What Does The Bible Say About A Red Or Blood Moon?

Is there a Bible verse or verses that speak about a red or blood moon? What does this have to do with biblical prophecy and the Christian’s life today?

The Blood Moon

In Peter’s great sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he quoted Joel’s prophecy which referred to “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (Acts 2:17) and he makes reference to “the last days” and a bit later says “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood” (Acts 2:20a) which is to occur “before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord” (Acts 2:20b). This was part of Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2) where God was to “show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke” (Acts 2:19). Should we expect this to come to pass in our day or was it a one-time event that has already occurred with the Day of Pentecost where God said He would pour out His Spirit on those days (Acts 2:18)?

Joel’s Prophecy

Joel‘s prophecy which was quoted by Peter in Acts 2 says “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:30-32a). In both cases, the moon is said to be the color of blood (red) and as Peter said, it would come “before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” so Peter was seemingly quoting this prophecy as already having come to pass and yet many self-proclaimed prophets are predicting doom for this world using this prophecy and other scriptures in the Bible referring to a day that is yet to come. Who’s right? Is it Peter or today’s self-proclaimed “prophets?” Had it already happened or is it still ahead of us?

The Holy Spirit’s Arrival

Peter specifically mentioned Joel’s prophecy regarding the coming of the Spirit where he says “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:29a) and “Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit” (Joel 2:29). This part of Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled when the church was imbued by the power of the Holy Spirit when “the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). The word “tongues” in the Greek is “languages” and is plural (Greek “glōssa”) so they spoke in other languages that those who were in Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost recognized as being their own native language (Acts 2:6). This was no unknown tongue to those who heard it. This part of Joel’s prophecy came to pass on the Day of Pentecost but what about the “blood moon?”

Joel’s Context

In Joel chapter 2 this prophecy seems to focus on those in Jerusalem where after God pours out His Spirt Joel writes “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls” (Joel 2:32). It was many years later in A.D. 70 that those in Jerusalem had to escape during the Roman Empire’s destruction of Jerusalem and “the survivors [were] those whom the Lord calls” meaning the Christians but certainly not all of them escaped as we know from historical accounts of this destruction. Isaiah seems to write about the same coming destruction of Jerusalem in Isaiah 13:9-10 “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.”

The Destruction of Jerusalem

We know that during the destruction of Jerusalem, dark clouds covered the whole sky which might be another explanation for Joel and Isaiah’s prophecy because if the clouds were dark enough they could darken both the sun and the moon and the moon might give the appearance of a reddish hue due to the smoke of the fires. This might be what Joel was referring to when he wrote “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke” (Joel 2:30) and where Peter also spoke of “blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke” (Acts 2:19b). The blood that was spilled and the fires and resulting smoke could be seen for many miles around Jerusalem seem to fit the context of Joel 2 and Acts 2 as well as Isaiah 13. We know that the moon sometimes appears red just after it rises above the horizon due to elements in the atmosphere so this could be why it appears to be red even during the day and particularly at night and even the sun would appear as sackcloth which is what Jesus Himself prophesied would come (Mark 13:24).

Conclusion

What are we to make of all this? There is one thing that is clear, Jesus said you must repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15) or you have the wrath of God on you by your disbelief (John 3:36b). All prophecy is a warning of impending doom that is aimed toward those who refuse to bend the knee and acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as the only way that they can be saved (Acts 4:12). He will either be your Judge (Rev 20:12-15) or He is already your Savior and King. You have a choice to make and you are responsible for your choice.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.