Genesis chapter 1, I'll begin reading in verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.
So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so.
And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth. And it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. Then God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then God said, let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.
So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded. according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, each according to its kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him.
Male and female, He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed. To you it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so. Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.
So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Amen.
Introduction
Well, last week we saw specifically the creation of man on day six. Prior to that, we looked at each of the days of creation in a sort of overview fashion. Previous to that, a theology of creation, then sort of an overview of the book of Genesis as a whole. Well, as we come to the text tonight, we're going to take up chapter 2, specifically verses 1 to 3.
There's a break in the narrative beginning at verse 4, which we'll cover a little bit later on, but tonight
Scripture Reading: Genesis 1–2:3
we're going to look primarily at verses 1 to 3 in chapter 2.
The Sabbath and the Confession
Sometimes you'll hear people say that the Sabbath command was given at Sinai and it was only for the Jews. I think our confession is more correct when it speaks concerning the Sabbath, and it says that, as it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God, so by His word and a positive moral and perpetual commandment Binding all men in all ages, He is particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto Him. And now note what the confession says, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week, being abolished. So the confession rightly goes to the beginning of the world, and they're reflecting what we find here specifically in Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 3.
The basic argument is that God sets forth a divine pattern, and what He does, man is to follow and I hope that you will be convinced of that as we move through our study this evening.
Overview: Three Movements in Genesis 2:1–3
But as we look at verses 1 to 3, we see, first of all, a reference to the completion of creation in verse 1, secondly, the rest of the Creator in verse 2, and then the blessing of the seventh day in verse 3. But
Completion of Creation (v. 1)
note the completion in verse 1. The language of verse 1 in chapter 2 echoes the language of verse 1 in chapter 1. Notice in chapter 1, verse 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's the overarching statement, and then the days, or the rest of the narrative specifically, from verses 3 to 31, flesh out how God does that.
He creates the heavens and the earth and then he fills the heavens and the earth with the various creatures that he makes. And 2.1 picks up on that, summarizes the preceding, but then adds this, thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. what's called an inclusio, the same sort of a statement in verse 1 of chapter 1, same statement in verse 1, chapter 2, with this addition, all the host of them. And again, that simply refers not only to the heavens and the earth, but everything God created within the heavens and the earth. In fact, Calvin makes this observation.
He says, instead of host, we might not improperly render the term abundance. For Moses declares that this world was in every sense completed, as if the whole house were well supplied and filled with its furniture. The heaven without the sun and moon and stars would be an empty and dismantled palace. If the earth were destitute of animals, trees, and plants, that barren waste would have the appearance of a poor and deserted house.
God, therefore, did not cease from the work of creation of the world till he had completed it in every part, so that nothing should be wanting to its suitable abundance. So verse 1, chapter 2 simply highlights, summarizes, and then fleshes out with a bit more detail what God does in terms of the creation. of the heavens and the earth. Remember that this functions not only for the edification and the strengthening of the Israelites, but also it was a polemic. The gods of the heathen had various gods for various aspects of the created order.
But it's Yahweh alone that makes the heavens and the earth and all the host of them.
Rest of the Creator (v. 2)
And now notice the rest of the Creator in verse 2. It says, And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Now certainly we need to understand when it says, and on the seventh day God ended His work, which He had done, it refers to the previous account with reference to creation. If you look specifically at John 5 for just a moment, John 5.17, the Lord Jesus makes a statement concerning the work of His Father.
We need to understand what Moses is teaching us here in Genesis chapter 2, at verse 2, with reference to the work of creation having been completed, or finished, or ended. John 5, 17. Jesus answered them, my Father has been working until now, and I have been working. So some suggest that this is contradictory to what we find here in Genesis 2.2, that God finished, God completed, God ended His work, and yet Jesus says in John 5.17 that my Father continues working.
Well, I think the text in Genesis is specific. I think it's clear. God ended His work, which He had done, with reference to the creation of the heavens and the earth and all the host of them. God now enters into the work of providence.
God does govern all his creatures and all their actions. God does sustain all his creatures and all their actions. God is active. Deists teach that God made and then God left it.
