Sabbath Rest
Notes
Transcript
Is God like us? It is part of the world infected with sin that mankind makes God in our image. Most people’s conception of God is that He is like us only a little stronger and a little smarter than we are. The passage before us today could seem to suggest that God is indeed like us, after all here we have God resting on the seventh day. Sure God has had a busy six days, creating everything out of nothing. Sure he had to bend down and create Adam from the dust of the earth. Sure he had to perform the world’s first surgery as he created Eve out of the rib of Adam. Anyone would be tired after all of that, wouldn’t they?
But if this characterization of God were true, then he might not really be worth our trust, love, obedience and worship. Fortunately, this is only a characterization that bears no reflection on the God we trust, love, obey and worship.
So, we must look somewhere beyond mere weariness to discover what it meant that God rested on the seventh day.
Before looking at this I should do a brief recap of what we looked at when I last preached here at Campbelltown. Just to briefly remind you of what I talked about previously we saw the eternal God transcends His creation. God created the world and man, male and female in His image and gave them dominion over the earth pointing to His coming Son as the light of the world and true image of God.
The last sermon I did we looked at the six days of creation. This was forming and then filling the heavens and the earth. As God created on each day it was culminated with the expression and “there was evening and morning the nth day.” And God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good. On the sixth day he created the man and the woman and he declared everything very good.
So after the sixth day, what did God do? In chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 we that He did three things. He (1) finished the work, (2) rested and then (3) blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
God finished his work.
God finished his work.
Some translations render this “on the seventh day,” suggesting that God worked on the seventh day in violation of the Sabbath. However, the Hebrew text here can be translated “by the seventh day,” resulting in the verb being rendered “had finished,” expressing the completion of the act.
What was it that was very good? That God had finished—brought to completion? It was every thing that we see to the the things we can’t see. From the vastness of the universe, to the billions of stars, to the beauty of our earth, the diversity of plant and animal life on our earth. From the spirit world that can only be perceived by spiritual eyes, to microscopic creatures only seen through microscopes to the molecules and atoms that make up everything we see.
No permanent change has ever since been made in the course of the world, no new species of animals been formed, no law of nature repealed or added to. They could have been finished in a moment as well as in six days, but the work of creation was gradual for the instruction of man, as well, perhaps, as of higher creatures i.e. the angels.
Down to today all mankind has operated according to a seven day week apart from a brief period of thirteen years from 1793 to 1815 in France following the French revolution. As part of their metric system and to try to destroy the influence of the Roman Catholic Church the revolutionaries decided to completely change the calendar. They had a 10 second minute, a 10 minute hour, a ten hour day and a 10 day week. I think we can tell how unsuccessful and unpopular this was by its short thirteen year duration. One of the greatest reasons for its failure was that workers were only given one day off for rest in ten instead of one in seven. This again showed the folly of going against how God had created the world to function.
In finishing his work on the seventh day, God set the basic pattern for mankind who needs regular rest and worship, which leads us to the next point that after completing his creation then God rested from His work.
God rested from his work.
God rested from his work.
Verse two clarifies that having finished His work on the seventh day, God rested on that seventh day—not to “rest” from exhaustion with labor (see Is 40:28, Ps. 121:4), but ceased from working, as an example equivalent to a command that we also should cease from labor of every kind every seventh day or one day in seven.
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never becomes faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding.
4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.
The seventh day was the day of rest, the Sabbath. God’s Sabbath rest is a predominant them in Scripture. Here before the Fall it represented the perfect Creation, holy and at rest. After the Fall this rest became a goal to be sought.
Today believers enter into that Sabbath rest spiritually (Hebrews 4:8–10) “8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” Believers will certainly share in its full restoration. In Hebrews this term “rest” applies both to the Sabbath rest, the Promised Land, and fellowship with God (heaven).
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 10 For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.
No mention is made of “evening and morning,” perhaps because the Sabbath ordinance continues and people are exhorted to participate in it (Exodus 31:17 ) “17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”, and to look forward to the eternal redemptive Sabbath rest (Heb. 4:3–10).
17 It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
For those who are interested in the whole creation/evolution debate or the young earth/old earth creation debates this is a topic of conversation. I recently watched a YouTube video where William Lane Craig a respected Christian apologist and an old earth creation advocate uses the fact that there was no evening and morning the seventh day as an argument against seeing all the days of creation as 24 hour days.
