“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. 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.” Genesis 2: 1-3 (ESV).
God created everything with a spoken word. He created it and called it very good, and then on the seventh day, He rested from all He had made. He didn’t rest because he was tired. The work of creation was not exhausting for God; in fact, there was great ease in the work of His creation as He literally just spoke it into being, and it was. The rest on the seventh day was in the completion of the work He had done. It was resting IN His work that was complete and very good. It was resting FROM the work because there was no more work to be done. It was finished.
There is a fascinating observation in this text. Each day He created water, land, animals, man, trees, the sun, moon and stars; each day ends with, and there was evening and morning. On the seventh day, He rested from all His work, and there is no mention of evening and morning on this day. God created for seven days by speaking into existence everything this world would need to thrive, including the seventh day, and perhaps what He gave us on this day was the most important of all.
There was no end to the seventh day of rest because God, in His perfect plan for humanity, was inviting us into a complete state of rest IN him and FROM work, earning and striving. Rest in the completed work of creation. It’s not just one day that we are called to rest for. We are being called into the completion of God’s rest in His finished work. There is nothing more to be done, nothing can be added, it’s finished, and it is very good. The intention is that we work from a place of rest, from a place of completion in all that God has already done, every day, not just on the Sabbath. This does not mean that we are not to work, but there is a difference between working to earn the acceptance or approval of God or man and working from a place of acceptance and approval of God.
Working from rest was God’s original plan, but sin entered into the world and instead, we wrestle with painful toil and striving every day. Are we ever enough? Is work ever finished? Have we done enough?
When sin rules or reigns in our hearts, we can never do enough. In the Old Testament, God commanded the children of Israel to take one day’s rest from their work. This is a practice we still use today to help us remember that we must rest from our work and intentionally give thanks, praise and worship to God for all He has done and continues to do. This commandment was meant to be a foretaste of things to come. However, a law commanding one day of rest is inferior to God’s original intent for mankind.
Because sin entered the world, God made another way for us. Another completed work that would make a way for us to enter back into this permanent and complete place of rest in God. The cross is the finished work of Christ; Jesus himself said with His own powerful spoken word, “It is finished.” This work was complete and done, and it was very good. There is nothing that we could add to it to make it more complete. It’s already perfect. It’s an invitation to walk in the perfect and complete rest of God for our soul every day. This invitation is not just for one day of rest but a permanent daily living from rest in the joy of our salvation.
We know that we are living in the already but not yet, Jesus has already given us this gift, but there is still another part yet to come where we will fully enter into the completeness of this rest for all of eternity. Jesus is preparing this place for us, a new heaven and a new earth, like the original garden that God intended for us to give thanks, praise and worship to our creator for all of eternity. The Bible talks about this as entering into God’s rest or God’s joy. A place of complete rest where there is no morning or evening, just the fullness of redemption, power and joy forever and ever. It is finished.
Holy Spirit, we pray that you would give us a revelation of this complete rest that is available for us. Where there is striving, toil, anxiety, worry and stress, we repent, oh Lord. We are sorry for working so hard from a place of earning; instead, would you help us work from complete rest, complete trust in you, and complete assurance that you have already completed the work that has given us the inheritance of rest. In Jesus’ name, amen.
