Sermon Tone Analysis

*The ‘Rest’ of the Story ~~ Genesis 2:1-3*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church, August 26, 2007/

/ /

This passage in Genesis 2 speaks of rest, and before we look at the details, it’s worth taking time to think about rest.

This concept of rest is important enough that God mentions it not only in verse 2 but also in verse 3 and over and over again in the law this pattern God laid down on creation week.

True rest may be a foreign concept to many in our fast-paced, hustle and bustle, frenetic lifestyles, busy, drive-thru, nonstop, on-the-go modern lives.

We live in a restless world.

There was a /TIME /magazine lead article (Dec.

17, 1990) showing the massive and growing inability of many people to sleep or relax – the subtitle was “Too little rest.”

There were five suggestions for how to deal with stress and the lack of ability to relax, but it didn’t speak about the biblical pattern or truths God gave Israel.

God calls to us in Psalm 46 above the noise and commotion and distraction of our world: “Be still and know that I am God.”

When we fill our lives up with endless activities and entertainments to the neglect of our spiritual and devotional life, we make that choice, and we are responsible for the consequences (we can’t blame all of that on the world).

Quiet time with God, rest in God, meditation upon God and His Word – these are usually the things that go when we’re busy in life.

Warren Wiersbe makes the observation,

“The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life.

Our old nature is restless…the world around us is frantically in a hurry.

But a restless heart usually leads to a reckless life.”

(/Men’s Life/, Spring, 1998)

 

Augustine said we are made for God and “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”

We are designed to rest in God, but the problem preventing us from doing that is sin.

The Scriptures speak of the wicked having lives that are like the churning sea that never rests.

That is what sin causes.

“There is no rest for the wicked.”

In contrast to the wicked, God Himself in this passage “rests” and is the source of rest.

This theme of rest runs through the Bible:

-          first expressed here in Eden

-          later pictured by ceremonial laws about Sabbath rest

-          symbolized as the rest of the Promised Land (a rest they never fully entered, cf.

Heb. 4)

-          personified in Christ, the true and ultimate fulfillment and source of rest, who will bring all who experience the rest of salvation through faith into the eternal rest of heaven

 

The day of rest, the Sabbath, was a hot-button controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees.

Besides making Himself equal with God, John 5:18 says that the way Jesus treated the Sabbath was the other main reason they wanted to kill Him; right up there with His claiming deity.

The Sabbath was, in fact, so important to Jews at one time in their history, that they were willing to die rather than take up arms as soldiers on that day, and many were massacred by their enemies on this day.

The Sabbath day of rest was more important than life itself to many Jews.

It’s ironic that the Sabbath, this O.T. principle of rest, has caused so many to /wear themselves out /arguing about what should be done to /rest/ (can you do recreation, can you do anything fun, are some sports ok on the Sabbath, which ones, what about entertainment, going out to eat, etc.)

The Pharisees were experts at this type of minutiae and coming up with rules for every conceivable activity and scenario (any many you would never think of).

You can get pretty tired reading all the endless  literature about Sabbath rest, but so much of what is written is tradition and speculation and assumptions and doesn’t always deal carefully or completely with the biblical text itself.

We want to take a look at what the Bible actually says, with God’s help and grace.

* *

VERSE 1

*“completed” *– other translations have “finished” - at the end of the sixth day all was done.

The world is no longer in a process of being created, there is no evolution taking place.

VERSE 2 - *“By the seventh day God completed *[NKJV “ended”] *His work which He had made” *

There were different words the Jews used for “work” or “labor” – the one used of God here is the word for ‘skilled labor, work that is performed by a craftsman or an artisan.

Such is the measure of the finesse and professional skills of God’s work.’[1]

The text implies that the work God rested from is the work of creation

 

*“and He rested”*

God did not need to rest like man does.

The Scriptures say He neither slumbers nor sleeps, He never goes weary or tired.

Isaiah 40:28 (NKJV) \\ 28 Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, *Neither faints nor is weary*.

