The seventh and final festival of the year is the Eighth Day, which occurs on the day immediately following the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles. Since the Feast of Tabernacles looks forward to the thousand-year reign of Christ, often called the Millennium, the Eighth Day represents a time beyond the Millennium when an awesomely wonderful period of salvation will unfold.

During this time, most of mankind—rich and poor, young and old, free and slave, men and women—will be resurrected and have an opportunity to inherit eternal life. Billions will qualify to enter the God Family! On the other hand, those who will not repent, who will not submit to God and His way, will be cast into the Lake of Fire and die the Second—eternal—Death. What a just and merciful God we have!

1. Why is this festival called “the eighth day”? Leviticus 23:34-36, 39.

Comment: This seventh holy day is observed immediately following the Feast of Tabernacles on the twenty-second day of Tishri on the Hebrew calendar. While it is a separate festival, it is in all practical respects the eighth day of the Feast. According to Jewish tradition, on the Eighth Day, the Israelites finished reading from God’s Word what they began on the first day of Tabernacles. It is intimately connected to the Feast of Tabernacles yet has a distinct meaning of its own.

Biblically, the number seven symbolizes perfection or completion, and this seventh holy day completes the cycle of festivals. As it is the eighth day of the Feast, the number eight is also significant. In Hebrew, the word for “eight” is related to a root word meaning “fatness,” implying abundance, fertility, surplus beyond what is complete—even touching on rebirth, resurrection, and regeneration.

2. Why is the Eighth Day called “a sacred assembly”? Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35; II Chronicles 7:9.

Comment: Only two holy days, the Eighth Day and the Last Day of Unleavened Bread—holy days that conclude week-long festivals—are designated as “a sacred assembly” (atzeret; Strong’s #6116). An atzeret is a holy convocation, but with a special purpose. The root of atzeret (atsar; Strong’s #6113) contains the ideas of “closing,” “stopping,” “restraining,” and “retaining,” helping explain the purpose of the sacred assembly. The placement of the Eighth Day and the themes within atsar suggest that the entire progression of holy day observances is closed and their instruction should be retained in the worshippers’ minds.

3. Is the Eighth Day the same as “the last day, that great day of the feast”? John 7:37-39.

Comment: While the church of God has taught in the past that the Eighth Day is the same as the “Last Great Day” mentioned in John’s gospel, the preponderance of evidence indicates that Jesus proclaimed, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” on the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The scene in John 7 describes the Jews’ traditional, Second-Temple-era Water-Drawing Ceremony (Simchat Beit Hashoeivah) based on Isaiah 12, which Jesus’ words reflect. The Temple priests conducted this ceremony on each day of the Feast of Tabernacles, but the one performed on the seventh day was the highlight of the festival, drawing the largest crowd.

4. What does the Eighth Day foreshadow? Isaiah 65:20-25; Revelation 20:11-15.

Comment: This holy day represents the period of the Great White Throne Judgment when God will resurrect the vast majority of humanity to mortal life and give them the chance to accept salvation. The prevalent conditions of the Millennium—God’s government, peace, prosperity, etc.—will continue into this period, just as the Eighth Day follows the Feast of Tabernacles: part of it, yet separate. From what is written in Isaiah 65:20, some have speculated that this judgment will last for a hundred years, the life span of a healthy individual under the most favorable conditions.

5. What resurrections occur during this period? Revelation 20:4-6, 11-15.

Comment: Verses 4-6 speak primarily of the glorified saints, God’s firstfruits, but the first part of verse 5 inserts a parenthetical statement that refers to a second resurrection. This more massive resurrection is described in verses 11-15. After the Millennium, God will raise to physical life all those in the 6,000 years of human history who never had the opportunity to receive salvation.

Ezekiel 37:1-14, the well-known Valley of Dry Bones prophecy, foretells God’s resurrection of all Israel to physical life. At the same time (see Matthew 12:41-42), He will resurrect the billions of uncalled Gentiles and extend to them the same opportunities He does to Israel (Romans 2:7-11; I Timothy 2:4). If they satisfy God’s judgment, He will at some point grant them eternal life and give them spiritual bodies (I Corinthians 15:44-49).

Those who refuse to repent of their rebellion against the Almighty will be cast into the Lake of Fire, which provides a merciful, permanent death rather than endless torment (see Matthew 25:41).

6. Does God judge everyone by the same standard? I Peter 4:17-18; Romans 14:10-12; I Corinthians 3:8, 13; II Corinthians 5:10.

Comment: God judges true Christians today by how well they live by His Word and grow in Christ’s image, and He will judge those who rise in the second resurrection in the same way. They will be given enough time to live a life of learning, obeying, and overcoming, just as God’s elect are doing in this age.

7. What occurs after the Great White Throne Judgment period? Revelation 21:1-4.

Comment: Following this time of judgment, God will create “a new heaven and a new earth,” a clean, pure world fit for its greatest inhabitant, God the Father Himself. From this point on, for all eternity, “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” All those who have accepted God’s way will have been glorified as members of the God Family, and they will live forever. Like God, they will create, beautify, and spread God’s rule over the entire universe!

With this wonderful potential ahead of us, we can eagerly echo the apostle John’s words in Revelation 22:20: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”