The God of heaven and earth, however, doesn't just make it, but he sustains it, he keeps it going, he continues to keep it on its axis and brings it ultimately to completion. So when we see that there is this rest from His work, it doesn't mean the absolute cessation of all that is God. God continues to do what God does, but in terms of the work of creation, by the word of His power, in the space of six days and all very good, that work was completed, that work was finished. And Moses tells us specifically that He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
If you're there, you can turn to Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31, another statement concerning God's rest, and here we see that God was refreshed when it comes to the completion of the creation week. Exodus 31 at verse 17, it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. So those are terms that are ultimately applicable to man.
These are improperly predicated of God. God does not weary. God doesn't need naps. God doesn't build the universe and then say he needs to take some time to get refreshment.
This is spoken in the manner of men. These are analogical concepts designed to teach us something concerning God. And the point here in Genesis 2.2 is not that God laid down for a nap. The idea is that God looked approvingly upon all that he had made.
God found delight in the creation that he had put together. John Owen says it was not a rest of weariness from labor or the labor of his work, but a rest of complacency and delight in what he had wrought that God entered into." So you see, it wasn't rest or inactivity, or he didn't stop for a glass of water, he didn't stop for a glass of iced tea, he didn't stop to fan himself, but rather the language is communicating to us in the manner of man something concerning God's cessation from the work of creation in the space of those six days, now he enters into this rest and refreshment which we interpret as God's delight and holy complacency in the things that he has made. Meredith Klein agrees. He says, the Creator's Sabbath rest is much more a matter of taking satisfaction and delight in His consummated building.
And I think that's how we understand verse 2.
God's Rest and the Cosmic Temple
But this statement concerning God's rest ought to lead us to a few conclusions. First, we see the completion of His cosmic temple. Now, there are many who have looked at scripture, and they've looked at the creation account, and they have interpreted scripture with scripture, and have come to understand that the earth, or the universe as a whole, is a cosmic temple. If we define temple as God's dwelling with men, then certainly that's what this cosmos is.
God created this universe in order to have fellowship with man. Not because he was needy, not because he's dependent, not because man somehow completes him, but according to his good pleasure. He made this universe and all things in it for the purpose of cohabiting with man. And so the earth itself, or the cosmos itself, is a cosmic temple.
You see this in Isaiah the prophet, chapter 66. God says that heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. There is this language throughout scripture that indicates that God is over the entirety of creation. We're going to argue when we go further in the narrative that Eden itself was a localized temple, and that Adam's task was to expand that garden temple to encompass the entirety of the earth.
So you have this localized temple, which is called Eden, or the Garden of Eden, but the universe as a whole is a cosmic temple. And so what we find here is that God has completed it. God has done what he had purposed to do. Meredith Klein again.
I will just commend to you I'll commend to you a couple of books tonight because we can really only scratch the surface. Meredith Klein's book, Kingdom Prologue, a lot of it is really, really, really lofty. It's a bit tough at some points to get a hold on, but his stuff on Sabbath is pretty accessible and it's most excellent. Another man by the name of G.K.
Beale. He has a book called A New Testament Old Testament Theology. Basically what he does is he looks at the New Testament through the lens of the Old Testament. I think I got the name wrong there.
But he does stuff on the Sabbath that's very excellent. And then Richard Barcelos has a very accessible book called Getting the Garden Right. And I highly recommend that. because he uses Beale and he uses Klein, and he brings it down to a manageable level to deal with the various concepts that we're going to be looking at here in Genesis chapter 2. But Klein says, the cosmic structure was built as a habitation for the Creator Himself.
Heaven and earth were erected as a house of God, a palace of the great King, the seat of sovereignty of the Lord of the Covenant. And I think that's what's going on here, specifically with reference to the rest of God. It speaks not only of His completion, but it also shows or expresses His delight in what He had made, and then it argues for the enthronement of God over all. is my throne, and earth is my footstool." God is the enthroned Lord over this creation, and this statement in terms of Genesis chapter 2.2 indicates that reality. James Hamilton says, God has presented His building for Himself a cosmic temple.
In this cosmic temple, he places his image, whose task is to fill the earth and subdue it such that the glory of Yahweh covers the land as the waters cover the sea. So those are some things that we receive from verse 2.
Blessing and Sanctification of the Seventh Day (v. 3)
Now note, as we move to verse 3, God engages in particular actions that have significance for the creature. So we have this statement concerning the completion of the cosmos, verse 1. We have this statement concerning the rest of the Creator in verse 2, but the significance of verse 3 means that what God does here has significance for the creature. And I want to draw that out in terms of Sabbath.
