Amos 8:9 - At Noon
Amos 8:9 - And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
With respect to the days that feature solar eclipses visible in Jerusalem, it will be the objective of this article to demonstrate how valuable this passage in Amos really is in narrowing down the possibilities for what will potentially be the Day of the LORD. I would like to mention in the beginning that this verse finds a fulfillment in the New Testament, during the first coming of Jesus Christ, on the day he died. Notice in Matthew 27:45 that “from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.” The sixth hour was noonday for the Jew, or in our vernacular, 12:00 PM, and it was dark from noonday until 3:00 PM, or the ninth hour. What caused it to be dark? Keep in mind that it was Passover on the day Jesus died, a day of a full moon, which was Nisan 14. A solar eclipse could have only occurred on a new moon, which occurs at the end of a Jewish month, either on the 29th or the 30th day. Therefore, since it was at least close to a full moon as far as the eye could tell, it is astronomically impossible that this was a solar eclipse that caused the darkness for three hours. A lunar eclipse does not explain the darkness either because the earth casts its shadow on the moon to cause the moon to darken. Therefore, what would be responsible for darkening the sun? The conclusion of the matter is this is a real miracle. There is no scientific explanation for it. Because of this miracle, it must be understood that God can always act outside the laws of space-time and the laws of planetary motion that he has established. Therefore, the conjectures that I have outlined are only valid under the assumption that God chooses to time this day according to the laws of planetary motion set forth.
The following exercise is to show the distance of the shadow created by the 8/2/2027 solar eclipse to the city of Jerusalem. The closer the shadow is to Jerusalem, the darker it will be. The darkest moment will occur at the minimum distance.
According to the above chart, the closest point of the shadow of the greatest eclipse to Jerusalem occurs precisely at 12:00 PM Israel Standard Time! I will emphasize that this is Standard Time. It will actually occur at 1:00 PM Daylight Time, but remember that Daylight Savings is an invention of man that does not apply to how God tracks time. At its closest proximity, 691.2636 kilometers, 12:00 PM is the darkest possible moment of the eclipse over Jerusalem. The shadow will not cause complete darkness over Jerusalem, but the light is withdrawn enough to the effect that “the light shall not be clear, nor dark.” Total darkness would actually occur in the middle of Egypt (isn't it interesting that Egypt is mentioned in verse 8 of the context? See below).
Amos 8:8 - Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as [by] the flood of Egypt.
A flood can figuratively describe a mobilized army in Scripture. For an example, see Jeremiah 46:7-8. Noah's flood, what Christ likened his coming to, is a figure for all the world's armies being mobilized, an excellent figure for Armageddon. Russia will be the fierce king ruling Egypt at this point in time (Isaiah 19:4, Daniel 11:42), and will "drown" Israel by a flood (military invasion). The Israelites will be cast out of their land as a wandering bird cast out of her nest (Isaiah 16:2). The land will tremble because of the great earthquake. Christ intervenes to save them from Russia.
God said that he will cause the sun to go down at noon, and will darken the earth on a clear day. Comparing this verse to the language in Zechariah, “And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the light shall not be clear, [nor] dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night…” it becomes evident that the two prophecies are related to the same event. Combining the revelations of the prophets Amos and Zechariah, we can determine that the light shall not be clear, nor dark, not day, nor night, starting at noon, or 12:00 PM Israel Standard Time. How can we be sure that the event of the sun going down at noon is related to the light not being clear nor dark in Zechariah 14, and the sign of the Son of Man in heaven of Matthew 24? If we carefully study the parallel between the three prophecies in their contexts, we notice that all of them involve the mourning of the people afterward.
The context of Zechariah 12 is emphatically clear that the Jews will recognize their Messiah by the wounds in his hands (verse 10), and realizing what they have done, their people go into a state of mourning. The mourning is stated to occur in Jerusalem, and compared to the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon (verse 11). Megiddo is where we derive the term "Armageddon", which means "a heap of sheaves in a valley for judgment". Christ will save the Jews during Armageddon (immediately after the tribulation of those days), by standing on the Mount of Olives on a day that the light is not clear, nor dark over Jerusalem. The mourning will occur during or just after the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall of 2027. Recall that in the past history of the Jews during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews wept on the fall Feast of Trumpets (Nehemiah 8:2, 1st day of the 7th month) when they heard Ezra read them the law (Nehemiah 8:9). They were also mourning shortly after the Feast of Tabernacles (15th-22nd day of the 7th month) on the 24th day.
Nehemiah 8:18 - Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day [was] a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.
Nehemiah 9:1 - Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
This, perhaps, is written as a historical type of what is to be fulfilled in the latter days.
Another unfulfilled Messianic prophecy that has a reference to the sun going down at noon is found in Isaiah 16. Consider:
Isaiah 16:1-5 - Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. For it shall be, [that], as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, [so] the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth. Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
The lamb, of course, is referring to Jesus Christ. The shadow of the solar eclipse occurs in the midst of the noonday. The darkness hides the outcasts, which are the Jews fleeing as fugitives from the land of Israel (Zechariah 14:5). They escape into Moab, which is one of the regions prophesied to be spared during Armageddon (Daniel 11:41). The spoiler of the land is Gog the king of the north, or Russia and her allies (Ezekiel 38:5-6). Shortly after Christ intervenes, the throne of David will be established in mercy, as well as judgment and righteousness.
One must begin to question how much this could be a mere coincidence that the inspired Word of God predicts that the sun will go down at noon, 12:00 PM, and the earth will be darkened. Just take a moment to fathom the fact that God has been keeping track of every minute of our history! Every minute! This scientific evidence of the timing of the darkest moment of the total solar eclipse in Jerusalem occurring at exactly 12:00 PM on 8/2/2027, coupled with the inspired Biblical statements of how the sky appears to be not clear, nor dark and not day, nor night, on the Day of the LORD, and God's promise to cause the sun to go down at noon, and make his shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday, is the basis for one accepting that August 2nd 2027 will be the Day of the LORD. This is the point where one’s faith is tested. Are the events prophesied in the Bible concerning the Day of the LORD really going to happen? If your answer is in the affirmative, then you must contend that these prophecies are histories written in advance. Therefore, could this be the exact day that Jesus Christ will stand on the Mount of Olives? If not this day, then what are the other possibilities?
