God’s Rest
Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
As we begin today, let me review for you a little of what we’ve studied in Genesis so far. We’ve already said that Genesis lays the foundation, not simply for the Exodus, but for the whole of the Old Testament, indeed, for the whole of the scriptures. We’re going to see another example of this today. In Genesis 1 we saw that the first two verses tell us the way in which God brought the world into being and its initial condition. Then from Genesis 1:3 to 31, we saw God’s work of creation arranged in the six days—the first three days of forming creation and the concluding three days of filling it. Last time we focused on God’s creation of man in His own image and how God blessed mankind and gave them dominion over the rest of creation.
God’s good universe, capped by His creation of man in His image, left creation lacking nothing. Genesis 1:31 declares God’s evaluation of His creation: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” Then Genesis 2 continues this creation account with a summary (Gen. 2:1), “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.” And Genesis 2:2 introduces the seventh day, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”
The late Hebrew University professor Umberto Cassuto points out that the number seven is woven throughout the days of creation. He wrote, “The work of the Creator, which is marked by absolute perfection and flawless systematic orderliness, is distributed over seven days: Six days of labour and a seventh day set aside for the enjoyment of the completed task.” And then he made these observations: The words “God” (Elohim), “heavens” (samayim), and “earth” (eretz), which are the three nouns of the opening verse (Gen. 1:1), “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” are each repeated in this creation account in multiples of seven. “God” occurs thirty-five times (5 x 7), “heavens” twenty-one times (3 x 7), and “earth” twenty-one times. In addition to this, in the Hebrew original the first verse has seven words, and the second fourteen words. The seventh paragraph which describes the seventh day has three sentences, each of which has seven words, and contains in the middle the phrase, “the seventh day.” Cassuto concludes: “This numerical symmetry is as it were, the golden thread that binds together all the parts of the section and serves as a convincing proof of its unity.” (Quoted by Hughes).
This seventh day is significantly different from the first six days of creation. 1) There is no creation formula—“And God said”—because His creative word was not required. 2) The seventh day does not have the closing refrain that the other days had—“and there was evening and there was morning”—to indicate the day’s end. 3) The seventh day is the only day to be “blessed” and “made . . . holy” by God. 4) The seventh day stands outside the paired days of creation because there was no corresponding day to it in the preceding six. 5) The number of the day (the seventh day) is emphasized by being repeated three times. (Kenneth Mathews).
What is important for us to know about this seventh day?
1. God completed His special creative work (Gen. 2:1)
Look back at Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Remember that when God first created, “The earth was without form, and void.” It was formless and empty. Now contrast that with Genesis 2:1, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.” The phrase “all the host of them” indicates that the entirety of God’s creation has been made and filled. We’ve gone from emptiness to fullness. Nothing is missing. It is complete. This forms the fitting conclusion to God’s creation.
Focus for a moment on that word “finished.” This same Hebrew word (כָּלָה kalah) is used two other times in the Old Testament for important works of completion (Duncan). In Exodus 40:33 after more than a dozen chapters of instructions about building and furnishing the tabernacle, it says, “And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.” Again in 2 Chronicles 7 after Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem we read (2 Chron. 7:11), “Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own house.” Similarly, God brought to completion all that He set out to do in creation.
It is interesting that this same terminology of completion is used in the New Testament about the work of redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember in John 19:30 as Jesus dies on the cross we read, “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” Christ finished, He completed His necessary work for our redemption. The death penalty for our sin that began in Genesis 3, was paid in full by Christ on the cross.
We see this concept again in Revelation 21. After God creates the new heavens and the new earth so that (Rev. 21:3), “the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God,” God, sitting on His throne says, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” We see the finishing of the old creation and the establishment of the new creation described in the same terms. It is done. It is finished. What God begins, He completes. He brings that work to conclusion.
Here in Genesis 2:1 it is God’s work of creation that He has completed. His work of creation is done. But that does not mean that God ceases to work. He ceased from the work of creation. As we will see in the rest of Genesis and really throughout the Bible, God continues His work of providence, preserving and governing His creation.
2. God rested from His creative work (Gen. 2:2)
Look at Genesis 2:2, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Having finished, ended, His creative work, God rested. In the Hebrew the word seven (שֶׁבַע sheba`) and the word rest (שָׁבַת shabath) sound a lot alike and are based on the same word. From these words we also get the term Sabbath (שַׁבָּת shabbath). So God’s finished work of creation is sealed with the words, “He rested.” Why did God rest? Certainly not from fatigue. God didn’t need a day off because He was exhausted! God did not rest because He was tired but because He was done. His work of creation was completed.