We are supposed to learn the doctrine of the Sabbath, certainly from Sinai. excuse me, but also from Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 3.
God Blesses and Sanctifies the Day
Now note the action of God in verse 3. It says, then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. So we have the same data that we have in verse 2. God rested after He created.
But there are these additional elements given to us in verse 3 that God blessed the seventh day and God sanctified it. Now, three times seventh day is mentioned. In all the other days of creation, we find them mentioned once. Moses is doing something.
I mentioned that he brings the creation to sort of its pinnacle with reference to the creation of man, because it's only man that's created in the image of God. Nothing else is created in the image of God. But Moses is also bringing us to this place where we appreciate what God is doing on this seventh day. We're appreciating, or supposed to appreciate, God's Sabbath rest at this particular juncture.
Now note, the Lord blessed the seventh day. Beel says, with reference to this idea of blessing, the Hebrew word for bless is normally restricted to living beings in the Old Testament and typically does not apply to something being blessed or sanctified only for God's sake. In other words, God doesn't bless the seventh day only for His sake. Up to this point, God has blessed.
Notice in verse 22, and God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply. You see, there is blessing pronounced by God for the good of creature. Notice in verse 28, then God blessed them again toward man, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. So, blessing will be used eventually as pertaining to God by the creature to God, but so far in the creation account, blessing refers to something that benefits the creature.
Now, follow the argument. We have a statement of God's rest in verse 2. We have that statement repeated in verse 3, but additional elements are added to verse 3. And those additional elements that are added are for the creature.
In other words, when God blesses the seventh day, it's not God's ownership specifically of that day only for Himself, but it is also for the creature. There is benefit with reference to this seventh day for the creature that has come from the hand of God. Back to Beal, the Hebrew word for bless is normally restricted to living beings in the Old Testament and typically does not apply to something being blessed or sanctified only for God's sake. Accordingly, Genesis 2.3 appears to be directed to humanity as a creational ordinance, more on that later, to regard the seventh day of each week to be blessed and set apart by God.
Now, the book is actually New Testament Biblical Theology. I sure messed that up, didn't I? New Testament Biblical Theology. You see, this idea of blessing is not just for God, it's also for man.
And those who read the Bible, and those who observe how God blesses, and those who see what God is doing, would make that connection. Thus far, creatures have been blessed. Now God comes to bless the seventh day. Certainly the seventh day is a creature, but the fact that this is in close union with the creation of image-bearers, we ought to infer that image-bearers reap benefit or blessing as a result of what God does here in Genesis 2.3.
Also notice that he sanctified it. So God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it. Now the vast majority of the uses of sanctify or set apart refer to God, to people, or to things. People are set apart or sanctified for a special purpose unto God.
Priests were set apart. Priests were sanctified. Priests were consecrated so that they could enter into the presence of God and serve Him. Things were set apart.
Things that were utilized in the tabernacle, things that were utilized in the temple, they were sanctified. They were taken from a common use and given a sacred use. That's what the idea is with reference to this sanctification. So out of the six days thus far, none of them have been sanctified.
They haven't been pulled from common use into a sanctified or set-apart state. The seventh day, however, has been. As well, when we use the word sanctify or set apart or holy with reference to days, it's only days associated with Israel's calendar, vis-Ã -vis Sabbaths or festival days, feast days. Remember back in chapter 1, I know this is going back a long time, verse 14.
There we made the observation in verse 14, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. I suggested there that we ought to appreciate this is probably a reference to Israel's calendar. It's not stars, constellations, and reading your fortune based on the alignment of such things. That's not how these heavenly bodies function in terms of signs and seasons, and for days and years.
They governed Israel's calendar. They governed the festival days. They governed the weekly Sabbaths. They governed and structured life in such a way that you had common, ordinary, normal use, and then you had sacred, set-apart, or holy use.
In every case, the day is clearly set apart for humans to observe when it comes to a day being sanctified. Again, every use of sanctify, set apart, is not simply for God's use, but it's also for the use of the human, the creature, the image bearer of God, so that he can reap the benefits of what Yahweh has done. So as we come to Genesis chapter 2, verse 1, creation completed. Verse 2, God rests with delight, with a holy complacency in the things that He has made.
And Genesis 2, 3 shows us what God does in terms of a reciprocity to His image bearer. He blesses the day and He sanctifies the day. And the creature is to observe this and enter into a like rest on a weekly cycle the way that God the Father or God the Creator, has set forth. So He is the divine exemplar.
And if you look at verse 3, it says, then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Now note the reason, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. This is the exact way that the fourth commandment proceeds when it's given on Sinai. The call to the people of God is to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it what?
Holy, sanctified, set apart. And what is the reason given to the creature as to why they're supposed to do that? For in six days the Lord your God made the heavens and the earth and all things in it, and then rested. You see, if we go to Sinai for our Sabbath ethic and we don't go back to the creation account, in many respects the Sinai Sabbath doesn't make sense.
The Sinai Sabbath makes sense because of what Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 3 teach us concerning God's pattern, God's paradigm, the divine exemplar at creation. He not only finishes, but he rests, he's enthroned, and then he carves out that sacred time for the people of God to imbibe or to participate in what the Lord has created for them. As well, there's an eschatological dimension to Sabbath. The Bible is heading forth to Sabbath.
There remains, therefore, a sabbatismos or a Sabbath rest for the people of God, according to Hebrews 4 and 9. Now, some would argue, well, that being the case, there's no weekly Sabbath. No, the eternal Sabbath is coming. That's the eschaton.
That's the glory of the age to come. The weekly down payment isn't invalidated. The weekly down payment is a foretaste of that eschatological goodness to come. So there's eschatology in Genesis 1 to 3.
The Bible is simply going to amplify and going to expound and going to show how God brings consummation what he originally gave at creation. There is a lot going on in Genesis 1-3, and it's unfortunate that we can only scratch the surface. As I said, I would suggest that you get those books if you're interested in such things, because it's really mind-expanding. I think that when you approach Genesis 1-3, and you see Adam as a farmer, you learn a lot, and it's a most blessed thing.
But when you understand that Adam's a priest, and he is functioning under God to expand a garden temple. And the whole idea of garden temple is God dwelling with his creatures. And then you see the forfeiture with reference to sin, and then God not only not bless man, but orchestrate a plan to redeem man and through the second Adam bring to completion what God had originally intended, I think it expands the vista of divine revelation and causes one to say, wow, this is a much greater plan than I ever even thought. It is most glorious.
And as we start to connect the dots with reference to temple, and Tabernacle and New Jerusalem. I hope we can do some of that. It really does hopefully expand one's vista concerning God's purpose and plan in the world. So the reason for God's Sabbath is because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.
Application
Now, I want to draw out a few applications. We may end early tonight, but we may not.
Distinctiveness of Genesis 1:1–2:3
First, we ought to appreciate the distinctiveness of Genesis 1-1 to 2-3. Genesis 1-1 to 2-3 is distinct. It functions as a bit of prologue, not only to the book of Genesis, but to the entirety of the Bible. Look at verse 4 of Genesis chapter 2.
It says, this is the history of the heavens and the earth. That history of is a Hebrew word. It's called Toledot. And it's repeated several times at key places in the book of Genesis.
And it is literally, this is the history of. It's derived from a verb, which means to give birth or bear. And it often precedes genealogies. So, what we have in 2.4 is, this is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
And now it hones in on the creation of man. Some have seen two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2. I think you could even say that as long as you qualify what you mean. You're not dealing with some pre-Adamic race, and then Genesis 2 deals with Adam.
No. But the idea is that Genesis 1 gives us a general thematic statement of the creation of man in the image of God. Genesis 2 hones in. Genesis 2 deals with the nitty-gritty.
Genesis 2 shows us God fashioning the man in his image. fashioning the woman from the rib of the man and bringing her to him. So Genesis 1, general. Genesis 2, 4, and following, specific. But this Toledot principle is in chapter 5, 6, 10, 11, twice in 11, 25, twice, 36, twice, and 37.
As we meet sort of a new epic figure in the history, we have a, this is the history of, or these are the generations of. And so some have seen this and recognized that 1.1 to 2.3 is sort of outside that. It's not included in the, this is the history of. So Genesis 1.1 to 2.3 is sort of this prologue.
It's this overture, to use the language of Gordon Wenham. It's similar to the symphony, but it's an overture. It has similarity, but it's thunderous. It's amazing.
It's somewhat distinct as it introduces what's going to follow in the music coming. And so Genesis 1.1 to 2.3 sort of functions in that way. Wenham says the absence of this heading, this toledot, in Genesis 1.1 and the distinctive style of the chapter sets it off from what follows. Yet here the great themes, or at least the presuppositions, of the subsequent narratives are made explicit.
If the divine word established the world at the beginning, it will become clear that the same word governed and directed the subsequent unfolding of sacred history. So there is connection, but there's also distinction between this section of narrative, 1.1 to 2.3. This is God. In the beginning, he created the heavens and the earth. and all the host of them." 2, 4 and following will start to focus in on the generations of man, specific man, Adam being the first.
So 1 deals with a general statement concerning the creation of Adam and Eve. Genesis 2 starts to hone in and give us the nitty-gritty of how God made them. and what He then required of them in what we'll refer to as the covenant of works as we move, excuse me, through Genesis chapter 2. So there is a distinctiveness about Genesis 1.1 to 2.3.
The Glory of the Creator
Secondly, we ought to appreciate at this point the glory of the Creator. I mean, this God did what he says he did here is absolutely incredible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Everything.
There's nothing that exists that's there apart from God. Things seen and unseen. It's this which drives the confession of the Church. I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth.
This is what we confess as God's people. He made the world and all things in it. By faith we understand it. Notice that specific procedure in Hebrews 11.3.
By faith we understand. We don't come and first try to figure it all out and say, okay, I'm going to believe now. No, it's by faith that we understand. Scripture gives us the proper lens to interpret reality.
It's Scripture that we ought to utilize to interpret the world around us. It's not the other way around. We don't try and interpret the world and then argue to God. Remember that the Genesis 1.1 begins with God.
It doesn't argue for God, doesn't give us ten reasons why we ought to believe in God. It simply assumes or presupposes God. In the beginning, God. He created the heavens and the earth.
That God is responsible for everything that follows, not only in the Genesis account, but in the rest of the Bible. Genesis 3.15 will be programmatic after Adam and Eve plunge, or Adam plunges his posterity into sin. God gives this promise in Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
I don't think it's an understatement to say that the rest of the Bible is commentary on Genesis 1 to 3. In other words, God made this world. He stationed Adam in it. He gave Adam a particular prohibition that Adam disobeyed.
As a result, Adam plunges his posterity himself and his posterity into sin, and then God promises a Redeemer. And the rest of Scripture fleshes out the coming of that Redeemer. The rest of Scripture tells us what Genesis 3.15 is all about. The very fact that he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel speaks of suffering.
I would argue even death with reference to the seed of the woman in order to bring about this skull-crushing, decisive victory over the serpent himself or over the devil. So Genesis 1 to 2.3 is a glorious prologue to the rest of Scripture.
The Sabbath as Creational Pattern for Man
Now, getting to Sabbath specifically, in terms of the pattern for man. You know, we read this and we say, well, I don't know if they would have figured out that they should have Sabbathed. Well, remember, they would have known that all too well because Moses wrote this. And, you know, Steve just mentioned to me that he was, I told him what we're going to be doing tonight.
He said, oh, I just read Exodus 16. You know what's intriguing about Exodus 16? They Sabbathed. You know what's intriguing about Exodus 16?
It comes before Exodus 20. I know that's a breakthrough of information for you tonight, but the argument that the Sabbath was given at Sinai is untenable. The argument that the Sabbath arose at Sinai is not biblical. In fact, it's interesting with Genesis 4.
At the end of days, these two brothers brought their sacrifice to God. The new King James renders it in the process of time. But the idea is at the end of days, not at the end of the days of the earth, but probably at the end of the days of the week. When would Cain and Abel bring their sacrifice?
It would be at the end of the days of the week, right? It wouldn't be, you know, at the end of all things, because they wouldn't be there. At the end of the days of the week, they would bring their sacrifice. Sabbath is built in.
You see, God wrote the law on our hearts, and this is the beauty of God's Word. It tells us that man does not come from the hand of God as a blank slate. Man came from the hand of God as a rational being. We saw that last week.
Adam didn't grunt and then put together a few words, you know, go from this knuckle-dragging Neanderthal, you know, I remember a farsighted cartoon where there's cavemen sort of sitting around a fire and they're all putting their you know they got meat and they're all putting their hands in the fire to cook the meat and of course they're going out and you know one caveman has a stick with meat on the end and he's just sitting there roasting it and they're all going hey maybe he's on to something there that's not what happened Adam had the facility, competency, and ability to hear God, to speak with God. There was no Neanderthal knuckle-dragging stage of man where he grunted and groaned and pieced together a few words and then started to write Shakespeare. No, he comes from the hand of God as a rational, communicating being that's able to hear data and able to act upon data. Presumably up until the time that they take the fruit and plunge the race into sin, or mankind into sin, there was just good converse between God and Adam.