Days 1–6 begin with evening and close with morning (cf. 1:31), but the seventh day’s morning is never mentioned. This doesn’t argue against a 6 day creation but shows that the author has another idea in mind.
Therefore, the rabbis and also the NT author of Hebrews (3:7–4:11) use this to conclude that God’s rest is still available (cf. Ps. 95:7–11 ).
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice: 8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness 9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10 For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray; they do not know my ways.” 11 So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”
Therefore as God’s people saved in Jesus Christ we look forward to our eternal rest. In the meantime we anticipate that rest by taking one day to rest from our labours to focus on the one who created us and saved us.
More then just resting God proceeded to bless the seventh day and make it holy.
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
He had blessed the creatures (Genesis 1:22 “22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.””) and man (Genesis 1:28) “28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” Now He blesses the Sabbath by setting it apart as a special day. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy (sanctified it) because it commemorated the completion or cessation of His creative work.
22 God blessed them: “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
This term is used in the sense of setting something apart for God’s particular use. Very early God established a special, regular day for Himself and humanity to commune. This does not mean that all days do not belong to God, but one is uniquely set aside for communion, worship, praise, and energizing rest.
The narrator clearly implies that mankind, made in the divine image, is expected to copy his Creator. Indeed, the context implies that a weekly day of rest is as necessary for human survival as sex (Genesis 1:27–28) “27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” or food (Genesis 1:29) “29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.” This is an emphasis that seems to have been forgotten today, even among Christians.
27 So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”
29 God also said, “Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This will be food for you,
The seventh day alone is called “holy” (2:1–3). It is significant that the word holy is applied in Scripture first to the concept of time, not to space.
Moreover, it secures an appointed season for religious worship, and if it was necessary in a state of primeval innocence, how much more so now, when mankind has a strong tendency to forget God and His claims?
Observing this pattern, we should find it no surprise that nearly every human civilization from that time until today has ordered its life around a seven-day week—even though most of them have had neither the book of Genesis nor significant contact with one another. This is a testimony, written on the human conscience, of the truthfulness of the biblical creation account.
The seven days of creation end with this description of God’s rest. The creation account of 1:1–2:3, where God works for six days and rests on the seventh, provides a theological rationale for the Sabbath observance. The command to observe the Sabbath in Exodus 20:8–11 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 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. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” is based directly on the pattern developed in this passage. The Sabbath is also God’s special covenant sign that He gave the to Israel (Ex. 31:12–17 ).
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
12 The Lord said to Moses, 13 “Tell the Israelites: You must observe my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am the Lord who consecrates you. 14 Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people. 15 Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. Anyone who does work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. 16 The Israelites must observe the Sabbath, celebrating it throughout their generations as a permanent covenant. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
Why is that as Christians we worship and set apart the first day of the week rather than the seventh day of the week as the Lord’s Day?
Since the coming of Jesus, the first day of the week (Sunday, the Lord’s Day) became the Christians’ special day for fellowship and worship (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1–3; Rev. 1:10).
7 On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.
1 Now about the collection for the saints: Do the same as I instructed the Galatian churches. 2 On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside and save in keeping with how he is prospering, so that no collections will need to be made when I come. 3 When I arrive, I will send with letters those you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet
The first day commemorates Christ’s resurrection (Matt. 28:1; John 20:1), the completion of His work in bringing about the new creation. See 2 Cor. 5:17.
1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.
1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
Do we take that one day a week to show our devotion to the one who created us and saved us?
What is our attitude to the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day? This is a good indicator of our spiritual health. Does it just interfere with the way we want to live our lives.
Do we trust God enough to take that one day a week off to remember Him? Or are we depending on our own efforts to live the Christian life or to do God's work?
Do we love God so much that we will spend our Sunday’s entirely devoted to Him? He created us. Let us remember that we are fearfully and wonderfully made even if we may feel that we are much more creaky than we used to be. He saved us. Let us remember that it cost Jesus Christ his life in order to save us. Oh can’t we spend one day in seven in total devotion to him.
Or do we know not know in our lives this joy of loving God in Christ? Are you still thinking that I am enough that I am good enough that God should accept me for all the good that I do.