[NASB “Does not become weary or tired”]

 

Human beings do become weary and tired, in fact, most of us will spend the equivalent of 20 or more years of our life asleep, totally unconscious.

This is an everyday reminder God has given us that /we are not God.

/Each night is an opportunity to be still and know that God is God, and I am not.

The word “rest” in Genesis 2:2 has the nuance of “ceased” – in fact it’s used this way in Genesis 8:22 “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not *cease*.”

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Genesis 2 is saying God ceased creating, literally “ He abstained from work.”

There is no speaking or creating like He did on the other days, the type of work He did the first six days was completed.

The Jewish commentator Cassuto points out it has a negative connotation “not to do work”

 

The passage repeats 3x the idea that God did not work on this day, making the point emphatic.

As the Israelites in the wilderness would be reading the Torah that Moses wrote, this would be very important for them in light of the Sabbath law revealed at Sinai.

The phrase “the seventh day” is also repeated 3x for emphasis

 

The rest here is not the rest of inactivity, as God is always working (John 5:17-18), it is the rest of achievement, similar to how the N.T. speaks of Jesus being seated or sitting down after He finished His work of redemption.

Jesus didn’t sit down because He was tired, instead it signifies that work was done.

The work of creation was completed by God, so He rested, and when the work of redemption was accomplished, Jesus sat down having completed His task.

Salvation was accomplished by Christ, and is now applied by the Holy Spirit to those chosen by the Father.

Our Lord didn’t stop working because He was /fatigued/, He was /finished/.

And there was a satisfied refreshment as well.

Exodus 31:17 says “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was *refreshed*.”

\\ \\

He was *refreshed* – in other words He enjoyed and delighted in His creation, He was pleased because “it was very good.”

‘The imagery is like that of a master artisan who, having completed a masterpiece, pauses to admire and reflect on his finished work.’[2]

The implication and application is that we should take regular time to stop and enjoy God’s creation as well.

God knows that our human bodies need refreshment and recuperation – and He graciously gives man the opportunity to do that every evening as well as when man can take a day off, not just for our well-being, but so that we can focus on /God’s being/ and person and work, where true satisfaction and rest and refreshment are found in God alone.

Exodus 23:12 says the purpose of us ceasing work is also “so that you ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as you stranger, may *refresh* themselves.”

Notice the kindness of God in giving man the Sabbath.

-          Slaves as well as strangers were to benefit

-          Even animals were to be given break (as well as the land)

-          Gathering sticks was prohibited, which was a menial task, and God protects their slaves from menial things

-          Building fires was prohibited, as a grace to wives and moms so they would not be tempted to cook, God gave them a break

 

NOTICE THE WORD “SABBATH” DOES NOT APPEAR IN GENESIS

 

/Turn to Exodus 16 – first time word “Sabbath” appears/

21They gathered it morning by morning, every man as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt.

22Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,

23then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."

24So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.

25Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.

26"Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none."

27It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

28Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?

29"See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day.

Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."

30So the people rested on the seventh day.

Note in verse 35 that this pattern (no manna on 7th day and had to prepare on 6th day) continued for 40 years.

God in His grace gave them a weekly reminder, so that every seventh day when they would come out of their tents, they would see no manna on the ground.

This pattern would be indelibly marked on them as gave them a weekly aid to help them get used to Sabbath-keeping.

Man’s tendency is not to rest or remember, but God made sure that they had to do their work on Friday, gathering more food, so that on Saturday ~/ Sabbath they would have food for the day.

Verse 27-28 reminds me of my preschool teacher trying to get us kids to rest at nap time for their own benefit, but the kids don’t want to (now that we’re adults, we wish we could nap everyday!)

Remember that these people were slaves who had been mercilessly worked in Egypt all their life, who never had a day off – and now God in His great kindness sets up the pattern of manna so that every week for the next 40 years they’re reminded to rest on the seventh day – the right attitude is not “we have to” – “we get to!”

No grumbling “ahh, man, I /don’t/ have to work today?

I liked it better when we were in bondage in Egypt and never had a break.”

God gave the Sabbath to Israel as a gracious gift to former slaves: