Signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars: What Does the Bible REALLY Say?

In this video we’ll take a look at what the bible really says about signs in the sun, moon and stars during the end times, and talk a bit about blood moons as well.

Nowadays you can find thousands of videos on YouTube that cover this topic, and many of them tie-in specific things happening in the sky above with, what they say, is the imminent rapture, the tribulation, or other end times prophecy.

In fact, as I’m making this video in mid-June of 2022, there are quite a number of Christian YouTube channels promoting the idea that the return of Jesus is likely over the next couple of months, largely based on what they perceive as signs in the stars above.

Of course, this isn’t anything new. For thousands of years mankind has been looking up at the stars – not only mesmerized with their beauty – but he perceived patterns and signs that he thought might portend of the future.

And in a way that’s understandable. There’s nothing quite like gazing up in wonderment at the stars, trying to understand what incredible Artist created such a masterpiece. And by extension, why did this Artist also create us? What is our purpose for being here?

When I was a kid I was very much into astronomy, and I was always looking up at the night sky through my binoculars or a small telescope a friend had. The immensity of the universe was breathtaking to me even at a young age.

There were often times, especially on a clear, cold night, that the sheer number of stars I was seeing was so overwhelming, and so awe-inspiring, that I somehow knew I was looking upon the handiwork of God.

As I got a bit older and into my late teenage years, I started reading the bible a bit, and gravitated toward verses that dealt with end-times prophecy. It seemed like the more I read the bible, the more I appreciated the stunning beauty of the heavens above.

Soon I started to hear other Christians talk about how the bible tell us that there would be signs in the sun, moon and stars during the end times. This certainly interested me, as suddenly eschatology was going hand-in-hand with my love of astronomy.

So I began to do a bit of my own research into what bible verses DO talk about signs in the sun, moon and stars. And, as they say, there’s no place to begin like the beginning.

Genesis 1:14

As I looked to discover what the bible says will happen during the last days, one of the first verses I pondered was, of course, Genesis 1:14, in which God says this:

“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:”

If asked where the bible tells us that there will be signs in the heavens, Genesis 1:14 is probably the verse for most Christians to reference. But it’s also a verse that a lot of us will read superficially, without truly thinking what it means.

I found this verse curious, as it didn’t give any specifics about what the signs are or in what way they would be used. Would the natural alignments of the sun, moon and stars occasionally double as a sign, or will God use them in other ways? It simply didn’t say.

In fact, it seemed so generalized that almost ANYTHING in the heavens above could be viewed as a sign of something to someone. I couldn’t help but wonder why the the verse would speak of prophetic signs in almost a nonchalant manner.

After more studying, I realized that not only was I looking at Genesis 1:14 in the wrong way, but it actually means something entirely different than what most Christians think it does.

When “signs” are not really signs

It turns out that Genesis 1:14 is not referring to prophetic signs in the sky after all, and is a perfect example of how we shouldn’t take part of a verse out of context because by doing so we may misunderstand its true meaning.

It’s also demonstrates why we should check translations other than the King James from time to time, as they can often bring clarity to a verse, and help us to understand it from the proper perspective. Here’s what I mean.

Look again at Genesis 1:14, and pay particular attention to the verbiage AFTER the word “signs” – the part that says “seasons, days and years.” These words describe periods of time, and are important because they modify the word “signs” to mean divisions of time.

In other words, “signs” doesn’t mean prophetic signs, but rather guideposts to help us understand when seasons, days and years begin and end. The verse is stating that the lights that God created would be used as signs OF seasons, days and years.

Indeed, the rising and setting of the sun is a sign of the beginning or ending of a day. And the moon going through its phases helps us mark each month going by, and the movement of the sun and stars help us to understand the years that pass.

The correct understanding of Genesis 1:14 isn’t that the lights in the sky will be random signs of prophecy, but that they are intended to help us correctly divide TIME into seasons, days and years.

A moment ago I mentioned how looking at translations other than the King James can come in handy, and that’s exactly the case here. Here are other translations of Genesis 1:14 that perfectly clarify the meaning of this verse.

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years” – NIV

“Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for seasons and for days and years.” – CSB

“Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years.” – Holman

“God said, ‘I command lights to appear in the sky and to separate day from night and to show the time for seasons, special days, and years.’ ” – CEV

“God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years.” – NET Bible

And other translations also make the meaning of this verse clear: Genesis 1:14 is NOT telling us that the stars, moon and sun will be random prophetic signs that are secret and only a few people can figure out or even see.

