The Moon Shall Be Bathed in Blood

Joel prophesied this of the last days, “And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come” (Joel 2:30-31). Peter quoted the same prophesy on the day of Pentecost to the people at Jerusalem: “And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:19-20). In John’s vision he also described something similar: “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth” (Revelation 6:12-13). In our dispensation the Lord again reiterated this prophecy multiple times: “But, behold, I say unto you that before this great day shall come the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and there shall be greater signs in heaven above and in the earth beneath.” A couple months later He said again, “But before that great day shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood; and the stars shall refuse their shining, and some shall fall, and great destructions await the wicked.” In another revelation He said, “They shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath. And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke. And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven.” In the Olive Leaf revelation He again gave similar language: “For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:14, 34:9, 45:40-42, 88:87). Clearly the Lord was serious about these particular signs of the heavens given how frequently they are repeated in the scriptures. We should be watching for these.  

                It is easy for me to imagine how the sun will be “darkened”—some kind of obstruction may get in our way so that the light of the sun does not reach us as well. We see on occasion in times of great storm and when there is heavy pollution from fires—most of the sun’s light is blocked by darkened clouds. But what does it mean for the moon to be turned to blood? One interpretation could be simply that it appears red to us. This happens when there is a Blood Moon which apparently happened most recently on May 26^th of this year. Smoke from wildfires can also sometimes give the moon a reddish look. Are these red appearances of the moon a fulfillment of this prophecy? It is certainly possible, and perhaps they will become more and more vivid in the future. As I consider the language of section 88, though, I wonder if there is not a more literal fulfillment. That revelation says that the moon will be “bathed in blood.” With talk by NASA of returning to the moon in 2024, I have to wonder if someday we won’t find some kind of colony (or colonies) eventually living on the moon. And if those people then became engaged in strife and fighting, the moon could literally be bathed in blood of those who die there. Certainly that is a grim prospect but it would make sense as a prophecy of the last days because, unlike the moon simply looking red, is only something that could happen in our time with our technology. Another potential fulfillment could be that the moon will be struck by a large asteroid or other heavenly object and be broken up; in this case the prophecy wouldn’t be about looking red but about being injured or destroyed—surely the language of “blood” is indicative of that. And undoubtedly there are many other possible fulfillments of this prophecy. At any rate, the scriptures make it clear that something noticeable and significant will happen to the moon in the last days that we should be watching for. The Prophet Joseph Smith put it this way: “I will prophesy that the signs of the coming of the Son of Man are already commenced. One pestilence will desolate after another. We shall soon have war and bloodshed. The moon will be turned into blood…. We may look, then, with most perfect assurance, for the fulfillment of all those things that have been written, and with more confidence than ever before, lift up our eyes to the luminary of day, and say in our hearts, Soon thou wilt veil thy blushing face. He that said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light [see Genesis 1:3], hath spoken this word. And again, Thou moon, thou dimmer light, thou luminary of night, shalt turn to blood.”