Great Earthquake, Black Sackcloth Sun, Red Blood Moon - Signs Before Jesus Returns
The 7 Trumpets in Revelation are the Tribulation. Trumpets are loud as the Tribulation will be. Whereas the 7th Trumpet with its 7 Bowls of Wrath are larger than cups, poured silently, because so much happens so quickly as if time stands still in the last trumpet of the 7 year Tribulation, this being Daniel's final seven -- the 70th seven of Daniel's prophecy. The 70th seven (which hasn't happened yet because Dan. 9.24 is unfulfilled) encompasses the parousia of Christ from the first rapture "before the throne" (Rev. 7.9) in 3rd heaven to meeting the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4.14-18) at the last trumpet (cf. 1 Cor. 15.23,50-52) to Jesus stepping down on the mount of olives (Zech. 14.4, Acts 1.11, Rev. 1.7) at the end of the 2,520 days of the Tribulation (7 years x 360 Jewish calendar days). Note: the rapture before the throne for Christians who are prayerful and watchful is before the 1st trumpet is blown (8.7).
We are told to look for signs before Jesus' 2nd coming. Before the first trumpet is blown 3 things happen in very precise order (Rev. 6.12):
1) Great earthquake. We know in 2010 Haiti experienced an earthquake where 320,000 people died which is the 2nd most deaths of any earthquake recorded in human history. In 2011 Japan had an earthquake that was the 4th greatest in magnitude ever recorded anywhere on planet earth. Back to back, year over year, this has never happened before. It was a first for the record books. Truly this is a great earthquake that meets the criteria.
2) Black sackcloth sun. There are 4 kinds of solar eclipses. The rarest is the Hybrid occurring 5% of the time. And there are 3 kinds of hybrids of which the H3 is the rarest occurring 5% of that 5%. The H3 completes itself as a total eclipse to produce that black sackcloth effect. They are even more rare according to NASA when they last 1 minute and 30 seconds or more. Just such a solar eclipse occurred on Nov. 3, 2013. It was the 4th since Christ and won't happen again till 2172.
3) Red blood moon. NASA records red blood moons as Tetrads when there are two in a single year then two the following year. There were no Tetrads in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They are even more rare when they land on the 1st feast of Passover and the 7th feast of Tabernacles and again the following year. This is called a Total Lunar Tetrad or Feast Tetrad. The 6th time this happened since Christ was 1949/50. Israel became a nation May 14, 1948. The Armistice treaty was signed in 1949. The 7th since Christ was 1967/68 when Israel reclaimed Jerusalem on June 7, 1967. The 8th is 2014/15 when the construction of the 3rd Temple is coming into view. And it won't happen again till 2582/83 but has no unique solar eclipse attached to it at that time, so the time is now.
At the end of the Tribulation will be the "sign of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24.30) in the year Jesus steps down on the mount of olives. This would occur a few months before He steps down. One thing in church history is we have never been able to find a convincing sign of the Son of Man until now. On April 13, 2029 asteroid Apophis will come within 25,000 miles of earth which is satellite distance range and most definitely will interrupt some satellite communications. This asteroid is about 3 football fields in length. The last time an asteroid of this size hit earth was about 80,000 years ago. If it entered our atmosphere it would kill tens of millions of people. There will be much fanfare surrounding this event preceding Christ's return.
The temple in Brazil took 4 years to build at a cost of $300 million. The Tribulation 2022-29 would require the 3rd Temple be completed by Passover so that there would be 2300 days (Dan. 8.14) from Passover 2023 to Tisha B'Av 2029. Construction must begin no later than 2020. Look for this sign that draws you to Christ. Tisha B'Av is vital because that was when the 1st and 2nd Temples were destroyed and where Jesus will reign from in the 3rd Temple over the nations with His overcomers (Jude 14,15; Rev. 2.26,27; 20.4-6) for 1000 years before we move to the New City (Rev. 21).
After the 2014/15 Tetrad there will be 7 years of plenty (due to extremely low interest rates). Joseph was told that there would be seven years of abundance to prepare Egypt for the seven years of famine that would follow (Gen. 41.25-49). This is a prophetic type of a seven year period of abundance that will precede the Tribulation as a time for the Church and Israel to prepare. This principal of Divine warning to make preparation for a specified period of tribulation is seen in other Biblical examples.
Every 7 out of 19 years, there are 2,520 days from Feast of Trumpets to Tisha B'Av. The other 12 out of 19 years there are 1260 + 1290 (Dan. 12.11) days from Feast of Trumpets to Day of Atonement. 2015-22 meets the 2,520 days, and the 2022-29 matches the 2,550 days.
"If therefore thou shalt not watch...thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee" (Rev. 3.3). So the reason you may not perceive this when Jesus returns is because why? Not being a watchful "repentant" Christian (v.3a).
