2:1-3 - Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
[T - OL ]
As we have noted in our introduction, this last day of the account, not of creation, but of rest, is marked out for special attention in ways that the other days are not:
1. It is marked off from the rest by two 'book-ends,' the inclusio "the heavens and the earth" (2:1 & 2:4).
2. Whereas the other days are referred to only once each, by the expression "and there evening and there was morning—the n day," the seventh day is referred to five times: 3 times by the expression "the seventh day" and twice more by the pronoun "it" ("made it holy, because on it he rested").
3. It is the only day that God "blessed and made holy."
4. While God worked on all the other days, He rested on this day.
5. While all the other days are concluded by the formula, "And there was morning and there was evening," this day is not. It remains open.
The first thought that lights up in many of our minds upon these observations is to think of the Sabbath. This event is later cited elsewhere in Scriptures in explanation of the Sabbath commandments (see, e.g., Exo 20:11), and God's rest is urged upon us a model for obedience. But there is no indication anywhere in this passage to suggest that the author is, at this point, concerned with the Sabbath.
In its present context these verses serve to underline an often overlooked theological point, i.e., the glorious fact that God finishes his work. He does not leave loose-ends hanging from his creation. Never allowing Himself to be distracted by ill-discipline or stalled by confusing indecisiveness, He focused on His creative work with purpose and single-mindedness, until He had finished. Then He rested. So, neither does He leave unfinished bits hanging loose when we let Him into our lives. Even a pagan Balaam could recognize this fact about Him when he retorted to Balak, "Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?" (Num 23:19). "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand," Yahweh had promised through Isaiah (Isa 14:24). We may fumble, zig-zaggardly through life, leaving things unfinished and promises unkept. God does not, and therein lies the foundation for true hope. So important does God hold the responsibility of finishing the work He begins, He set that day aside as something special to Him, which, of course, is what 'holiness' means; it is special to God.
Soon after this very creation—whose beginnings had been so wondrously described in the last chapter—was completed, it would be rent into dysfunction and corruption by sin. Sin and human rebellion may spoil God's work, but it can never thwart his purpose. Lavishing his grace upon us, Paul declares, "he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Eph 1:7). God finished his work, and he will, in Christ, bring all things that has been spoilt back together again one day. "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand."
In conclusion let me clarify an important practical point arising from this glorious fact that God finishes His work. How do we want God to do to finish up his work in our life? We cannot stop Him from finishing it for us, but we can sure slow Him down.
How do we want God to do
to finish up his work in our life?
We cannot stop Him
from finishing it for us,
but we can sure slow Him down.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016