Cees Noordzij — Eschatology
b3 — The Inheritance of Jabez
The Kingdom of Heaven as Inheritance
“Are we serious about taking possession of our inheritance in our ‘new land,’ the Kingdom of Heaven?”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section The Prayer of Jabez
“He will grow in the kingdom of God to ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section Asking for More
Interpretation: The authors present the kingdom of heaven as an inheritance that must be actively conquered — by analogy with the promised land. The terminology aligns with b1 and b2: this is a spiritual possession obtained through the path of sonship.
Revelation 12 as Prophecy About the Birth of the Sons of God
“In the book of Revelation we also read of a pregnant woman (= the Church). ‘She cries out in her labor pains and in her agony to give birth. And she gives birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all nations with an iron rod. Those sons are suddenly taken up to God and His throne’ (Rev. 12:2-5).”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section Born in Sorrow
“Revelation is therefore not a history book looking back at the birth of Jesus. It is a prophetic book about the birth of the fullness of Christ.”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section Born in Sorrow
“The body of Christ is ‘born’ just like any other 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 delivery, the manifestation of the complete Body of Christ, speaking with ‘a voice like the sound of many waters’ (Rev. 1:15).”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section Born in Sorrow
Interpretation: The authors offer a non-historicist reading of Rev. 12. The woman = the Church; the male son = the manifested sons of God (not Jesus alone). Rev. 12 is read as future prophecy about the consummation of the present age. [Confirms pattern from b1 and b2: the manifestation of the sons of God as the central eschatological category]
Birth of the Sons of God / Liberation of Creation
“And in sorrow the heavenly Church will, at the consummation of this ‘age,’ give birth to sons who will ‘liberate creation from bondage to decay into the freedom of the glory of God’s children’ (Rev. 12:5, Rom. 8:21).”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section Born in Sorrow
Interpretation: The phrase “consummation of this ‘age’” marks an eschatological endpoint. The motif is identical to b1 (Rom. 8:21) and b2, but now linked to Rev. 12:5. Creation awaits the birth/manifestation of the sons as instrumental redeemers.
The 144,000 Firstfruits
“This is necessary to make one of the blameless, redeemed from the earth ‘144,000’ firstfruits for God and the Lamb (Rev. 14:1-5).”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section Let Your Hand Be with Me
Interpretation: The 144,000 are again (cf. b1 and b2) linked to the process of divine discipline and the path of sonship. God’s chastening is the way to belong to the firstfruits. [Confirms pattern from b1 and b2]
Resurrection / New Resurrection Body (Enoch as Eschatological Type)
“Enoch did not die. He obtained the true inheritance: complete redemption of the flesh into a new resurrection body in the kingdom of God (cf. Rom. 8).”
Source reference: Noordzij, The Inheritance of Jabez, section God’s Answer
Interpretation: Enoch functions again (cf. b1 and b2) as the eschatological type for believers who can overcome death. The phrase “new resurrection body” is the most direct description of bodily resurrection found across the three sources processed so far. [Clarifies and confirms pattern from b1 and b2]