The Seventh Day of Creation-
A Picture of Living Above the World
God’s work of creation by His word was complete, and so God rested. No rest can come until God’s will has been done.
There is also a rest for the people of God, Jesus said, “Come to Me, and you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).
Jesus came to do God’s will. “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:10, 14). Just as God finished His work of creation, Christ finished His work of redemption and is now seated at the right hand of God. By faith in Christ’s finished work, we can enter into spiritual rest, knowing that we are forgiven and have peace with God. Our works can add nothing to what Christ has done. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5a). “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10). As we received Christ’s finished work for us, we will have rest.
God sanctified the seventh day. This means that He set it apart for His special use. One of the Ten Commandments shows us that god also wants His people to complete their work in six days and to set apart a day for rest and spiritual work in six days and to set apart a day for rest and spiritual blessing. “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your won ways, nor finding your won pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and fee you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
As we “rest” from our won works in our life on earth by doing everything in God’s strength and by His direction, God can use us in special ways that have eternal value. Then when we enter into heaven at the end of our life, we can fully “rest” from our labors. “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”’’’Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them’” (Revelation 14:13).