It was a genuine temple. God, man dwelling together in harmony, peace, and glory, and beauty. So the idea is that these people would have known because they already had Sabbath in place. Exodus 16, of course, Exodus 20.
But notice, with reference to the text itself, first of all, the close connection between man as image of God and the rest of God. In other words, if God rests, wouldn't it seem to follow that His image should rest? Especially since God is creator and doesn't need rest. He doesn't weary.
He doesn't grow tired. He doesn't need naps. Where creature does need rest. Creature does need naps.
He does need to refresh himself. So the close connection between the statement concerning God creating man in His image, Genesis 1, 26 to 28, to the rest of God in Genesis 2, 2 and 3. Again, it's not a specific proof text that says, well, because of that, but certainly as early readers, they should have seen, well, God rested, we should rest also. Wenham again says the seventh day is the very first thing to be hallowed in Scripture, to acquire that special status that properly belongs to God alone.
In this way, Genesis emphasizes the sacredness of the Sabbath. Coupled with the threefold reference to God resting from all His work on that day, these verses give the clearest of hints of how man, created in the divine image, should conduct himself on the seventh day. In other words, if God rests on the seventh day and I bear God's image, what should I conclude? Well, I think I should rest on the seventh day.
Secondly, the reference to God's work. Notice in verse 2, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done. Again, Gordon Wenham. He's got a great commentary on the book of Genesis.
Work occurs three times in verses 2 and 3. It is the ordinary word for human work, and it is therefore a little unexpected that the extraordinary divine activity involved in creating heaven and earth should be so described. In other words, word that is used for our work doing whatever mundane task. That's the word that Moses utilizes here with reference to God having completed His work.
Wenham's drift. I mean, something so amazing, you wouldn't communicate it by this sort of super ordinary word, work. I mean, when you go to work tomorrow, and you do what you do, and then you consider what God did when he did, it's not the same, is it? You know, today, you could look back and say, well, I had a pretty good day at work.
And then you think about God creating the heavens and the earth, and you think, that's kind of not work in the same sort of sphere. Back to Wenham. He says, it is therefore a little unexpected that the extraordinary divine activity involved in creating heaven and earth should be so described. It may be, as Westerman suggests, that this word has been deliberately chosen to hint that man should stop his daily work on the seventh day.
In other words, if God stops He finishes his work of creation in six days, and on the seventh day his work is stopped, and he rests. What ought his image-bearers to divine from such a reality? Thirdly, the presence in the narrative, and we'll see those as we move on, of what's called creation ordinances. There are things that are in the creation account that aren't necessarily do this type of commands, but are nevertheless commands.
In other words, some have observed what's called the creation ordinance of labor in Genesis 2.15. God makes Adam work. It's a beautiful thing. Why should men work?
Because God instituted it in the garden. Even if Adam is functioning as a priest to extend the garden temple, that's work. Just because it's not farming doesn't mean it isn't work. Priestly work is work.
And so this is what's called a creation ordinance. 2.15 doesn't say, hey, Adam, I'm going to give you a command now, and I want you to take up this hoe, and I want you to beat back the brush, and I want you to extend the garden temple. Now, in a sense, that's what God says to him, but the creation ordinance of labor is there. Same thing with what's called the creation ordinance of marriage. There's no command to Adam, hey Adam, I'm going to establish this thing, the civil magistrate is going to look after, and you're going to find a woman, you're going to put a ring on her finger, you're going to kiss the bride, and you're going to...
No, there's no command, it just happens. There are certain things that happen at creation in terms of ethics that aren't necessarily an imperative the way that you and I would command our children not to put their finger in a light socket or an electrical socket, but they are commands nevertheless, and Sabbath is one of them. What God does has imperatival function for the creature. In other words, it comes to us as an imperative.
When we see Creator rest on the seventh day, we should rest on the seventh day. Fourthly, and we've already observed this, the fourth commandment. The fourth commandment gives the same language, the same idea. The day is remembered and kept holy.
