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)
Finished Creation
These three verses are beautiful by themselves; they show the perfect completion of creation. God has made and moved the elements, but here He is presented as the blesser and sustainer of all He made. He finished creating, and now He will enjoy all His work that He had done (1, 2).
Because of the finality of creation, the seventh day receives special treatment in the paragraph. It doesn't follow the order of the first six days, where God spoke something into being and assessed it, all within the evening and morning of that day.
Instead, the seventh day breaks the mold and becomes the day God rested on and the day He blessed and made holy (2-3). Allen Ross even points out the structure of the verses gives the number seven a special place:
"There are thirty-five words in the Hebrew text of these three verses, a multiple of seven. The three middle clauses (2:2a, 2:2b, and 2:3a) in the original have seven words each, and the adjective “seventh” is within each clause." -- Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis, 103.
All this emphasizes how God finished His work that He had done in creation (1, 2, 3). God was done creating.
For the ancient Israelites, the lesson was clear. No Egyptian gods (in their past), Canaanite or Babylonian gods (in their future) were responsible for any part of creation. God, it says, created the heavens and the earth (1), a way of saying there was nothing else to create. God made it all. He is the creative force, the great artist and innovator, and sovereign power who spoke all that is into existence!
God Rested
And after God finished His work that He had done (2), He rested (2, 3). The word for rest, from which the word for "the Sabbath" comes, means to cease.
It isn't as much a word about how to recuperate from exhaustion but ending work in order to enjoy its completion. It's the word used when the manna ceased (Joshua 5:12) or Job's friends stopped answering him (Job 32:1). So God ceased.
God, of course, was still acting and moving, working, on the seventh day. He was sustaining life and holding the universe together. To say God rested is an anthropomorphism, a way of explaining an action of God in human terms. But He was no longer creating. That work was done, so God stopped and began enjoying what He made. And it was through the ceasing or resting God communicated He was done, read to enjoy the universe He authored.
God's Temple
Some have even seen the cosmos as the true temple of God, with future tabernacles and temples serving as a microcosmos. God's true throne isn't found in a building but in the universe itself. He made all this to enjoy. He decided He would live here with His people.
“Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?” (Isaiah 66:1, ESV)
All this helps us understand God's original purpose in creation, and the ultimate destiny of those He redeems by the blood of Christ. God is spirit and omnipresent, so He decided to make a physical space for physical people to enjoy Him. The galaxy was meant to be a place of community. Deity and humanity were meant to intermix here on earth.
This helps us understand the new heavens and earth God will bring about for all believers. The "new cosmos" will be a place God dwells, and we with Him, enjoying Him forever, resting with and in Him.
God Blessed
Notice also that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy (3). Remember this, because the Sabbath (or the seventh) became a major theme throughout all of Scripture. Before the fall, in perfect creation, Sabbath-rest was the description of the world's condition.
After the fall, however, Sabbath-rest became something God's people sought after. On the seventh day of the week, they were to cease their work. Every seven years they gave rest to the land. When they went into the land of Canaan, they fought for rest over their enemies. And now Christians enter into God's rest by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 4:8-10).
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16–17, ESV)
The theme of "sabbath" develops from this point through the rest of the Old Testament, but remember it first as an activity of God. He sabbathed. He ceased. He rested. And then He blessed the seventh day.
So when Israel came along and began practicing the Sabbath, they were imitating God. You could say it this way: It is godly to practice sabbath rest.
The Bible says little, however, on what someone should have done on the Sabbath. We know they weren't supposed to work. We also know it was a day to recognize God. We also know the early church began worshipping on Sunday, evidence they felt Jesus was their new and perpetual sabbath rest. So, for us today, whenever we take time to appreciate God, we are tapping into His Sabbath for our lives.
A Sabbath Life
I wish more Christians would embrace the concept of Sabbath in their daily lives and rhythms.
Though I have never been a stickler about a particular day, I have always thought it God-honoring to take a day for rest each week. For many, that day is Sunday. On our day, Christina and I have tried to get away from the hustle of our regular responsibilities to connect to our Lord, each other, our family, and our friends. It is a day for feasting and joy.
Additionally, I have always felt keeping a daily appointment with God is a way to experience His Sabbath rest in my everyday life. If His goal was to create space in which humanity could enjoy Him, I want to enter into His presence and partake of Him. Daily, for me at the start of each day, His rest enters my heart.
I also think it's good to take longer breaks. I am a proponent of rest-based vacations. Rather than going on a thousand little adventures throughout the year, a way to get some excitement into my life, I have instead sought to live an exciting life every day. This requires seasons where I go away to recharge and get strength for the next seasons to come.
And I have also wished many Christians would condense their lives to focus on God. I want to say "slow down," but many believers today misunderstand that message. They think it means dialing everything they do back by five or ten percent. But I think many Christians would benefit from simplifying their lives, stop committing to so many things, and stop hustling so hard to acquire things that perish. Instead, begin seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
All this is a way to trust God because it takes dependence on God to forsake everything the world prioritizes in order to seek Him and enjoy what He's already given. You have to trust that He'll take care of you. For Israel, when all the other nations were out working their fields on the seventh day, they had to trust God would take care of their needs. And when we Sabbath before God, we must trust Him in a similar way. Let us do this -- Let us enjoy Him!
