earth, thereafter!

Now we get to the really cool part of tonight’s lesson, what happens also on the Shabbat Shuvah!

Now on this particular sabbath, we also see that there is another astronomical anomaly taking place.

September 23, 2017, the same day as the Sabbath of Return, we see what many believe to be the fulfillment of the , prophecy of as recorded by John:

Revelation 12:1–2 NLT

Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth.

The word used here in the Greek for heaven, is, “ouranos”, and it means the abode of God, but also the sky!

John said that he saw a woman in the sky, clothed with the sun and with the moon beneath her feet and with a crown of twelve stars on her head.

Well, the second largest constellation in the night sky is the constellation Virgo (the virgin) and she is very much visible right now.

So, you might be thinking, “big whoop” that happens all of the time, right?

Well, there is a little more to it than that. On September 23, 2017, Virgo is going to be in position with the sun at her back, the moon beneath her feet and 12 stars, crowning her head.

So, is that a big thing, you may be asking?

Well, let’s go back 2,000 years ago and look at a constellation that took place on 9/11/3 B.C. (SHOW SLIDE!)

Now this is thought of by many, to be the birth sign of Jesus! Look at what all lines up to make this constellation work.

Explain about the names of the planets, as they possibly correlate to the angelic beings:

Jupiter (The king planet)- In the Greek mythology this was Zeus. We would equate the chief or master planet, the largest and head planet as, God!

Mercury - Linked with Achilles, the messenger. we would say, Gabriel.

Mars - the warring planet. We would say Michael the warring arch angel.

Venus - Which is the brightest object always in conjunction with the moon in night and morning sky. In , Jesus said,

Revelation 22:16 NLT

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.”

So, Venus is the bright morning star, or JESUS!

Regulus - at the heart of Leo the Lion is a blue star and is called the King Star, because of how big and brilliant it is.

So, in 9/11/3 BC we see this alignment, with Jupiter, the King Planet (God), overshadowing Regulus (the King Star) and forming a very brilliant star in the sky (The Star of Bethlehem).

2,000 years later this sign is appearing again, as it is described in . But, this time there are a couple of key player changes: This past year, about 9.5 months ago, Jupiter, the King Planet (God, or in this case, God the Son) moves into the belly of the Virgo the Virgin and has been there for the last 9.5 months and is moving out and away.

Then, on September 23, the sun is at her back (clothing her), the moon is at her feet and the 12 stars crown her head. However, this time, it is no longer Jupiter that makes up one of the 3 planetary players, as before.

This time the three planets involved are, Mercury, MARS and Venus. (SHOW SLIDE)

Mars moves in. (Mars -the warring planet; Michael the arch angel!)

Listen to ,

Daniel 12:1 NLT

“At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued.

This is verse is associated by many with the tribulation period of Revelation.

So, here we see Michael (Mars) standing up and being present at the return of Jesus (Venus) as seen by Jesus’ possible sign.

I mention Jesus’ possible heavenly sign, as He makes mention of in ,

Matthew 24:30 ESV

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, 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.

Well, if this same sign appeared in heaven when He was born and it is happening again, 2,000 years later, could this actually be the HIS SIGN, that He is referring to?

A heavenly sign that is linked to when something major is about to happen that involves Him!

This actual alignment, as on September 23, 2017, hasn’t happened for some, 7,000 years!

If this was His sign and indicated that He was returning very soon, it fits, especially since it involves the representation of Michael, as we see in ,

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NLT

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.

Again, I am not saying that this is the return date of Jesus, I am not saying that this is the rapture date, or anything else. I am simply saying that after looking at other very scholarly people’s work on this alignment and the proof behind it, it is very compelling to think about!

The sign of Jesus (POSSIBLY) happening again, on a date in history, 2,000 years after His birth and happening on the Sabbath that is called, the “Sabbath of Return”!

I mean come on, you have to admit that its pretty exciting!

Trust me guys, there is so much stuff out there that deals with numbers and dates and signs; it actually becomes exhaustive when you start diving into it!

My objective tonight, was to just recap some of the larger things that are taking place and present them in such a way, so as to stress the obvious.

Jesus and His return is drawing near; but remember, near could still mean years or decades away. (I think that it’s close, very close, and very close entails anything within the next one or two decades; but it’s all God’s timetable, not ours.

We are simply to be good stewards of the time and the opportunities that He has given to us! AMEN?!