What did God do on the Seventh Day?
God had a very special purpose for creating the seventh day. It was designed to be not only a perpetual memorial of His creative work but also of His redemptive work. So, what did God do on the seventh day to honour it?
God Rested from His Work of Creation.
“And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made”.
But God doesn’t need rest. “He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). “The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary?” (Isaiah 40:28).
God was not tired after creating our solar system, the earth, and all the creatures on our planet, but He was laying the foundation of a divine institution, a memorial of His great work of creation.
God didn’t need rest, but He rested to set an example for His children to follow. Adam and Eve, fresh from the Maker’s hand, and full of the vigour of youth, did not need rest either, but they needed time to get acquainted with their God. So God designed a weekly holy day, a gift from the Creator’s hand, for all His creatures to enjoy. Even the animals were to be given a rest from labour.
‘Sabbath’ comes from a Hebrew word meaning ‘rest’. So the 4th commandment, “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy” is the equivalent of saying, “Remember the rest day to keep it holy”. Why? Because “the seventh day is the Sabbath (the rest-day) of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8-10). The commandment follows on by giving the reason for keeping holy the ‘rest-day’ of the Lord, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).
The seven-day weekly cycle and the Sabbath dates back to the foundation of the world. There have been attempts over the centuries to change the seven-day week to a different number of days, but all have failed.
Not long after the 1789 revolution, the French Republic introduced the French Revolutionary Calendar (based on an ancient Egyptian calendar), which had 3 weeks to a month, 10 days to a week, and 10 hours in a day. This calendar lasted just 13 years until it was abolished by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805 as unworkable.
Under this new system, the people were expected to work 9 days straight with one day for rest. They were soon exhausted, and even the animals, the horses and donkeys who pulled the carts through the streets of Paris, broke down under the heavy strain.
To increase production and discourage religious practices, the Soviets introduced the Eternal Calendar in the 1920s and 1930s. Under the Soviet Union’s continuous working week calendar, the USSR eliminated weekends. Instead, workers operated on a five-day week. Each day, 80% of the workforce showed up to work, while 20% stayed home. Workers received a colour code corresponding to their day off. Husbands and wives often worked opposite schedules, meaning families lost their shared day of rest. The move was incredibly unpopular and only lasted 11 years. Both countries eventually returned to the standard, God-ordained, seven-day week.
With the beginning of time, God began to count the days, giving each an ordinal number for its name – so we get the first day, the second day, the third day, etc up to the sixth day. But on the seventh day, God ceased to count and called this special day by a name – the Sabbath day.
What else did God do on the seventh day?
God Blessed and Sanctified the Seventh-day.
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made”
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:3).
To sanctify is “to make sacred or holy; to set apart for a holy or religious use; to consecrate” (Webster’s 1882 Unabridged Dictionary).
God set apart this final day of creation week as a day for mankind to develop a special relationship with Him. “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It is the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10), and on it, He invites His children to come and find rest for their souls. “Come unto Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
God Gave the Seventh-day as a Memorial of His Redemptive Power.
In the repeat of the 10 commandment law found in Deuteronomy chapter 5, we see that there is a shift from honouring the Sabbath as a memorial of creation to honouring the Sabbath as a memorial of God’s redeeming grace.
“Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. . . And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD thy God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day”
With the entry of sin, the Sabbath took on new meaning. It was still a memorial of creation, but it took on the added significance as a memorial to God’s power to deliver His people from the power of sin. Egypt is a symbol of sin, and the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage is a symbol of the power of Jesus Christ to save us from the slavery of sin.
“And she (Mary) will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
“Whoever abides in Him does not sin . . . He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (which is sin). “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:6, 8-9).
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”
And if we begin to doubt this marvellous redeeming Holy Spirit power operating in the life of the believer, God has this promise for us:
“Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ to all generations, forever and ever. Amen”
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling (into sin),
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Saviour,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25).
Christ is able to totally recreate us and offer us a brand-new, transformed life. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that we may come to Jesus and be restored. “Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). In the very last book of the Bible, Christ repeats His promise of a Sabbath rest to all who open the door of their hearts to Him:
“Behold, I (Jesus) stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and dine with him, and he with Me”
The prophet Ezekiel clearly delineates the relationship of the Sabbath to salvation.
“Moreover I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them (makes them holy) . . . Hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God” (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).
God gave the Sabbath as a Sign of that Eternal Rest He invites all to share with Him.
The Jews, as a nation (but not as individuals), failed to enter into that eternal rest which God promises to all believers who “look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13). “For they (the Jews) being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). “For they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report’” (Romans10:16).
As a nation they could not enter into the eternal rest that God offered them “because of unbelief”, therefore “there remains a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 3:19 and 4:9). Praise God the offer is still open! (Read Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 carefully and you will see that Paul links God’s rest on the seventh day of creation to the rest the redeemed will enjoy in their heavenly home).
"And it shall come to pass (in the New Earth) that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me’ says the Lord"
So, what did God do on the seventh day? He gave us a memorial of His creative, and re-creative work so that we could rest in obedience to His command, and, with grateful hearts, contemplate the meaning of this great gift to mankind.
(All Bible references are from the NKJV unless otherwise specified).
