The Significance of Day Seven

Summary Outline:

Missed the entire point of Genesis 1 and the creation account.

Not about origins and to get sucked into that debate is a Red Herring. God as creator of all things is found many other places in scripture (15 examples below)

Convinced the true explanation is that the writer wrote to contradict other creation myths of surrounding cultures to show YAWEH as the one true God who created order and function out of chaos and was supreme OVER chaos (proved it over and over throughout scripture).

Day SEVEN is the climax and intended focus! To DWELL with us in perfect harmony and communion! We skip over it so easily. (MacArthur Quote)

The rest of scripture is God working to redeem the nations and continues to keep the idea and desire to dwell with us in front of His people (SCRIPTURE EXAMPLES BELOW & TABERNACLE/TEMPLE)

Also comment on how Jesus is the Cornerstone to the whole plan and how He (dwells physically with us, showed His supremacy over the “chaos waters” and then dwells within us)

The Creation Account of Genesis 1

Typically seen as one of the main texts for evidence of creation from a physical/scientific perspective - my view for most of my life because I’d never heard any different.

In fact, this is not a very good place to look for this because it’s not as clear as many other verses in scripture that God created everything: John 1:3, 10; Col 1:16-17; 1 Cor 8:6; Job 38; Rev 4:11; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 19:1-4, 33:6, 90:2; Hebrews 1:2, 11:3; Jer 10:12; Romans 1:18-20, 11:36. (15 passages here)

So much debate surrounds these early verses regarding origins (creation/evolution/intelligent design/old earth/new earth/etc.) — I’m convinced we are missing the entire point of Genesis 1 with all this debate.

What was the original ANE author writing about and trying to convey? Science?!? - Hardly.

That YAWEH, the Supreme God of of the Hebrews was different than all other gods and creation stories that existed (Egyptian, Babylonian, Mesopotamian, Canaanites, Hittites, etc.).

These stories often contained many gods battling each other to bring order from chaos (i.e. conflict).

The Genesis account shows YAWEH (the only one true Supreme God) creating order and function out of chaos. No conflict, no battles with other deities, etc.

In fact, the Tanakh actually translates Gen 1:1 as “When God began to create heaven and the earth…”

Also, note the structure of the first six days: Days 1-3 create spaces and days 4-6 fill those spaces.

Also, note “light” is not created on day one — God/Jesus is light! 1 John 1:5; Psalm 27:1, 118:27; Isa 60:19; John 1:4-5, 9, 8:12.

The Point of Creation

The whole point of days 1-6 was actually DAY SEVEN! The climax of the event which is when God will DWELL with His creation (man) in perfect harmony!

“Adam and Eve were completely righteous when they were created. They walked and talked with God as regularly and as naturally as they walked and talked with each other. They were at rest, in its original and fullest sense. They relied on God for everything. They had no anxieties, no worries, no pain, no frustrations, no heartaches. They did not need God’s forgiveness, because they had no sin to be forgiven of. They did not need His consolation, because they were never grieved. They did not need His encouragement, because they never failed. They only needed His fellowship, because they were made for Him. This was their “rest” in God. God completed His perfect work and He rested. They were His perfect work and they rested in Him.” — John MacArthur

In the fall, this “rest” and “dwelling” ceased. But God did not give up on this! The rest of scripture is the epic story of God redeeming His creation (all nations) to reestablish this relationship of DAY SEVEN!

After humanity utterly descends into depravity, God disinherits them after Babel (Gen 11) and then God begins the quest fresh by calling Abraham in Gen 12.

The goal is still (and always was) to bring all nations back to Himself!

God maintains his desire to “dwell” with His creation: Exodus 25:8; 29:45-46; The Tabernacle, The Promised Land (see Leviticus passage below), The Temple —— JESUS comes to physically dwell with us and then after the resurrection to dwell within us through the Holy Spirit!

NOTE that God designs everything to remind (create desire) and point His people back to the concept of perfect rest that existed in the Garden of Eden (Sabbath days, years, Jubilee, etc.) as well as incredible peace, blessings and harmony for their obedience.

Exodus 25:8 (NASB95)

“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.

Exodus 29:45–46 (NASB95)

“I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God.

“They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.

Leviticus 26:3–6 (NASB95)

‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out,

then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

‘Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.

‘I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.

Finally — Revelation 21:1–3 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,”