#9 On the Nature of God: God’s REST

The first chapter of Genesis reveals much of the nature of God: He is a powerful, intelligent, eternal Spirit that created the universe from nothing. He chose Earth for further development and created light, day and night, plant life, seasons, years, signs, animal life, and human life.

But God intended for all creation to end on day 7, Genesis 2:1-3:

“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. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

God had accomplished His plan. More creation was not needed. Earth was ready as a wonderful abode for His ultimate creation, man.

Some have been confused by this seventh day of Rest by God and imagined that this is an early announcement for man to stop work on Saturdays. This is not so. This Rest by God was not a command. A command concerning the Sabbath would come much later and was only given to the Children of Israel to cause them to worship God and remember that God was responsible for freeing them from being slaves in Egypt, Deuteronomy 5:15:

“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

Instead, Genesis 2:1-3 says that God rested from “all His work that He had done,” that is, His creative work.

On the sixth day, God provided a blessing for the man. He would reside in the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve sinned, Genesis chapter 3, and ruined further access to the Garden of Eden and this blessing.

Likewise, God had intended that in the Promised Land the Children of Israel would be relieved of being slaves in Egypt. However, the sin of unbelief deprived them of this Rest God had intended for them, Numbers 14:11:

“And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them…”

However, nothing that Adam and Eve or the Children of Israel did destroyed a heavenly Rest after life on this earth. It remained a possibility for the faithful as a home in heaven after death. In the Psalms, David called on Israel to not be unfaithful again and lose access to the heavenly Rest of God. He specifically mentions two times of unfaithfulness, Psalms 95:6-11:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Thus, a heavenly home continued to be available in the time of David and beyond.

In order to urge faithfulness, the writer of Hebrews quotes Psalms 95 to remind Christians how the unfaithful Children of Israel lost the privilege of taking up residence in the Promised Land, Hebrews 3:7-12:

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.”

Then, the writer of Hebrews says the Rest of God is still available, Hebrews 4:8-10:

“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”

These verses show that a Sabbath Rest of God in heaven is available after death.

All of this stresses that the Rest God intended as a blessing for mankind was lost earlier and can be lost today because of sin and unbelief. But faithful Christians can still receive the blessings of God’s Rest in heaven.

In summary, the nature of God was to Rest from creation and at the same time provide a wonderful abode in the Garden of Eden. Sin ruined access to the Garden. But a wonderful Rest is still available in heaven for God’s faithful people.

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