A Day & A Life of Rest

4th sermon: Day Seven: The First Rest 10/14
Central Idea: As God rested after his work of creation, we rest by faith.

Gen. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
Gen. 2:2 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.
Gen. 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

I. Why did God rest?
A. God did rest.
Gen. 2:2 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.

Ross, p. 113—“Sabbath”—the word actually means “cease,” more than “rest” as understood today. It is not a word that refers to remedying exhaustion after a tiring week of work. Rather, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion.

B. God was not exhausted; he never tires.
Is. 40:28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is an eternal God,
the creator of the whole earth.
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom.

C. God did not rest because he was exhausted; he rested to SAVOR his creation.
1. “It is good!” God was completely satisfied with all that he had done; he could relax.
Kidner It is the rest of achievement, not inactivity, for He nurtures what he creates; we may compare the symbolism of Jesus ‘seated’ after his finished redemption (Heb. 8:1; 10:12), to dispense its benefits.
Our Lord based his own constructive use of the Sabbath on this understanding of the divine rest (“My Father is working still”, John 5:17)…
But God’s rest was pregnant with more than the gift of the Sabbath: it is still big with promise for the believer, who is summoned to share it (Heb 3:7-4:11).

2. God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening; he planted it, he enjoyed it.
3. G.K. Chesterton:
A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon.
…It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

D. We are made in God’s image, so we have the capacity to savour, to enjoy what we see. Our problem is three-fold…
1. We find nothing with great enough worth to satisfy our deepest longings.
2. We don’t have the strength to enjoy the greatest treasures to their greatest worth.
3. All of our joys here come to an end.

I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
A. Exodus 20—fourth of the Ten Commandments.
Waltke: The fourth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 is grounded in God’s creative action of working six days and resting on the seventh, as recorded in Gen. 1:1-2:3 (cf. Ex. 16). The order of creation stands behind Sabbath observance. God’s work in one week becomes stamped upon his people as a repeating design for their sanctification. In Hebrews 3 & 4 rest serves as a metaphor of our faith in God, who provides salvation as we rest in him.

B. Exodus 31—a sign of Israel’s covenant with God.
Ex. 31:16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
Ex. 31:17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days24 the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”25

C. Hebrews 3 & 4—the fulfillment of the quest for life.
Heb. 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Rest: able to look at your work the way that God looked at his.
“it is completely satisfying, nothing else needs to be done.”

I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
III. Jesus carried this forward when he spoke of the Sabbath.
A. Jesus said that he is Lord of the Sabbath.
*Sabbath regulations pointed to me.
*I am the one who dispenses this rest.
Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

1. You must go to him to find rest.
2. If you have no rest, you have not gone to him.
3. You go to him because you need rest…

B. Jesus said that the Sabbath is made for humans, not humans for the Sabbath.
1. It’s not the rule that needs our support,
2. The rule supports us.

I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
III. Jesus carried this forward when he spoke of the Sabbath.
IV. In light of these remarkable ideas, how might we rest?
1. Emulate: the divine rest, which is the mark of God’s people (Israel, Ex. 31); by this we identify ourselves with God.
2. Enjoy: savor our work/ his work (shared enjoyment of beauty, success, etc.); sharing doubles our joy.
3. Enter: rest, as obedience: Exodus 20.
4. Effort: By faith, we enter into his rest; work to enter his rest. Since the Fall, we have no instinct for joy, for savoring.
5. Exhaust: Post-Fall: We rest because we are not God; we will be exhausted by our work if we do not acknowledge our fallenness.
a. If we are made to work, why does our work exhaust us? MORE LATER.
b. We fear loss of our jobs if we rest.
c. We trust in technology, to allow us to work anywhere, which means we are pressed to work EVERYWHERE?
d. Whereas older cultures gave meaning through families, we gain our meaning through our jobs.
i. No job; no meaning!
ii. No job, no respect.

V. Great News!
Ensure that Your rest is the sort that prepares you for what is coming.
The resting Father does not imply that there was no more work to be done; Christ’s work was to follow.

If you are astonished by the power of God evident in the creation, how much greater power is demonstrated in his redemption!

Psa. 8:3 ¶ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
Psa. 8:4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?

Arm of God brings salvation
Is. 51:4 “Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
The law will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations.
Is. 51:5 My righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.
Is. 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail