The signs of the end of the age and Jesus’ appearing are evident in the physical and spiritual worlds. But most people, including Christians, have not recognized them.
How can we discern them? One sure way is by understanding how the Jewish feasts, or the feasts of the Lord, point to the ages of man, accurately showing us God’s timetable.
The Feasts of the Lord
The Jews believe major events in history are marked by the times of the feasts. For example, they commemorate the “birthday of the world,” the day of the creation of Adam and Eve, at Rosh Hashanah, which is also the Jewish New Year. God gave the law to Moses at Mount Sinai at the time of Pentecost.
The major events in Christ’s redemption of humanity are tied to three main feasts: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Jesus had to die during the Feast of Passover. He could not have died at any other time because He is the sacrificial lamb given for the sins of the whole world. The outpouring of the Spirit, whom Jesus said the Father would send in His name, occurred at Pentecost. And the feast of tabernacles is related to Jesus’s second coming.
Times and Seasons
One of the Hebrew words for “feast” is moed, which means “an appointment,” or “a fixed time or season.” God Himself appointed the feasts, and they are therefore precise in revealing times and seasons. Not all the feasts have been completely fulfilled, but they will be. God’s times have been established for eternity; they do not change.
The feasts are also significant because they are times when portals to the spiritual realm are opened. We can say that heaven draws nearer to earth during these periods, when visitations from God to His people, angelic activity, supernatural protection, miracles, cycles of blessing and the fulfillment of promises occur. While unusual events in the physical realm may occur at any time, they do not carry the same weight or meaning as they do when they happen during one of the feasts.
The Church Age Is Almost Over
The feast of Pentecost is also known as the feast of Harvest. This feast represents the age of the Holy Spirit, of His outpouring and anointing on the earth. The moment the Spirit came, the spiritual Feast of Pentecost was initiated. The Jewish feast of Pentecost is celebrated over a period of two days. In relation to the era of the church, this period signifies 2,000 years. Keep in mind that, for the Lord, one day is equivalent to a thousand years.
It has been more than 2,000 years since Jesus was born, but it has been less than two thousand years since the spiritual feast of Pentecost began. According to God’s timetable, Christ will return at the end of the feast of Pentecost, or after two thousand years. “After two days He will revive us. On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight” (Hos. 6:2, NKJV).
Most scholars now estimate that Jesus was born in the year 4 B.C. Using this calculation, 1,991 years have gone by since then. We have not yet reached the two-thousand-year mark for the end of the Passover feast.
The Bible is clear that no one knows the day or hour of Christ’s return. However, this does not mean we cannot recognize the season in which He will return. Again, the feasts mark the seasons of God. Paul wrote, “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:1-2).
Anyone who tells you they know the exact day and hour when Jesus will return is either in great error or lying. Yet we can become familiar with the cycle, the times and the season in which His coming will occur. I believe all indications are here. Therefore, we must remain in expectation of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit, miracles, signs and wonders the earth has ever seen. We also need to be attentive to what is happening with regard to Israel, the church and the world. In each of these groups, events will accumulate, leading to the manifestation of God’s glory.
The Sign of the Blood Moon
The feasts of the Lord are also tied to the end-time sign of the blood moon:
“I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord” (Acts 2:19-20).
Not only does the blood moon represent a fullness of time, but it also represents the end of an era by pointing to the appearing of the Lord Jesus in the rapture. In the last 2,000 years, there have been 56 tetrads of blood moons, with eight of them occurring during feasts of the Lord.
What exactly is a tetrad? This term generally refers to a group of four things. In this case, it is used to designate four total lunar eclipses within two consecutive years, with no partial lunar eclipses in between. For example, there was a blood moon on April 15, 2014, during the feast of Passover. There was another on Oct. 8 of the same year during the Feast of Tabernacles. Two more blood moons occurred in the year 2015, on April 4 during Passover and on Sept. 28 during Tabernacles.
These four blood moons represent the four ends of the earth. Their appearance tells us that a calamity of global proportions is about to happen. In fact, it has already begun. The entire world will undergo terrible dilemmas—failing economies, natural disasters, violent confrontations, health emergencies and widespread death. It is not just individual nations that will struggle with these distressing conditions. All nations will deal with such emergencies on a large scale. Because of global connectedness, many of these predicaments will affect multiple nations and even the whole earth.
Most scientists consider blood moons to be merely natural phenomena. However, in our day, there is more to them than that. For the first time in over 2,000 years, the Hebrew and the Gregorian calendars—the spiritual and the natural—have been aligned. The most recent blood-moon tetrad (in 2015) fell on Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. This sign indicates that we are entering the last portion of the season before the Second Coming. It is confirmation from God about Jesus’s return.
Jesus Is Coming Soon!
I can say with great certainty, based on the Word of God, the Holy Spirit and the feasts, we are the generation that will see the return of the Lord. Why? Because although there are some significant biblical prophecies still to be completed, most of the prophecies and signs have already been fulfilled. Christ may appear this very decade or the beginning of the next. His coming is imminent. Are you prepared?
Commit yourself wholeheartedly to God and make sure you are part of His remnant, the bride of Christ. Watch and pray.
God intends the church to be a community of hope, revival and supernatural power in the midst of the dark times in our world. People must turn to God for the answers only He can give, and the church needs to be ready to provide those answers. I urge you to live in God’s perfect will for your life, discern the times and participate in His supernatural, last-days purposes!
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). {eoa}
Edited excerpts from Jesus Is Coming Soon, © 2020 by Guillermo Maldonado, published by Whitaker House. Used with permission.
Active in ministry for over 20 years, best-selling author Apostle Guillermo Maldonado is the founder of King Jesus International Ministry—one of the fastest-growing multicultural churches in the United States—which has been recognized for its visible manifestations of God´s supernatural power. He is a spiritual father to 500 churches in 70 countries, which form the Supernatural Global Network. He is also the founder of the University of the Supernatural Ministry (USM). Apostle Maldonado has a doctorate in Christian counseling and a master’s degree in practical theology. Please visit whitakerhouse.com.
