A consideration of Genesis 2 and the Creator’s Sabbath

Have you ever wondered why God had to rest? After God had finished creating the heavens and the earth, He rested. Why? He spoke everything into existence, God did not exert any kind of physical effort, yet He rested. The Sabbath, or the rest of God, really means “perfect satisfaction,” in that He had accomplished all He set out to accomplish. God alone was the workman; God had no help in creation. His alone was the work; His alone was the rest. So, let’s consider the following;

1. The Sabbath Ordained. God worked for six days on His creation, and He rested on the seventh. That seventh day was chosen, fixed and settled by God to be a time of rest and joy to Himself and to all creation.

1. It was a day of rest. There was no work done on the Creator’s Sabbath. God rested, not because He was tired, but because every good thing that could be done had been done.
2. It was a day of blessing. “God blessed it.” In other words, the favor of God rested upon this day and the delight of God was in it. In total satisfaction, God blessed His Sabbath.
3. It was a separated day. “God sanctified it.” In other words, God set this one day apart as His own possession and inheritance because it came about as a result of His own genius, power and goodness. But, also notice this—
4. It was the day of grace for Man. God made man on the sixth day, so that the first day that dawned upon Adam was the Sabbath of God. What an amazing thought: immediately following his creation, man entered into the enjoyment of the rest of the Creator. God had finished His work; man joins Him into the rest and enjoyment of all that God had made. The amazing grace of God, in allowing man to enjoy such a day.

2. The Sabbath Destroyed. God had given man so much on the seventh day. Rest, joy, enjoyment of all God had made was His gift to man. But it appears that man did not enjoy the Sabbath for very long. The Tempter came, man failed, the rest was broken, and Adam fled from the presence of God. Sin did not ruin the Sabbath, but it ruined man for the enjoyment of God’s rest.

In the ages that have past since Eden, man seemed to have forgotten that the Sabbath was “made for man,” so when the Law was given in Exodus 20:8, the word “Remember” was significantly attached to the second commandment. The Sabbath of God’s rest, originally a gift to man, now comes back to man in the form of law; yet still designed to remind man of God’s rest.

Further, we see that on the Sabbath, no manna fell. And so to enjoy rest now, man would have to gather double on the sixth day—not of grace, but of works. Do you see what sin did to man? Do you see how sin truly ruined a wonderful relationship man could have had with his Creator.

However, the saga of the Sabbath does not end in Exodus.

3. The Sabbath restored. Through Jesus Christ, man can be brought back to the enjoyment of God’s rest. Think about the following points:

1. Through Jesus, another work has been finished. In John 17:4, Jesus declared that He had glorified God on earth because He had “finished the work.” What was the work? Jesus put away sin! The great work of atonement had been completed, and God pronounced all very good.
2. Another rest is enjoyed. As God rested upon the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, so now does God the Father rest satisfied in the finished work of His beloved Son.
3. Another day of grace is proclaimed. Adam entered into God’s rest, so may we now through faith in Christ. Consider these Scriptures—

1. • Matthew 11:28—Jesus said to come to Him, for He would give you rest;
   • Hebrews 4:1-9—In Christ, there is a Sabbath for the people of God through Jesus Christ, the believer’s Sabbath.

What does all this mean to believers? It means to us what it meant to Adam. It means these five things—

1. A rest from all work and effort;
2. A special time of fellowship with God;
3. Bearing His holy image;
4. To find our purpose in His possession; and
5. To rejoice in the goodness of God.

The Sabbath of Christ—the rest that comes from a relationship with Him—is for all believers. Are you enjoying rest in Christ today? Only one thing can keep you from your Sabbath: unbelief (Hebrews 3:19).