Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Why?
Why bless a day?
Why make a day holy?
Did days exist before the first day?
The first day.
The second day.
The third day.
The fourth day.
The fifth day.
The sixth day.
The seventh day.
There was NO eighth day of creation- all had been created.
God stopped creating on the sixth day. When that sixth day was over creation now existed. From nothing, from a void, from an emptiness came all of creation by God's wondrous power.
God did it all in six days and added an extra day in instituting a day of rest after such an amazing act.
Could God have created everything in one day? In one hour? In one minute? One heartbeat?
Yes.
The thing is, God was creating a future with the needs of His creatures in mind. The creation process was for OUR edification, it was done as it was for US.
The creation process at our very beginning mirrors so much of life in general. You've heard all about the circle of life, God's circle of life wasn't supposed to include our deaths. Yet there was still a circle of life going on and it's mirrored in creation. That cycle, that circle was instituted in creation. God told Adam and Eve the were to eat of all the trees bearing fruit- save one tree. God told Adam he was to tend to the garden- all before sin entered our world.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
What happens when you eat a piece of fruit? Does that particular piece of fruit exist any longer? No. There was to be a constant consuming of the fruit and the replenishing of that fruit through that cycle our God brought into existence. God created us with the need to eat. God created us with needs and intended all of those needs be met in all that He gave us. Living as we do in such horrific sin- we can scarcely imagine having all we need - living in a beautiful garden. We can't begin to believe that we could be happy existing in a garden without any of the trappings of our sin filled society, without modern day conveniences. We imagine it to be like camping, but even our best days of camping are still encumbered by sin and the toil that exists in being a sinner- separated from God.
We were changed when we sinned.
Instantly Adam and Eve noticed the difference. It didn't take a minute, an hour, a day for the effects to begin- they were instantaneous.
Sin altered them.
That separation was immediately felt.
Their lives were forever changed in that moment. They were soon cast out of the garden and knowing pain, heartache, shame became real to them- just as we know these things.
You know who God told our first parents to be fruitful and multiply?
Well remember when God added this part after they sinned--
Gen 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
In SORROW would she multiply. It wasn't meant to be PAINFUL, it wasn't meant to be SORROWFUL. Being fruitful and multiplying was to be a glorious, wondrous thing, without a hint of sorrow involved.
Yes, a lot changed when sin took over.
So while we might not be able to fully imagine living happily in a garden it's because we are imagining doing so as sinners filled with all the trials and tribulations that possess sinners.
God created days and did so with a purpose.
The seven day weekly cycle is the only one that has worked and survived for humanity. God instituted that cycle.
What was begun during creation was REINFORCED when God gave His written MORAL LAW to man. A law that needed to be memorialized in stone to a people who had been held captive for four hundred years and as we all know time has a way of changing things. This was something God never, ever wanted changed not ONE jot not ONE tittle!
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
And reinforced yet again--
Exo 16:15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
Exo 16:16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.
Exo 16:17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.
Exo 16:18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
Exo 16:19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
Exo 16:20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
Exo 16:21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
Exo 16:22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
Exo 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
Exo 16:24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
Exo 16:25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.
Exo 16:26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
The six day work week and the seventh day rest.
This was God's intended design from the beginning, even before sin. Adam in the garden of Eden would work six days and on the seventh day of the week he rested- GOD instituted this amazing day way back at our very beginning and it's a memorial to HIM, our CREATOR.
The cycle given at the beginning still exists for us right NOW.
Our Creator wanted us to NEVER forget our beginning. To forget is to sin because to forget is to deny God, to deny our Creator and if we deny our God, our Creator, we have no hope of being blessed by Him. We have to believe that He is first and foremost.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
What an AMAZING blessing it is to have this WEEKLY reminder of God's love for us!
We can get caught up in the world, caught up in the cares of this life, but EVERY SABBATH our God wants us to be brought back into remembrance of who is in charge of our lives. God wants us to remember His amazing love fully realized in the sacrifice of His sinless Son, Jesus Christ. EVERY SABBATH is a chance for renewal. Honestly, God put the word REMEMBER on this commandment for a reason. It doesn't take long for the world to get it's evil clutches into our lives, not long at all. But if EVERY SABBATH we are drawn back into a renewed FAITH the world has less and less of a chance to sink it's clutches in so deep we are drawn away from our God, our Savior, and this God intended. We would forever be reminded of our origins, of our dependent status, of our being LOVED so perfectly that Satan could not keep us from HIM.
All in HIS LOVE!
No comments:
Post a Comment