THE SEVENTH DAY IN GENESIS

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Jeremy Richardson
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1 CHAPTER TWO THE SEVENTH DAY IN GENESIS Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And 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. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Gen. 2:1 3). In harmony with what was presented in the previous chapter, our goal here at the beginning of our study is simply to find as many pertinent facts as possible: the obvious ones, and also those which may be less obvious. Then from these facts we will draw possible interpretations, but make few conclusions. A study of these verses leads us to the following scriptural facts: The work of creation was completed by the end of the sixth day. God rested actually ceased on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day. God sanctified the seventh day. God sanctified the seventh day because He ceased from the work of creation. A less obvious fact emerges as we look at the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis. Notice a recurring pattern. After God created day and night on the first day Scripture reads, And there was evening and there was morning, one day (Gen. 1:5). After God separated the waters to make the firmament we read, And there was evening and there was morning, a second day (Gen. 1:8). This pattern continues throughout the first six days of creation. (See Gen. 1:13,19,23,31.) However, when we look at the end of the seventh day we find no such formula. We would expect to read, And there was evening and there was morning a seventh day, but it is missing.

2 22 Sabbath in Christ An examination of the literary pattern of the creation record shows that this account was very carefully constructed. Note in the chart below that the first three days of creation correspond to the last three days of creation. With such precise and well-thought-out construction, could it be that the omission of and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day was not accidental but by design? Literary pattern of the creation record Light Sun, moon and stars one day a fourth day Water and firmament Fish and birds a second day a fifth day Dry land Animals and man God saw all that He had made, a third day it was very good a sixth day Thus the heavens and the earth were completed (by the end of the 6 th Day) God rested ceased on the seventh day God blessed the seventh day God sanctified the seventh day No evening and morning a seventh day There is no mention of the word Sabbath in the Genesis account. However, the verb form for rested or ceased is used. Nothing is said about man resting; in fact, man is not even mentioned in connection with this seventh-day-creation rest. What constituted God s rest? With these scriptural facts well in mind, let us seek to discover what characterized God s rest. Was He physically tired or mentally worn out at the end of Creation week? Exodus 31:17

3 The Seventh Day in Genesis 23 reads, on the seventh day He ceased from labor and was refreshed. From labor is not in the Hebrew but was added by the translator. So all we really have is that He ceased and was refreshed. The Psalmist wrote, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep (Ps. 121:4), indicating that God does not get physically tired and need rest as we do at the end of a day of work. Rather God s seventh-day-creation rest more likely relates to His enjoyment of His finished creation. He stepped back to view the world in its primeval beauty, which He characterized as very good. What could be more refreshing and restful than for God to be in fellowship with His very good creation? What beautiful visions come to mind when we contemplate what it must have been like before weed, decay, or death manifested their ugliness! Blue skies, clear waters, white sands, colorful flowers, and stately trees formed the background as the birds and animals played without fear when God walked through the garden delighted with His work. One characteristic of that perfect world was that God had freely provided everything needed for the happiness of Adam and Eve. There was nothing for Adam and Eve to do but to enjoy God s gracious provision and fellowship with their Creator. From the Genesis account we cannot determine how long it was before Adam and Eve sinned. One thing however we can be sure of: it was after the close of the first seventh day. That day stands out in Scripture as the one day when everything was in right relationship to God. The world sparkled with the freshness of a tropical morning. Adam and Eve held open fellowship with their Maker. Sin and its resulting curse were still unknown. A rest designed to never end We now come to an important question. Did God intend for this enjoyment of a finished creation to end at the close of the literal seventh day? According to the Genesis record the heavens and the earth were completed on the sixth day (Gen. 2:1). God s work of creation was completed. Adam and Eve had not yet sinned, so the open fellowship and communion which characterized that first seventh day rest continued. Therefore we may conclude that the conditions and characteristics of that first seventh day were designed by God to continue and would have continued had it not

4 24 Sabbath in Christ been for the sin of Adam and Eve. It was not God s design or intent that the open, face-to-face communion with man should come to an end. It was not His design that the ground be cursed. No, it was the entrance of sin which interrupted Eden s perfection. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God (Isa. 59:2). By creating Adam and Eve with the power of choice, God allowed for the possibility of sin, but it was certainly not His will that sin should exist. Could this be the reason why the Genesis record omits and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day? This does not deny that the first seventh day had an evening and a morning, nor does it deny there was another day that followed the first seventh day. However, the essence of creation s seventh-day and the conditions that existed on that seventh day were intended to remain. A sanctified day What does the Genesis account mean when it says God sanctified the seventh day? The basic meaning of sanctify is to set apart as sacred. In this respect, then, God was setting apart the seventh day from the first six days for a special purpose. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested (Gen. 2:3). This day was set apart from the first six days because it was the first day after creation was completed. It was a time to celebrate and enjoy the work of His hands. It was a time for fellowship and communion between the Creator and created life. Truly, the conditions of that day were sanctified and blessed. Here we are told that God s rest is holy, set apart for some purpose. However, we must be careful not to read into this creation rest more than what is stated. The concept of rest is a theme which will be developed throughout Scripture. We will see that this creation rest will soon be lost, then it will be symbolized and then it will be restored. The end of Eden s Rest While the Genesis account mentions nothing about people resting. Many have assumed, and probably correctly so, that Adam and Eve entered into God s rest on that first seventh day. For

