More Than a Day, Rest is a Person: Jesus!

"1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And 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. 3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Genesis 2: 1-3)

God completed a perfect work on the Seventh Day. He rested not because He was tired, but because the work was finished, perfected, done:

"22The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

 

"23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." (Proverbs 8: 22-23)

 

and also

 

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." (Isaiah 40: 28)

 

So, God completed a perfect work and invited Man to enjoy this work:

 

"15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2: 15-17)

 

In addition to giving Man a job, He also invited him to eat freely, except for one tree, so that Adam would acknowledge that God was fully in charge, taking care of everything for him.

 

If you notice in the above passage, there is the mention of the seventh day, but there is no mention of the seventh evening.

 

The Day of Rest was never supposed to end, but would endure.

 

Yet because man disobeyed God, and at from the forbidden tree, men left the rest of God, and became subject to troubles and tremors (Genesis 3: 14-17)

"3For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." (Hebrews 4: 3)

Yet God still wanted  man to have this rest.

Today, we have it in Christ Jesus:

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17)

When we understand that He fulfills all things, then we can receive the rest which He is:

"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30)

The last mention of this rest occurs in Revelation:

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." (Revelation 14: 13)

We rest from our own works, and allow the Spirit of the Lord to work in us.

"9There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)

Today, our rest is not limited to a day, but a Person: Jesus!