So the same language that is used by God in 2-3. God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it at Sinai. The Israelites are commanded to keep the day holy. That means sanctify it.
The reason given for that Sabbath commandment at Sinai is creation. And it rings with or echoes with what God does in 2-3. So there is this sort of command function there latent in Genesis 2 and 3. And then
Christ's Commentary on the Sabbath
I would suggest Jesus' teaching in Mark chapter 2. You can turn there. Mark chapter 2, where Jesus gives us clear teaching. Matthew 12 is another place, a parallel passage, but, you know, Mark, it comes out in a particular way that I want to observe here.
I would suggest this is divine commentary by our Lord on the creation account. And in Mark 2 at verse 27. He said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." Now, that is a packed statement, and a most excellent statement.
And I think what Jesus has in mind here is Genesis 2. It's not Sinai, because Jesus does not say the Sabbath was made for the Jew. If he said the Sabbath was made for the Jew, that would reflect Sinai, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, Plains of Moab. It would reflect the Decalogue.
But the language that Jesus uses, the Sabbath was made for man, not Jew. Now, there's an article with man. Literally, Sabbath was made for the man. We could interpret it as Adam or mankind in general.
Either way, it functions the same. If it's mankind in general, absolutely. If it's Adam, then it's mankind in general. Because what God does for Adam in the garden is paradigmatic or a pattern of how God deals with creatures.
So Jesus says the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The second observation is that this isn't true because Jesus says it. In other words, this idea of Sabbath having been made for man didn't become true when Jesus pronounced this. Does everybody get that?
It's not true because Jesus says it in Mark 2. It's true because of Genesis 2.3, and Jesus is simply commenting on that. So I've mentioned before, in Romans, the Apostle Paul tells us that Adam was a type of him who was to come. He always was, even before Jesus came.
You know, you go back to Isaiah's day and you think about Adam as a type of Jesus, it might be a bit confusing. But when Paul tells us that Adam was a type of him who was to come, it's not true at the time that Paul says it, it's true at the time that Adam was. Does that make sense? It's true that the Sabbath was made for man at Genesis 2, 1 to 3.
Not in the life and ministry of Jesus when He makes this pronouncement. It's always been the case since the creation of the world that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. It doesn't take on this made-for-man-ness when Christ says it, but rather Jesus says it because it's true from the beginning. It was made for man.
Again, I don't know how you can get around that. To suggest that Genesis 2, 1-3 is not an imperative for man really calls into question Christ's commentary or interpretation. It was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. What else do you do with that?
And he links this making of man and this making of Sabbath together. So it was the case that man was made, Sabbath was made. Man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but rather Sabbath was made for man. And again, that ought to cause us to reflect on Genesis 2, 1 and 3, 1 to 3, not with disdain.
I don't get this. I was saved by God's grace and went right into a reformed situation. I never got this antipathy towards Sabbath keeping. I never understand why Christians are given a gift by God and they don't want it.
To me, it's a blessed, beautiful, wonderful thing. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. God didn't say, I'm going to make you Imago Dei and have you just observe Sabbath. No, I'm going to make you in my image, and then I'm going to show you what it is to rest on the seventh day.
I'm going to bless the day, I'm going to sanctify the day, and I'm going to tie it with a bow, and I'm going to hand it to you. And then your posterity is going to rise up and say, oh no, we don't have to keep the Sabbath. Oh no, the Sabbath isn't abiding for us. Oh no, we got to keep nine of the ten commandments, but no Sabbath commandment.
Where's the antipathy? Why do we have such animosity toward a good gift that God gives us? We weren't made for Sabbath compliance. The Sabbath was made as a gift given by God to His creatures.
It's a beautiful thing. Why do we complain? Why do we resist? Why do we say, no, I don't want it?
Or why do we dispensationalize it and say, well, no, the commands were given to the Jews and they're not for us. Again, we see all 10 commandments prior to Sinai. We're going to see that as we move through the book of Genesis. Why does God rain hell down on Sodom and Gomorrah if there were no 10 commandments?
Why does God tell Cain, or why does Cain rather, know that he is worthy of capital punishment? Because God made us in his image and he put his law in our heart. And Romans chapter 1 tells us that sinners know that God is, they know His eternal power, and they know His Godhead, and they know, 132, that it's righteous with God to judge sinners. We know that because we're created in His image and we have His law written on our hearts.