5 The Seventh Day in Genesis 25 them this rest would not be a cessation from work as we know it for two reasons: First, the seventh day of creation was Adam and Eve s first full day of life! One could almost say that for Adam and Eve, this was their first day of the week. Second, work was part of the curse of sin. True, later they were instructed to cultivate and keep the garden (Gen. 2:15) but before the curse this should not be considered servile work. What we think of as work did not exist until after sin entered. Work was part of the curse of sin. To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Then to Adam He said, Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field. (Gen. 3:16 18). Sin brought creation s rest to an end. Women must now labor in childbirth. Men must toil all the days of their lives. Not only did Adam and Eve start working with the entrance of sin, in a sense it can be said that God too started work. The beginning of a new work The Genesis account does not mention an end to God s seventhday rest. Rather it is presented as an ongoing state by the omission of the formula and there was evening and morning, a seventh day. Nevertheless, it does mention a new work which God started immediately after Adam and Eve sinned. We read that the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them (Gen. 3:21). This event was the beginning of a work which would continue throughout the centuries until its significance would become fully revealed in the death and resurrection of Christ. The death of that first lamb, (assuming it was a lamb) while not mentioned as such in the Genesis account, was the acorn of the great truth which, through the following centuries, would grow into the great, spreading oak of righteousness by faith. It pointed forward to Christ s substitutionary life and death for lost mankind. Naked Adam and Eve were clothed with robes made from the skin of the slain substitute. Millennia later Paul would put this same truth in these words: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

6 26 Sabbath in Christ All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed your-selves with Christ (Gal. 3:27). Jesus would say, Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man shall give to you, for on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal. They said therefore to Him, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent (Jn. 6:27 29). The work of redemption was the work which God started 1 when man sinned and was driven from Eden s rest. This work would continue until man was once again restored to God s true rest. No mention of Sabbath before the time of Moses Some read into the Genesis account that Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath. However, scholars of antiquity, Jewish scholars and biblical scholars all agree that there is no record that anyone knew about or kept any weekly day of rest, let alone the Sabbath, before the time of Moses. 2 As Genesis was written by Moses and, as we will see in chapters that follow, the seventh day Sabbath of Sinai was a type of Eden s rest. There is good evidence that the Sabbath was not blessed and sanctified for mankind until the time of Moses. Chapter Summary 1. Creation was completed in six days. 2. God rested on the seventh day. 3. God blessed the seventh day. 4. God sanctified the seventh day. 5. The reason God sanctified the seventh day was because He rested on it. 6. The seventh-day account does not have the formula and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day as do the first six days of creation. 1 This does not deny that redemption had its roots before the foundation of the world. But the implementation of redemption started after man sinned. 2 D.M. Canright, The Lord s Day from Neither Catholics, nor Pagans: an Answer to Seventh-day Adventism on this Subject.

7 The Seventh Day in Genesis The creation record is carefully constructed. 8. There is no mention of the word Sabbath in the book of Genesis but its verb form is there. 9. There is no command for mankind to rest in the Genesis account. 10. Nothing is expressly mentioned regarding man in the seventhday-creation rest. 11. The seventh-day rest of God was most likely characterized by His delight in His new creation and in open fellowship with Adam and Eve in the sin-free, perfect environment of Eden. 12. The conditions which characterized the rest of God would probably have continued had it not been for man s sin. 13. The fact that the Genesis account is so carefully constructed indicates that the omission of and there was evening and there was morning, a seventh day was intentional. 15. When man sinned, the rest he experienced in Eden came to an end. a. Women would now have pain in the labor of childbirth. b. Men would toil all the days of their lives. 16. God began to implement the work of redemption which had been in place from before the foundation of world. 17. There is no evidence that anyone knew about or kept any day of rest before the time of Moses.

8 The promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law

Sample file. Day 6. Day 7. Lesson Review. Read aloud: Genesis 1:24-27

Sample file. Day 6. Day 7. Lesson Review. Read aloud: Genesis 1:24-27 Lesson 2 Day 6 Read aloud: Genesis 1:24-27 Discuss Day 6: God created all the land animals on the sixth day. Adam and Eve were the last and greatest of God s creation. Man was created in God s image and