Cees en Anneke Noordzij — Eschatology
b7 — The Feast of Tabernacles
The Feasts as a Salvation-Historical Schema
The authors treat the seven feasts of the Lord as a typological schema outlining God’s redemptive plan. The Feast of Tabernacles is the seventh and final feast, observed in the seventh month — the eschatological culmination:
“In the seventh month: The blowing of the trumpets (Lev.23:24-25), the great Day of Atonement (Lev.16, Lev.23:27-32), the Feast of Tabernacles (Ex.23:16, Lev.23:34-44).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, Introduction
“It is the experience of true unity and full joy. It is the experience of the perfect rest and glory that God gives. It is witnessing the appearance of the Lord with the result being the restoration of all things.”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, Introduction
Interpretation: The Feast of Tabernacles is not merely a historical commemoration but an eschatological image of the future: the ultimate fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan, including the second coming and the restoration of all things.
The Second Coming / Appearance of the Lord
The authors connect the Feast of Tabernacles typologically to the coming appearance of Christ:
“Greater glory will be revealed when He appears with His saints.”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
“He comes as the ‘fullness of Christ, as the Son with the sons, as Head and body.’ He comes together ‘with those who are called, chosen, and faithful’ (Rev.17:14). They will appear with Christ in glory! (Col.3:4).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
“Then we will, when He appears, appear with Him in glory and be a source of life for the benefit of all creation (Rom.8:19-21).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of His appearance
Interpretation: The second coming is not a solitary appearance of Christ but a corporate one: Christ with the sons of God as Head and body. This presupposes a priestly-prophetic people prepared for the revelation.
Sons of God / 144,000 / Royal Priesthood
The authors identify the eschatological “sons of God” (Rom.8:19) with the 144,000 and with a royal priesthood of the order of Melchizedek:
“The glory that the Father gave to Jesus must, as it were, be inherited by the ‘twelve,’ the ‘144,000,’ the sons of God called to royal priesthood. This will be for the benefit of all creation (cf. John 17:22, Rom.8:19, Rev.12:1,5).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
“Then it will be revealed who has been ‘made priest to reign as king on earth’ (Rev.5:10). Mature, royal priests! Washed, clothed in linen garments, anointed, sanctified (Ex.40:12-16).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
“They are ‘royal priests’ of a different order, of the ‘order of Melchizedek’ (Heb.6:20). That ‘new’ priesthood is imperishable, ‘by virtue of an indestructible life’ (Heb.7:16).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
Interpretation: The sons of God are not an ethnic or ecclesial collective but a spiritually priestly group prepared through following Christ, suffering, and growth in the Spirit. They function as the instrumental link between the second coming and the liberation of creation.
Revelation 12 — the Heavenly Woman and the Male Child
The authors use Rev.12 as an eschatological framework for the birth of the new royal priesthood:
“We can expect that along with the birth pangs of the heavenly ‘Woman’ to bring forth this ‘Son’ (see Revelation 12), there will also be the birth pangs of an ‘old,’ dying priesthood that also wants to bring forth a ‘son.‘”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
“God has appointed others: ‘Samuels.’ The prayers of God’s people are answered! ‘A male child’ will be born (Rev.12:5).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
Interpretation: Rev.12 is not read as a completed historical event but as an ongoing eschatological process: the birth of the new priesthood amid the resistance of the old religious system (illustrated by the contrast Samuel vs. Ichabod).
Restoration of All Things / Universal Scope
The eschatological vision of the authors is explicitly universal in scope:
“That glory will ultimately fill the entire Church (Rev.19:10-11). That glory will even be a light for the benefit of the nations and will shine to all the ends of the earth, yes, even to all of creation (Isa.49:6, Acts 13:47, Rom.8:19-21).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of full glory
“It is witnessing the appearance of the Lord with the result being the restoration of all things.”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, Introduction
Interpretation: The authors employ the phrase “restoration of all things” without explicitly labeling it “apokatastasis.” The scope is, however, unambiguously universal: not merely the church, but “all of creation.” The sons of God serve as instruments of this universal redemption.
The Eighth Day / New Creation
The day following the Feast of Tabernacles (the eighth day) is interpreted as an image of new creation:
“The following day (the twenty-second) was again a Sabbath (Lev.23:39). It was an extra day beyond the seven feast days, an eighth. The number eight refers in the Bible to ‘new life,’ life in Christ. This eighth day undoubtedly points to the fact that God’s purpose for humanity has been achieved: a ‘new day’ has begun, a ‘Sabbath,’ a new period of unprecedented rest, ‘the day of the Lord.‘”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of perfect rest
Interpretation: The “day of the Lord” is not merely an impending judgment but the beginning of a new creation period of rest — the endpoint of the salvation-historical feast cycle. This fits within the Sabbath theology of Heb.4.
Perfect Rest / Sabbath Rest (Already/Not Yet)
The authors connect the Sabbath rest of Heb.4 to both present faith experience and future eschatological fulfillment:
“The seventh day of creation is an image of the ‘Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God’ (Gen.2:2-3, Heb.4:9-10).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of perfect rest
“God calls us to enter His rest. ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’ (Ps.95:8-11, Heb.4:7).”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of perfect rest
“For there you experience the true Feast of Tabernacles with an unprecedented inner peace that will never be disturbed again.”
Source: Noordzij, The Feast of Tabernacles, The feast of perfect rest
Interpretation: The eschatological rest is not purely future but can already be entered by the believer through faith. The authors employ an already/not-yet structure: the rest is available now, but demands careful obedience and sustained faith.