(Part 1: Sabbath from Creation to Christ)
Text: Genesis 2:1-3
{Genesis: Gospel Prologue}
[Sermon Takeaway by Geraldine] One of the significant reasons why churches are so weak and dying is because our theology and practice of Sabbath rest are bad and confusing. We don’t have a proper outlook of what the Sabbath is.
Most of us would probably think that the “Sabbath” is just for a certain denominational or cultural group. But we must understand that the word “Sabbath” is first for all humanity (Creation Ordinance: Gen. 2:1-3 as echoed on Exodus 20:8-11) then specifically for God’s people (Deu. 5:12-15).
Last Sunday we have learned 3 very basic points regarding Sabbath:
(1) Sabbath is “of God”,
(2) Sabbath is “for God”, and
(3) Sabbath is “in God”.
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I. Sabbath is “of God”
Genesis 2:1-3 begins with “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.” This is a conclusion to the six-day creation found in the previous chapter. The problem is that we think that the end of creation is in the creation of man. We think that Genesis 1 is the prologue of everything and that man is the height of every creation. Worse is, we might conclude that man is the reason for creation and creation is just for man’s consumption.
But when we study the Scriptures, it is not anthropocentric or man-centered but rather theocentric or God-centered.
The prologue of the Creation week ends with Genesis 2:3. This also reveals a great deal about the entire Scriptures. We can clearly see in this verse that man is not the end of the Bible’s (through the Creation account) prologue but the SABBATH. The Sabbath is the vital theme found in the entire Bible. From Creation to Revelation, God will be continuing and putting His people in His Sabbath rest. “Man” may be the climax of the six-day creation but it did not end there. There is the seventh day and that is the day which God blessed and sanctified.
Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 2:1 started with “In the beginning” and finished with what He created, “the heavens and the earth.” The heavens and the earth signify the whole creation and it is the recurring theme of the whole scriptures. We can see it in Isaiah 37:16, Psalm 121:1-2, and Psalm 145:5-6.
Isaiah 66:1-6 clearly tells us what the Scripture means by “God made heavens and the earth”. It says in verse 1, Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool: what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?” When God created the heavens and the earth, He created a TEMPLE for Himself that at the end of it, we will worship Him in His temple, giving us a refreshing picture of SABBATH rest.
Acts 7:44-50 (ESV)
[44] “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. [45] Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, [46] who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. [47] But it was Solomon who built a house for him. [48] Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
[49] “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
[50] Did not my hand make all these things?’
This passage expounds our point clearly. Quoting from our previous verse on Isaiah 66, we see it being interpreted here in the New Testament. Here is a dwelling place, as the TABERNACLE or a moving temple. The Israelites have a tabernacle because God was with them through this portable, moving temple. Soon, in the Promised Land, in Jerusalem, the Temple will be built.
Heaven is the cosmic temple of God. Isaiah saw the temple of the Lord and the throne in heaven. So, when God created the heavens and the earth, it tells us a picture of God in His temple found in Isaiah 6:1-2. Heaven is His throne and the earth His footstool. The word “footstool” is the place where you find your balance, stability, and ease: where the one sitting on the throne grounds his feet.
This is a picture of “rest.”
“The heavens” created by God, is His holy eternal temple—but also, God creating “the earth” is making, here, a replica of the heavenly temple for Himself.
Going back to Genesis 2:1-3, the word “Thus” is focused on “he rested”. According to Old Testament (esp Genesis) scholar John Walton, “Rest does not imply relaxation but more like achieving equilibrium and stability… He is making a rest for Himself, a rest provided for by the completed cosmos. Inhabiting his resting place is the equivalent to being enthroned—it is connected to taking up his role as sovereign ruler of the cosmos. The temple simply provides a symbolic reality for this concept…”
The goal of creation is not the emphasizing of man but the enthronement of God—through the beautiful reality of Sabbath rest.
John Walton also said that “God not only sets up the cosmos so that people will have a place, he also sets up the cosmos to serve as his temple.” (NIVAC-Genesis)
II. Sabbath is “for God”
In Genesis 2:3 “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,…” clearly tells us that Sabbath is for God, set apart and sanctified for Himself. We can also see it on Exodus 30:22-38. God has consecrated Sabbath for a serious purpose and that is to worship Him, that everyone who enters into Sabbath rest will fall down prostrate to the God who created the heaven and the earth.
Why we remember the Sabbath?
Exodus 20:8-11 gives us the picture that God created Sabbath for us to remember the Creation Ordinance. In Deuteronomy 5:12-15, the Lord wants His people to remember that they have been set free from Egypt. He wants them to remember the Redemption Story. This is for the redeemed people of God. This is the covenant of God for His people.
Resting in Sabbath is understanding that God the Creator alone redeems a people for Himself.
Creation and covenant: this marks the two rational point to remember as one is on Sabbath practice.
Sabbath is blessed and made holy by God Himself as it points us back to His good creation and reminds us of His perfect redemption. Resting in Sabbath is understanding that God the Creator alone redeems a people for Himself. It is “for God” and His glory alone.
In Sabbath, the believer is resting as worship to the God who both creates and redeems. Sabbath is for God the Creator-Redeemer.
Faith is “resting” in the finished “work” of Christ.
In Hebrews 4:1-11, Sabbath is something we need to “enter” into. The irony is “striving” to “rest” (v.11). Those who are truly in Christ, rest. The language of the New Testament is that we enter the Sabbath as we enter Christ. We need to make sure (strive) that we are in this “rest.”
The surest way to know that you are a Christian is when you are IN CHRIST, having union with Christ. This is Sabbath rest, finding soul-rest in Christ. This is what the book of Hebrews is trying to drive: faith as “resting” in the finished “work” of Christ.
In Hebrews 1, the essence of heaven and the earth is the temple and the temple is centered at the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sabbath is not something that we only do, it is something that God has done. This is the essence of the Gospel. We can rest because it is accomplished and sufficiently done by Christ.
God has finished the creation. Christ has finished the work on the cross (redemption). Both point to the SABBATH.
We can also see it in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and DWELT among us…” Dwelt here means “tabernacled”. Christ, Himself is the tabernacle wherein we enter to our Sabbath rest. The whole creation points their fulfillment to Christ. He has tabernacled with His people!
Revelation 21:1-2 God is preparing us for Sabbath through the temple. From Creation to Eternity, God is giving us a picture of His grand goal of Sabbath rest. Everything in Creation indeed is moving Sabbath-bound.
Sabbath is simply “Temple Time” “in Christ”.
This is entering by faith into the very sphere of Christ and His finished work, a following after Him in the assurance that His word is trustworthy:
“Come to me, all 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)
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