#DailyDevotion The LORD Sets Apart Today To Enter His Rest

Gen. 13¹And God saw that everything He made was very good. Evening came and then morning — the sixth day. 2 And so the heavens and the earth and everything in them were finished. ²On the seventh day, God finished from all His work of creating; and He stopped working on the seventh day. ³And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on that day He stopped from all the work He did in creating the world. ⁴This is the history of heaven and earth when they were created in the day when the LORD God made earth and heaven.

So here ends the first history in the bible of heaven and the earth when they created. The day he made creation and the days he formed it. Nice and straightforward yet we twist ourselves in knots either defending it, excusing it or dismissing it. In 2 Peter it is written, 3⁵“They deliberately forget that long ago God’s Word made the sky and formed the earth out of water and with water.” We shouldn’t be like these people. Nevertheless, God looked at his created and he saw it was very good. We should take note of that. A lot of people today, even Christians, follow Gnostic thought and think matter is either evil or indifferent. Because of they treat their bodies with contempt particularly at death. They think it merely a shell, something to escape. They want to be disembodied spirits that escape this creation and world. But God sees it and declares it very good.

On the seventh day God rested from all his work of creating. What that exactly means I don’t know for sure. Does it mean it never created anything new? Did he pick up work on the eighth day? Jesus says in John 5:17 “My Father has been working until now, and so I am working.” Seems to say God is still working to this day. On the seventh day he rested. He made it holy. He set it apart. He created a week. He called the seventh day a Sabbath day and designated it for man as day of rest from his work. The LORD says, Ex. 20¹¹ “In six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, and on the seventh day He rested. This is why the LORD blessed the rest day and made it holy.” Jesus says in Mark 2²⁷“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” We see in the teaching of the LORD Jesus Christ the Sabbath was not meant to be a burden upon man but a gift to him. Yet man in his wickedness turns the good things of God into something wicked, troublesome and an burden, not only for himself but most especially to others. Jesus fulfills the Sabbath for us in the grave removing the burdens of it and invites us to enter his rest.

Now some have noted that the seventh day does not end in Genesis 2. There is no evening and morning the 7^th day. Nope the narrative just ends with God resting. It implies the Sabbath rest the LORD intends man to enter is eternal. Certainly the author of Hebrews picks up on this thought. He says the Israelites never entered God’s rest. Chapters three and four of that book speak of it. In 4^:3 it says, “We who have believed go to a rest,…” That rest day he says is today. He says, “anyone who goes to his rest finds rest from his work as God did from His.” His rest is Jesus’ rest. To rest in Jesus is to believe he alone has done the work of salvation. His works are all sufficient for our atonement, ransom, redemption and reconciliation. If you want to contribute to your salvation on iota you are like the disobedient Israelites who did not enter God’s rest. Therefore be diligent in your faith and make sure it rest only in Christ Jesus.

Heavenly Father, you set apart the Sabbath days so man can rest from his works. You gave us your Son Jesus Christ to be our place of rest declaring his work to be our work so we may find rest in him. Grant us such faith that enters the rest of today and cease from our works. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.