Instead, the verse is stating that the stars, moon and sun are tools for US to properly divide time. They are signposts for us to correctly note the days, months and years as they pass by.

Having said that, there ARE verses – other than Genesis 1:14 – which clearly talk about a few stunning events in the last days, from the stars not giving their light, to the moon turning red, to the sun being darkened.

Those are the verses that we need to focus on, as they will give us a better idea of the events to happen in the near future. And a couple of those verses reference one particular sign that much of Christianity has latched onto: the moon turning to blood.

Blood moons

One of the more popular ideas in recent years is that blood moons are among the signs the bible talks about, and there’s no shortage of books and videos on the subject. In fact, there are entire ministries built around the concept of blood moons and prophecy.

The term “blood moon” comes from the face of the moon turning reddish as it passes behind the earth and into its shadow. On average, there are three blood moons every two years, although some years have none and other years have several.

The three places in the bible where the moon is described as turning blood red are Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20, which quotes Joel 2:31, and Revelation 6:12.

In Joel 2:31 we read: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” This verse was quoted by Peter in Acts 2:20.

In Revelation 6:12, we see the moon described this way: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.”

The Four Blood Moons Theory

In 2008 a pastor from Tacoma, Washington by the name of Mark Biltz announced that he had discovered an astronomical phenomenon that might point to the date of the Lord’s return. That discovery, he said, were how blood moons related to bible prophecy.

The resulting Blood Moon mania swept over much of Christianity in the years afterward, and led primarily by Biltz and televangelist John Hagee, the idea of the tetrad – or four consecutive lunar eclipses – began to pick up steam.

Tetrads are rare, but not extremely so, as they come in cycles of roughly 600 years, give or take a few years. For about 300 years, there are no tetrads at all, which is followed by a period of roughly 300 years where a tetrad occurs approximately every 15 years.

The latest 300 year cycle where we see tetrads began in 1901, and as of June 2022, we are almost halfway through the 15 year period where they show up. The previous tetrad took place in 2014 and 2015, and the next will happen during 2032 and 2033.

In fact, leading up to 2014, many Christian leaders jumped on the tetrad bandwagon and predicted that significant prophetic events would occur, culminating with the fourth lunar eclipse in September of 2015. Some even predicted the rapture or the end of the world.

As we now know, none of those things happened in 2014 or 2015, and it turns out that there’s a good reason why. There are a LOT of problems with the theory that naturally occurring blood moons and tetrads are related to bible prophecy.

The problems with connecting tetrads to bible prophecy

If you’ve never looked too deeply into the idea of how blood moons, and specifically tetrads, relate to bible prophecy, you might be surprised to learn that there are a number of problems with this idea. Here are seven of those problems.

First, the Bible does NOT tell us to watch for tetrads nor does it ever attach any significance to them prophetically. The blood moons theory itself was thought up by Mark Biltz in 2008, and further publicized by televangelist John Hagee.

Second, despite the pronouncements that previous blood moon tetrads coincided with remarkable events affecting the Jewish people, that claim is questionable at best.

For example, one of the supposed events was the Alhambra Decree of 1492, which concerned the expulsion of Jews from Spain – and yet that event was an entire year to two years BEFORE the blood moon tetrads appeared in 1493 and 1494.

Likewise, a tetrad supposedly marked the state of Israel’s independence in 1948, and yet the tetrad itself occurred in 1949-1950, up to two years AFTER the event. Two years later is not exactly the definition of prophecy fulfilled.

Third, other tetrads have happened throughout history, but NO significant events were affecting Jews at those times. For example, the years 162, 796, 842 and 860AD all had blood moon tetrads, and yet no major singular corresponding event.

Some claim that the tetrad of 162AD came at the height of the worst persecution of Jews in the history of the Roman Empire, however this is very hard to quantify as Rome was consistently persecuting Jews for many years before 162AD, as well as many years after.

Fourth, significant catastrophes for the Jewish people had no tetrad activity at all: one being the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D leading to the deaths of 1 million Jews. In fact, there are no tetrads at all from 1 AD to 100 AD.

Another is the Holocaust, which resulted in the deaths of more than 6 million Jews. There were no blood moon tetrads from 1939 to 1945. Also, the Yom Kippur war of 1973 had no blood moon tetrads.