In Exodus 31 God tells Moses to remind the nation of Israel to observe the Sabbath. Then He says (Exo. 31:17), “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” God’s rest was one of deep pleasure and satisfaction at the fruit of His labor.
But again, this does not mean that God is inactive or that He has ceased doing anything. Indeed, He continues to nurture His people and His creation. There are many scriptures which confirm God’s continued providencial care over His creation. Just consider this one (Psalm 65:9-13):
9 You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it;
The river of God is full of water;
You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it.
10 You water its ridges abundantly, You settle its furrows;
You make it soft with showers, You bless its growth.
11 You crown the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip [with] abundance.
12 They drop [on] the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks;
The valleys also are covered with grain;
They shout for joy, they also sing.
In John 5, the Pharisees confront Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. You remember in Jesus’ time the emphasis in Israel on how to observe the Sabbath was in refraining from doing things. The emphasis was on what you didn’t do. And Jesus’ Sabbath gave the Pharisees fits because Jesus was constantly engaged not only in activities of worship but also in activities of mercy, of service, of ministry. And that gave the Pharisees fits. Jesus answered their objections by saying (John 5:17), “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” Jesus is saying that God the Father did not stop doing everything on the Sabbath. God actually was working constantly. That’s why Jesus the Son of God also worked on the Sabbath—because He was equal with God the Father.
3. God blessed and sanctified the seventh day (Gen. 2:3)
Notice Genesis 2:3, “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” God had already pronounced two other blessings on His creative work in Genesis 1. First on the living creatures and then on mankind. Both blessings were for fertility and fruitfulness. In Genesis 1:28 it says, “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” God’s blessing the seventh day conveys a similar idea. God’s blessing bestows on this special, holy, solemn day a power which makes it fruitful for human existence. The blessing gives the day, which is a day of rest, the power to stimulate, animate, enrich and give fullness to life.
Also we see that God sanctified the seventh day. God made it holy. It was unique from the other days and set apart for God Himself. Generations later—following the fall, the flood, Babel, the lives of the patriarchs, the captivity in Egypt, and the exodus—the seventh day was given preeminence in Israel by becoming the text for the fourth commandment:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11)
The Sabbath day was to be one of rest, cessation from life’s labors. Like God’s rest, it was “blessed,” and thus its observation by God’s people was essential to their spiritual health and growth. By keeping the Sabbath, God’s people remembered God’s creative work and rest and they followed God’s the seven-day rhythm of work and joyful rest.
The Jewish Sabbath also became a day to remember and celebrate redemption. In Deuteronomy’s extended version of the Fourth Commandment, Moses adds (Deut. 5:15), “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.” In Egypt Israel had been cruelly overworked, even forced to make bricks without straw. And Pharaoh only let them go when God wrought his mighty deliverance at the Passover. With their redemption from Egypt came the rest that had not been theirs for hundreds of years. So on the Sabbath, as they rested, they were to reflect on their miraculous redemption.
The idea of Sabbath rest is taken up in the New Testament and interpreted in the context of Jesus as one greater than Moses. The writer of Hebrews majors on this theme in Hebrews 3:7-4:11 as he interprets Psalm 95:7-11. In Hebrews this term “rest” applies to the Sabbath rest, to the inheritance of the Promised Land, to our ceasing from working for salvation and to fellowship with God (heaven). The writer of Hebrews therefore writes (Heb. 4:9-10),
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God [did] from His.
Here it is stressed that God’s Sabbath is a promise for believers for a rest which we experience by faith now and which we look for in the future, in the new heavens and the new earth. There is a now and a then to our rest. Now, in Christ, we have entered and are entering our rest. We rest now on the finished work of Jesus Christ for our salvation. We cannot work to earn salvation. The work is done in Christ. We receive it by faith. We are new creations in Christ through whom God works.
And there is also a future rest in Heaven—forever joyous, forever satisfied, and forever working. Revelation 14:13 says, “‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’”
Are you resting in Christ? Jesus invites you to that rest. He said (Matthew 11:28-30):
28 “Come to Me, all [you] who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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. 30 For My yoke [is] easy and My burden is light.”
