NARRATOR: One of 10 plagues, three days of darkness

over Egypt before the exodus.

The Jewish sources describe it not just as darkness

but a darkness that was so thick it's

like people could move in it or the Egyptians could move in it.

So that's an example of God suspending the laws of nature.

The sun god was one of the major gods, the major god,

I think.

And it's about God covering their god.

He was saying, I'm bigger than your god.

This is the Valley of Ayalon behind me.

Many believe it's the place where

Joshua fought the battle with the five kings of the Amorites.

And where he said to the Lord, "Sun,

stand still over Gibeon, and moon

over the Valley of Ayalon."

CHRIS MITCHELL: And three hours of darkness

came during the crucifixion.

STEPHEN BRIDGE: Whatever the darkness

was it wasn't an eclipse.

And we have no explanation of what it was or even

what it meant.

But it certainly would have invoked

in the people who were a profound sense of something

monumental happening, which indeed it was.

CHRIS MITCHELL: God definitely made points

with signs in the sky throughout the Bible.

But is he still doing the same thing today?

In Romans, chapter 1, it tells us

that God has ordered the world in such a way

that the hearts of man can know that God exists just

by the way nature works.

MICHAEL MOTT: So does he use nature to talk to his people?

He does.

It's a fundamental belief in Judaism

that everything that happens in the world is for a meaning

and it's a message hidden in there somewhere,

even in astronomical phenomenon.

So interpreting the message is, of course,

a little more problematic.

NARRATOR: Stephen Bridge, director of Jerusalem's Garden

Tomb, says God already gave his biggest sign.

The biggest way God speaks is through his son.

RABBI KEN SPIRO: So in the rites to the Hebrews

draws that out that in former times,

God spoke in many and various ways through the prophets.

But in these last days, he's spoken through his son.

And so for us, Jesus is the revelation.

Jesus is the word made flesh.

Jesus is the ultimate sign in his death

and Resurrection, the ultimate son within that.

So we should be looking to him.

CHRIS MITCHELL: Spiro says Judaism focuses

on how current events connect with prophecy,

rather than signs in the sky.

RABBI KEN SPIRO: The rabbis always

talk about the coming Messiah as a woman giving birth,

the birth pangs.

And the basic idea behind that is

that just as a woman giving birth goes into contractions

they get closer and closer together and more

and more intense as you approach the birth.

So too events on the planet Earth

will get more and more intense and happen much more rapidly.

And certainly, I would say, we see

that things are speeding up very dramatically in the world.

The change that is taking place, the political upheaval,

the technological advances.

NARRATOR: One often quoted scripture about the sky

comes from the Book of Job.

"The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon

into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord."

MICHAEL MOTT: We get this picture from God's word

that he will use those kinds of signs in the skies

to speak to his people, to speak to the earth.

And how do we know which one is which?

Because I think sometimes we want

to attach God to every single natural event that takes place.

And I think most of the time, God just

wants to show that he is in nature

and not that he is actually communicating, watch out,

something's getting ready to happen.

That can be interpreted as eclipses, by the way.

The moon turning to blood is called the blood moon,

actually, which is what happens in a lunar eclipse.

When you have a solar eclipse, the sun disappears and turns

to blackness.

So there in the prophets, it's talking about signs

we see the end of days.

Whether that is what it's meant to be interpreted as it

remains a big question.

NARRATOR: According to Jewish teaching,

the Messiah must come before the year 6,000

on the Jewish calendar.

We're currently at 5777.

Time is definitely running out.

And as we see, by looking at what's

going on in the world in a positive and a negative way.

I mean, the rebirth the state of Israel,

the reunification of Jerusalem, we just

celebrated the 50th anniversary of that.

That's prophecy coming true before our eyes.

The nations of the world lining up against Israel, largely.

What you see going on in UNESCO in the United Nations

is clearly a sign.

NARRATOR: So other than looking through protective glasses,

how do these leaders recommend we view the eclipse?

We're only a few headlines away

from direct convergence of that biblical end of days scenario

with the headlines in the news today.

And that to me, and I think to most Jews,

is far more impactful and serious in terms

of waking people up in their expectation

of the redemption than celestial signs happening

up above in the heavens.

We need to prepare our hearts and continue

to ask God to show us, is this you?

Is this you that you're speaking to your people,

are you speaking to the earth?

And I believe that he'll tell more than just one person

that this is him speaking to the whole earth.

We need to just be cautious, fix our eyes on Jesus,

hold firmly to scripture, and keep

proclaiming the mystery and the profound victory of the life,

death, and Resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah.

CHRIS MITCHELL: Chris Mitchell, "CBN News,"

the Ayalon Valley, where the sun and moon stood still.