Fifth, blood moons tetrads are NOT visible to everyone, even though they are touted as signs from God. A blood moon is only visible to the side of the earth that is in darkness, so half of the world – at most – could see it, but the other half definitely cannot.

This is extremely reminiscent of the so-called Revelation 12 sign during September of 2017, which was not only unseen by nearly everyone on earth, it wasn’t even understood as being a sign by most people.

Sending secrets signs to a small number of people is NOT what the bible tells us will happen.

Sixth, and perhaps most importantly, when the bible describes the moon turning to blood, it is in conjunction with OTHER events also happening, such as the sun and stars going dark, and even a massive earthquake. The moon turning to blood isn’t happening in a vacuum.

Seventh, it’s absurd to connect blood moons falling on feast days as signs of biblical prophecy coming true. Israel uses a lunar calendar and BASES their feast days upon the phases of the moon.

Because of this, it should be obvious that lunar eclipses will fall on Jewish feast days with some regularity, and thus shouldn’t be used as a sign of bible prophecy being fulfilled.

So, just by looking into this a bit further, we can see that the idea of attaching tetrads to bible prophecy is on really shaky ground. It just doesn’t hold up under closer examination, and should in no way be relied upon to forecast what happens in the last days.

Unfortunately, there are those who are holding onto the idea that things like the rapture or the tribulation can be determined by naturally occurring blood moons, or how certain planets line up in the constellations above. These things are NOT biblical at all.

What does the bible actually say?

So let’s now turn to the bible and see what it REALLY says about signs in the sun, moon and stars. Because within THOSE verses is not only a consistency that is sorely lacking in the blood moons theory, but we’ll find specific descriptions of what IS going to happen.

To reiterate, Genesis 1:14 is NOT telling us that there will be random prophetic signs in the heavens, but rather that the sun, moon and stars were given to us as tools to help us understand the passage of time – to mark the feasts and days, months and years.

I also talked about how the four-blood-moon tetrad theory is NOT based on sound doctrine at all – and in fact I’d compare it to absurdities like the bible-code theory, which has also fooled many Christians into believing that there are hidden secrets to understanding God’s word.

However, as most of us know, there ARE many verses in the bible that talk about something happening to the sun, moon and stars in the end times. And what happens is not only truly shocking, these things will be seen by EVERYONE on earth.

Let’s take a look at those verses right now, and I’m not including a few verses that only mention what’s happening on the earth, as the focus of this video is on what we will see in the heavens above in the very near future.

Here are 12 verses that reference what IS going to happen to the sun, moon and stars during the end times. After we go through them, I’ll talk about what we can learn from these verses.

1. Isaiah 13:9,10 – “Behold the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it. For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.”
2. Isaiah 34:4 – “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.”
3. Jeremiah 4:23 – “I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light.”
4. Ezekiel 32:7,8 – “When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and make its stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon won’t give its light. I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord GOD.”
5. Joel 2:10 – “Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.”
6. Joel 2: 31 – “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.”
7. Joel 3:15 – “The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.”
8. Matthew 24:29 – “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken”
9. Mark 13:24 – “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light”
10. Luke 21:25 – “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring”
11. Acts 2:20 (quoting Joel 2:31) – “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come”
12. Revelation 6:12 – “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.”

What are these verses teaching us?

When looking at the verses which talk about what will happen in the sky during the last days, we can notice five distinct and consistent descriptions:

1. The sun will be darkened
2. The stars will be darkened
3. The moon will turn to blood
4. The moon will be darkened
5. These things happen after the tribulation

The context of these verses also seem to imply that these things happen simultaneously, or perhaps within a very short time of each other.

That is important because a lunar eclipse cannot happen simultaneously with a solar eclipse. Not naturally, anyway. Either the moon comes between the earth and the sun, causing a solar eclipse, or the earth comes between the sun and the moon causing a lunar eclipse.

As you may have also noticed, a couple of the verses specifically state that these events happen AFTER the tribulation, not before, which means that they cannot be connected to anything happening before the tribulation, such as a pre-tribulation rapture.

These are events that occur just after the tribulation, and just before or simultaneously with the return of Jesus. Even more than that, the context of the verses teaches us that the majority of people on the earth will SEE what’s happening in the sky above.

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;” – Revelation 6:15

Compare that verse to the claims of some on YouTube that certain alignments of stars or planets, or a specific blood moon, marks these prophetic events – even though very, very few people can actually see what’s going on with them.

