Genesis 2:1-3 Seventh Day Rest

Genesis 2:1-3  “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.  By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.   Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (NASB)

The Bible gives the account of creation in six days.  Some have argued that the days of Genesis are not 24 hour days.  Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t.  The key to remember is, “For nothing will be impossible with God." Luke 1:37

My observation today is on the seventh day.  God, having created everything from nothing in the six day period takes the seventh to rest.  Verse 2 says, “By the seventh day God completed His work”.  Did He finish early?  Was He such an efficient builder of the universe that He simply didn’t need all seven days to complete the project?  I don’t think that’s the point at all.  He finished right on schedule.

What about the idea of rest?  Was God tired?  Was He worn out after a week of speaking stars into existence?  Did it tire him out to think up all the genetic sequences that would differentiate each and every species yet clearly point to a common designer thousands of years later when man could finally read His code?  Did His labor contract require a day off regardless of His need?  Of course none of these are correct.  So, why rest?

God is all powerful (omnipotent); there is no end to His power.  As such, it is not possible for God to be tired.  The idea of His need for rest then is not the driving force behind the seventh day.  But because he created everything in six days but had also a seventh day there had to be a reason.

The reality then is that God created the seventh day for the purpose of rest.  He rested.  How and what does God do when He rests?  Got me!  I don’t think the point for us is to know what God does when he rests, but to know that His design for creation is that there be a seventh day set aside for rest.  “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it”  The word translated sanctified is the Hebrew word qadash.  Used throughout Scripture it holds the meaning of setting something aside for a special purpose; to consecrate.  So in this case, God sets aside the seventh day for rest.

Exodus 20:8 tells us, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  Chapter 20 goes on to call us to work six days but to rest on the seventh just as God had modeled at creation.  In today’s Church era we are to continue this idea setting aside Sunday, the day Jesus was raised.  God calls us to a day of rest from our labor but more importantly He calls us to a day of remembrance.  So let’s remember the seventh day, the day of God’s rest, our rest and a day to worship Him.  AMEN!