Why Easter is when it is, and what is the Blood Moon:

Alright, Easter is coming up, do any of you remember how I explained how the Sunday it falls upon is determined? Well for those of you who did not read that, or forgot here is the explanation again. For calculation purposes, the full moon is always set at the 14th day of the lunar month. Now as a side bar I will explain how the full moon is a half moon. Remember from all those Cowboy and Injuns movies you say that the Injun would say, "We will meet in 3 moons and see if you speak with forked tongue"? Well the lunar month started with the New Moon, which is a dark moon, 14 days later or half a moon later, it is a full moon, thus the half moon falls upon a half moon.

The first Council of Nicae 325 AD said that Easter is to be celebrated on the Sunday following the paschal full moon. Notice what isn't mentioned? That's right: Passover. But on a Sunday because Sunday was the day of Christ's Resurrection. But why the paschal full moon? Because that was the date of Passover in the Jewish calendar, and the Last Supper (Holy Thursday) occurred on the Passover. Therefore, Easter was the Sunday after Passover.

As I said above the lunar month begins with the new moon. Now the Church set the date of the vernal equinox at March 21, even though it can occur on March 19th this year. These approximations allow the Church to set a universal date for Easter. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon, the paschal full moon, after the spring equinox which is the first day of spring. Many Christians believe that the date of Easter is determined by the date of Passover, and so they are surprised when, in years such as 2008, Western Christians celebrate Easter before the Jewish celebration of Passover. The reason the Council of Nicaea set up a formula for calculating the date of Easter was to separate the Christian celebration of Christ's Resurrection from the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Some Christians in the early fourth century were calculating the date of Easter according to the Jewish calendar, while others believed it needed to be calculated separately.

Why? Because Christ is the new Paschal Lamb, of Whom the lamb sacrificed at Passover was just a sign or symbol. That symbol found its completion in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Thus, the continued celebration of the Jewish Passover has no theological significance for Christians, because Christ is our Passover Lamb.

Easter Sunday this year, 2014,  falls on April 20, and the new moon will be eclipsed and become what is called a blood moon. The first of a Blood Moon Tetrad.    A total lunar eclipse set to sweep the skies on April 14-15 and turn the moon blood-red just before midnight has got scientists excited and some Christians fearing for the end of days. The coppery moon will be the first of two total lunar eclipses in 2014 as well as the opening act in a lunar tetrad – four total lunar eclipses in series.                                                   

It will begin at 21:20 GMT according to Sky and Telescope magazine. The other three eclipses in the “tetrad” will be in October, April 2015 and September 2015. Griffith Observatory will stream the event live.John Hagee, pastor and author of ‘Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change,’ cites Joel 2:31 as evidence, which says: “The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.”  

This  has happened only three other times in the last six centuries. It will be the first part of a Jewish Feast Blood Moon Tetrad – four complete lunar eclipses in a row that all land on a Jewish Feast Day. This has occurred seven times since the birth of Jesus Christ. The first four had significance to Jewish and Christian people, while the last three coincided with three of the most important events in Jewish history with incredible impacts on Christians as well.

Previous Tetrads

At the time when God created the universe, He made it very clear that he would be communicating with His people through the heavenly bodies.

Genesis 1:14 (NASB)

Then 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;

It isn’t simply through tetrads that we have seen signs, but the seven previous ones since the Resurrection have given compelling evidence that they do signify important events. The first four occurred in in the first millennium AD. While it’s possible to look at history books and attribute significant events to the time periods surrounding 162-163, 795-796, 842-843, and 860-861, it would be a stretch to say that these events were clearly Biblical in nature and of enough significance to point to make a modern person’s jaw drop. Rather than mention the Antonine Plague, the attack on the Vatican church in Rome, or the end of Islamic invasions of Europe, we’ll assume that the events that transpired were significant but lost to history books.

The significance of the events surrounding the last three tetrads is very clear as we now have much better records of the events in the second millennium after Christ. One could argue that the three events that transpired around the previous three tetrads were the most important events to Jews, Christians, and the rest of the world in the last thousand years:

• 1493-1494 – One of the theories surrounding Christopher Columbus is that he was raised Jewish. The expulsion of the Jews from Spain coincided nicely with his voyage to America in 1492. It was a time when a good chunk of the world’s Jewish population was being dispersed from their homes while another refuge for them was being discovered, one that would help them survive as a people until their land was reclaimed. There is no telling what the Jewish population would be today if America had not been discovered at that time.
• 1949-1950 – Israel was admitted into the United Nations on May 11, 1949, shortly after winning back their homeland and declaring their independence the year before. This is perceived by many to have “started the clock” for a good chunk of Bible Prophecy.
• 1967-1968 – This was the time of the 6 Day War that put Israel back in control of Jerusalem.

With all three of these events, it is very clear that they held significance in carving out modern day Israel as well as Christianity.   2014-2015 Blood Moon Tetrad – What Does It Mean?