Would an eclipse cause these things?

If we consider the verses that talk about just the sun and moon for a moment, they’re both said to be darkened, with the moon also said to be turning into blood.

A solar eclipse would darken the sun, and a lunar eclipse would turn the moon red, but as I said a moment ago, those two things can’t both happen at the same time. Not naturally, anyway. There are, however, a couple of possibilities we should look at.

One possibility is that, during a lunar eclipse in which the face of the moon turns to blood, another object enters our solar system and goes between the earth and the sun, causing an unscheduled eclipse of the sun.

In this scenario the sun would be darkened and the moon would go from blood red to also becoming dark. This type of event also has a rather ominous sounding name: occultation.

Occultation

An occultation occurs when one object is hidden by another object that passes between it and the observer. The term is commonly used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground temporarily blocks from view an object in the background.

And in Revelation 8, the bible does talk about a strange object falling from heaven, which it calls Wormwood. There has been much speculation that Wormwood is an asteroid or even a small rogue planet, but either way, it causes great destruction upon the earth.

“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” – Revelation 8:10,11

Could Wormwood, before it hits the earth, be in an orbit around the sun, or on a trajectory passing through the solar system, where it does block out the sun at some point? This would be an unscheduled solar eclipse that could very well fulfill bible prophecy.

The next verse states that Wormwood partially darkens the sun, moon and stars, and this description coincides with scientific studies of how previous asteroid strikes on the earth have caused what is referred to as an “impact winter.”

“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.” – Revelation 8:12

An impact winter refers to how extremely large amounts of dust are thrown up into the atmosphere by large asteroid strikes, effectively blocking out the sun for many years. And that brings us to how the stars themselves will be darkened during the last days.

The stars are darkened

As we have seen, the sun and the moon could be darkened through either a naturally occurring solar or lunar eclipse, or by an unknown object entering our solar system and causing an unscheduled eclipse. But what about the stars?

Multiple bible verses refer to the stars being darkened in the last days, and of course this could easily be because God, in His omnipotence, decides to stop them from shining. But can anything else also cause that to happen?

As a matter of fact, the stars being darkened could also come from an asteroid impacting earth and throwing a large amount of dust up into the atmosphere, effectively blocking out our ability to see the sun, moon and stars.

Thus, many of the biblical descriptions of the last days could potentially be attributed to one singular event: an unknown object enters our solar system, and during a naturally occurring lunar eclipse, it causes an unscheduled eclipse of the sun before hitting the earth.

Upon hitting the earth, this object would cause worldwide destruction, from massive earthquakes to violent oceans, to spewing up large amounts of dirt into the atmosphere, effectively darkening the sun, moon and stars.

And that’s the last point I want to make: when the bible gives us these descriptions of the sun, moon and stars during the last days, it’s talking about universal darkness.

Universal darkness

The descriptions of the end times given in the bible speak of a universal darkness for our world. Naturally occurring lunar and solar eclipses cannot cause the stars to be darkened. They can’t even both happen simultaneously, as I mentioned before.

And even more than this darkness over the entire world, which is itself symbolic, the signs in the sun, moon and stars happen AFTER the tribulation, not before. Thus, we should NOT be looking for signs in the heavens to herald IN the tribulation or rapture.

And, most important, there’s nothing secret or mysterious about what’s going to happen in the last days. These are events that the entire world will see, with the vast majority of the population being in stark terror at what they are witnessing.

Rather than looking for secret signs in the stars and planets above that only a few can see or understand, the signs the bible gives us describe events that are extraordinarily shocking and visible to the entire world.

According to the bible, these events are SO destructive and SO monumental that that no one will need to consult a star map for clues if they’re happening, or watch a YouTube video to see if the planets are properly lined up.

Everyone on earth will witness these events, and those who are not saved will try and hide themselves out of sheer terror. These are the signs that the bible talks about in the last days.

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” – Revelation 6:15-17

But when these shocking events begin to occur, there will also be those who will not be terrified at what is happening. They will be filled with joy, because to them it will mark the return of Jesus, and their entrance into the Kingdom of God.

And for those who enter God’s kingdom, He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Thank you for taking the time to watch this video, and if you care to leave a comment, please do. As always, kindly be respectful of others in your comments, especially toward those with whom you disagree. I’ll talk to you guys soon. ♦