God’s Rest

Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash

When was the last time you truly felt rested? Is it easy for you to rest or difficult for you? Why do you think it is easy or difficult to rest?

Rest is a beautiful thing to desire and to seek out. Rest is a Godly pursuit. Rest is God’s desire and design for his creation.

While our all powerful God may not need to take a rest, as we do in our limited capacity, God chooses to rest and to keep the seventh day holy. Our God is a God of rest.

In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, before the fall of humanity and all of creation, God chose to do his work of creation in six days, and on the seventh day God rested. Rest is not a product of sin and the fall of humanity and God’s creation. Rest is a part of God’s good design and rhythm of perfection in creation.

Genesis says, “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, ESV).

Not only did God rest on the seventh day after he created all things, he also blessed the seventh day and made it holy. The seventh day is holy, because our God of rest rested from all his labors. If God rested on the seventh day, we should also rest on the seventh day and bask in the holiness of rest, which God has given to us as a blessing and a gift.

In Exodus, after the fall of humanity, and after God delivered his people from bondage to slavery, where the people received no rest, God commanded his people, the Israelites, to rest on the seventh day—the Sabbath day, and to keep the Sabbath day holy.

God spoke through Moses in Exodus saying, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:8-10a, ESV).

God wanted his people to remember that he is a God of rest. He wanted the Israelites to remember The Garden of Eden and the restful rhythms of life before the fall. God wanted his people to remember that they are children and not slaves. God wanted his children to remember that he is God and they are not.

God elaborated on this sacred day of rest saying, “On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:10b-11, ESV).

On the seventh day, we are to cease from our own striving and creation. Our families and our circle of influence is also to cease from their labors. Our beasts of burden, our visitors, and the travelers in our land are also to rest.

Everyone and everything is to rest on the seventh day—on the Sabbath day, because God rests on the seventh day. We are to rest, because God is a God of rest. We are to rest and to be blessed on the Sabbath day, because God desired his children to be free and rested on this holy day, even before the fall. We are to rest because rest is a part of God’s desire and his good design in creation.

May we rest in God and rest as God rested on the seventh day, and may we be restored on this blessed day and taste a little piece of God’s good and perfect creation, God’s original design, and God’s future restoration and heavenly kingdom of rest.

In Christ alone, Robbie

A Collect For Sabbath Rest: “Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).

Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash