Solar Eclipses Omens of Significant Historic Events

“There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25).

A total solar eclipse crossed north of Nineveh (which is the modern city of Mosul) on June 15, 763 B.C. during the reign of King Asher-Dan III. It is not provable but plausible that the solar eclipse was one of the omens which led Nineveh to repent (history records that there was also a civil war and plagues). In other words, along with Jonah’s preaching, a series of signs caused the people of Nineveh to repent. History records that it was one of the most famous solar eclipses in ancient history.

The sun is a sign to the Gentile nations, and the moon is a sign to the Jews. A solar eclipse is a warning of judgment to the Gentiles. The Ninevites were Gentiles, and Jonah declared these words to them: “Jonah began to enter the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “In forty days’ time, Nineveh will be overthrown!” (Jon. 3:4).

Since judgment begins in the house of God (1 Pet. 4:17), could the church in America be receiving perhaps a similar last call to repentance preceded by a series of omens that will also grab the attention of a lost and dying world?

There is also a solar eclipse in the Bible.

When Jesus was crucified there was also a solar eclipse, but it was a supernatural one (solar eclipses require a new moon; since it was Passover, it was a full moon) as the day turned to darkness in mid-afternoon and there was an earthquake. Isn’t it interesting that when the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus for a sign from heaven He responded with the sign of the prophet Jonah?

“But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:39-40).

Interesting parallel.

Other Significant Solar Eclipses

More recently, a little over a century go on Aug. 21, 1914, a total solar eclipse crossed into Eastern Europe. It was dubbed the World War I eclipse. WWI started two months prior with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914.

We know that our two world wars set the course for massive change.

June 8, 1918 was the last time a solar eclipse crossed through the USA.

What happened in 1918? Interestingly, this was the year that saw the close of World War I and the beginning of America’s rise to prominence, but there was also a flu pandemic equaling a death toll of 675,000 in America. A pandemic is called a plague or pestilence in the Bible. The death toll worldwide was 50-100 million people.

God doesn’t go around killing people, but He removes His presence, and evil is unrestrained. When God is rejected enough times, He withdraws His presence and protection.

What might be coming? Patterns and history can help us determine that.

Perhaps the most precise coincidence between war and a solar eclipse was the solar eclipse that passed over the center of Korea just before the Korean War. This was an interesting development. On May 10, 1948, major elections were to begin throughout Korea. But just one day before, the United Nations declared that it was only going to monitor voting in the south. This was an unrighteous and unjust U.N. resolution. Ensuring a just and righteous election in the communist north was definitely problematic. So perhaps they decided to take the low road and ignore the issue. But on that very day, May 9, 1948, there was a total solar eclipse that passed right over the center of Korea. This was most assuredly an omen of impending events, and a harbinger of dark days ahead for those under its shadow. Violence on the Korean peninsula soon erupted in a major way. And by 1950, the conflict had grown into a full-scale war.

There have been other examples where solar eclipses have proven to be omens of significant historical events.

The Aug. 21 solar eclipse will cross all the earthquake zones in America—West Coast, Yellowstone Park and New Madrid being the worst or higher risk. Seven years after this upcoming eclipse, there will be another solar eclipse crossing America on April 8, 2024.

This eclipse will cross from the northeast to the southwest and combined with the other, make an X shape with a bullseye in the middle of the country near where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet over the seismic zone.

It appears like a seven-year countdown between the solar eclipse of 2017 and 2024. Could these seven years mark a time of preparation for the church and even the nation? Will we be like the evil and adulterous generation that seeks signs, but still will not repent and believe, or will we be like Nineveh and humble ourselves in sincere repentance?

“Though He had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in Him” (John 12:37).

“The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now One greater than Jonah is here” (Matt. 12:41).

More on the Aug. 21st Solar Eclipse

This American solar eclipse of 2017 is the first to be crossing America in 99 years. The U.S. is the final Western superpower. All the other nations of Western Christendom have already had their time in the sun. They have all fallen. Most Americans do not realize this. There is no other great Western power waiting in the wings to follow America. It is the last bastion of Western Christendom. If America falls we likely go into the New World Order. It is as simple as that.

This is an interesting eclipse. It seems that there are some possible connections to the yet-to-be-fulfilled Fall Feasts of Israel. Since solar eclipses always occur on an astronomical new moon, the next new moon following the Aug. 2017 solar eclipse happens to be the new moon of Tishri. This is that autumn Hebrew new moon that, in some future year, will see the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets. Could this yet-to-be-fulfilled divinely appointed time be the opener to the final seven years of this age?

Here is a YouTube video showing the precise way the Fall Feasts of Israel are set to stake out the 70th Week of Daniel and the final seven years of this age.

So while this upcoming American solar eclipse may mean absolutely nothing, it could also mean something significant. It could be an omen of important things to come. There is no doubt that we are seeing some strange happenings in America and around the world. The wise will be watchful and prayerful concerning all these events.

Solomon said that the wise will see the evil coming and do something (Prov. 27:12). So we have a number of options here. We can ignore unfolding events and be caught unawares and unprepared and suffer the consequences; we can see omens of developing evil and just fret and worry; or we can live in a state of soberness and preparedness and count this as the church’s finest hour to shine and seize the opportunity to warn the world and reap a harvest of souls.