Cees en Anneke Noordzij — Ecclesiology (b4)
The Church as Laboring Woman
The authors explicitly identify the woman of Revelation 12 as the Church (gemeente):
“In the book of Revelation we also read of a pregnant woman (= the Church). ‘She cries out in her labor pains and in her anguish to give birth. And she gives birth to a son, a male being, who will rule all nations with an iron rod. Those sons are suddenly taken up to God and His throne’” (Rev.12:2-5).
“Revelation is therefore not a history book that looks back at the birth of Jesus. It is a prophetic book about the birth of the fullness of Christ.”
The Body of Christ as Progressive Revelation
“The body of Christ is ‘born’ just like every birth: first the head, then the body, last the feet (Rev.1). The Head was born in Bethlehem. And in the last book of the Bible we see the birth, the bringing forth, the revelation of the complete Body of Christ.”
Judah and Simeon as Types of the Church
“Unfortunately, today too it is only the ‘Judahs’ and the ‘Simeons’ who take seriously the possession of their inheritance. ‘Judahs’ (yadoh = praise, thanks) are those who give thanks. ‘Simeons’ (shama = hear) are the hearing ones (= the obedient ones), ‘who hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Rev.2:7).”
Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek vs. Ichabod
“‘Ichabods’ may be priests by earthly standards, but God appoints others, ‘priests’ in spirit and truth, after the ‘order of Melchizedek’ (Heb.6:20).”
“Earthly-minded Christianity can try what it will, but it only produces Ichabods, no glory.”
Eschatological Unity of the Church
One flock, one shepherd (John 10:16): “There, one no longer thinks in separate compartments. There, all are one.”
Missing
Sacraments, baptism, Lord’s Supper, church governance, offices, ecumenism as explicit topics.