Prayer
Heavenly Father, we give thanks to you for this day. We praise you. We ask, O Lord, that your kingdom may come and that your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. And Lord, as we read your word now, may that be realized. May your will be realized in our lives. Please unite our hearts to fear your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Reading
Gen 2:1-3.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
Meditation
What is it that you look forward to the most? We’re almost always looking forward to something, whether it be a graduation, a visit from our children, a stroll and coffee at the local cafe, or two hours of quiet reading in a comfortable chair (oh bliss!!). This is true on a personal level but, according to scripture, it’s also true on a cosmic level. Creation itself is looking forward to… something. We read about this in Romans 8:19:
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
This “end” of creation was anticipated right back at the start – on the seventh day. The Sabbath as a day of rest is all about completion. Many Christians today give little thought to the Sabbath. It’s thought of by most as a long bygone ordinance of the Old Testament. Many Christians would say it’s part of the Mosaic law and has no relevance to Christians today. Some might say that the Sabbath points forward to a spiritual reality of rest that we will have when Christ returns, and others still just wouldn’t think about it much at all.
But what is the Sabbath really all about? In these final few studies, we’re going to take some time to think about this question. As you read the account in Genesis, it’s very clear right from the start: there’s something different about the seventh day. The first six days have a morning/evening refrain, lacking on the seventh day. God himself declares the seventh day to be holy – that’s no small thing in itself! But what is going on with the Sabbath day?
In the big picture sense, what the Sabbath is really all about is the completion of creation. In Genesis 2:1-2 we read: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” A key aspect of the seventh day was that God finished the work of creation. The Sabbath thus marks the completion of creation, it is the completion of the creation. There is a certain logic that flows through the first six days revealing the purpose of the created order. On day six, it all culminated in the creation of mankind. Man, as Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2 show, would be the means God would use to shine the light of his glory and presence into the creation. Day seven is no anti-climax or tag-line in the creation narrative, it is rather the fulfillment. Day seven completes God’s creation.
It’s true in the immediate sense of the Genesis prologue – the Sabbath literally completed God’s creation. But it also points toward something bigger. As we open up and explore the scriptures, what we find is that the original sabbath foreshadows, symbolises, and anticipates the end and goal of creation as a whole. Let me try and show you what I mean.
As Israel stood on the verge of entering the promised land in Moses’ day, the Sabbath represented for them the rest that they would have once they had entered. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 makes this very clear, as Israel is instructed to remember the Sabbath Day every week. Verse 15 is especially telling, as it specifically ties Sabbath remembrance to the redemption of the Exodus: “12. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… (15) You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” It’s interesting isn’t it? The fourth commandment brings together the original rest of creation, and the deliverance and rest of the promised land that God accomplished for his people.
Hebrews 4:1-10 in the New Testament makes it even more clear when it points out the explicit relationship between the creation rest of the seventh day, and the promised rest of entering the new land. Under the administration of the New Covenant, the picture becomes even more clear. For Israel, the original sabbath pointed forward to life and rest in the promised land. Coming to the New Covenant, what we see is that the creation sabbath, and rest in the promised land, are foreshadows of our eternal rest in Christ, in the New Heavens and the New Earth. A close study of Hebrews 4:1-10 will make this very clear.
Tracing the Sabbath theme throughout scripture, then, we see that day seven anticipates creation’s completion. This is why the book of Revelation, which focuses on the last times, uses the number seven repeatedly, to show us that God’s original rest on the seventh day would be fully realised at the end of time. You sometimes hear people say that the number seven in scripture represents perfection, but more properly we could say that it represents completion – completion of God’s purposes for his creation.
Be ye doers of the word…
Before we move on, let’s pause and apply what we’ve learned for a moment. The immediate application, as it is laid out in Hebrews 4, is: Seek to enter God’s eternal rest. In Psalm 95:11 we read of some who do not enter into the sabbath rest of God. The question for each of us is: Will that be me? Will I be there? History has a destination, and God calls us through Christ to find our sabbath rest eternally in him. In Matthew 11:27 Jesus said:
“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Christ himself is the ultimate and true fulfillment of the sabbath. Seek to enter God’s eternal rest, and the way you do that is simply to come to Christ and believe. Come trusting the gospel accounts of who he is and what he has done. In a few decades time, at the end of your life, where will you be? Each of us has an eternal appointment that we must keep before the judgment throne of God. Be sure today that you seek to enter God’s eternal rest set aside for all who come and believe in Christ. And always remember, there is great and good reason to be hopeful as you come to Christ, for all who come to him he will by no means turn away! (Jn 6:37). SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Our Lord and God, we thank you so much that Christ is our rest. We thank you that you have done the work of creation and you have done the work of redemption. You have delivered us from our sins. Lord, please help us always to trust and rest in Christ's righteousness and salvation. We pray today for our friends, family members, neighbours, people in our lives who have not come to faith. Lord, may you turn their hearts unto you and help us to be diligent in sharing the good news with them. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Day 37: The Completion of Creation (Gen 2:1-3).