We're going to see the Ten Commandments fleshed out prior to Sinai. Sinai isn't a brand new thing in terms of law. Sinai is a codification, Sinai is a summary, Sinai is a writing on tablets, what was already given by God. As John Lightfoot said, Adam had the same law in the garden that Israel receives at Sinai, yet without the thunder and without the lightning.
Same law. All those things are present prior to Sinai. So Jesus' argument is the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.
Intriguing that he calls himself here Son of Man. Sabbath made for man, Adam. Adam plunges posterity into sin. Son of man, Jesus Christ, comes and he will take that plunged posterity in Adam and bring many sons to glory.
And in this particular situation, Christ holds forth the Sabbath as a good thing given by God for man. Royal says, God made it for Adam in paradise and renewed it to Israel on Mount Sinai. It was made for all mankind, not for the Jew only, but for the whole family of Adam. And I would suggest any theology of the Sabbath that does not begin in Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, is a defective theology of the Sabbath.
This is the problem of dispensationalism. This is the problem of New Covenant theology. This is the problem of all non-reform Covenant theology approaches to the Bible. You end up dissecting the Scripture and applying things here and applying things there and moving it over here and suggesting things like some do.
Well, you know, nine of the Ten Commandments are for us because they're repeated in the New Testament. Well, brethren, if it's not repeated in the New Testament but never done away with, we assume it's binding. We don't conclude, well, therefore it's no longer for us. And the three texts that everybody stumbles on, Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2, do not invalidate the moral principle of the fourth commandment.
It is overly simplistic to see Paul there saying something about a day and concluding that I can do whatever I want after I engage in my obligatory morning worship, the rest of the day is up to me. Brethren, that is to take the gift of God and say, you know what, Lord? I don't want it. I know better what is good for me, and I'm going to reject and resist it.
And then I'm going to get really, really sly and develop a theology that fits that particular model. No, Reformed or Covenant theology looks at the entirety of Scripture and yields things like what we have in our Confession of Faith. It's a beautiful statement. From the beginning of the world to the Resurrection, it was the seventh day.
From the Resurrection of Christ to the end of the world, it's the first day. And there's reasons for that. We simply don't have time. I would encourage you to come.
You know, we just actually went through Sabbath in our Confession study, so it'll be another, what, 25? Another year, not years, 25 years, but we're going to be in chapter 28. So we got to come all the way back around to chapter 22. Actually, we don't have to do that.
You can go on sermon audio. We dealt with, I think, four messages on the Sabbath. So it's not like, wow, we never talk about this. Some of you are probably saying that's all we ever talk about.
It really isn't. The confession, we do go through that every other week. We deal with the doctrines, and it's a good thing. I think getting that doctrine into the matter of our soul, the marrow of our soul is a good thing for us.
But there are reasons why the day changed, and we can argue that. later on or at another place or another juncture, you can listen to the messages there on Sermon Audio. But the point is, is that Sabbath did not originate at Sinai. Sabbath originated at creation with the Creator, who gives us this pattern of Himself in verse 2, and then He takes pains, not pains literally, but He blesses and He sanctifies the day, not first and foremost for his own benefit. Certainly there's symbol, certainly he's enthroned, certainly cosmic creator is over the cosmos, and he's ruling, and he's reigning, and he's governing, and he's doing all that sort of thing, but he's doing this for the good of the creature.
He blesses it, he sanctifies it, and he shows by his own practice and habit what his creature is supposed to do. I think if we get this, and I think if we develop, by the grace of God, a high regard for the Sabbath, I think it does reflect well, not only on us seeking to honor God, but on the knowledge of the Scripture. The Bible is clear on these things. It's not, wow, I can't piece it all together.
It's pretty clear. who've gone through the Confession on a few occasions or read books on the Sabbath, it's not this outlandish thing. You know, 200 years ago, everybody just believed this. It was dispensationalism that carved up the Bible. It was dispensationalism, you know, in the 1830s that said, oh no, the Decalogue is for the Jews.
It has no bearing for the Gentile church. Well, come on. How do you maintain that in light of the New Testament? What shall we say then?
Shall we nullify the law, destroy the law? No, rather we establish the law, Romans 3.31. When Paul wants to define what love looks like, where does he go? To a Gentile church, he goes to the Decalogue.
I mean, brethren, this idea that the Ten Commandments were for the Jews, and this Gentile sort of phase of the Church doesn't have the Ten... It's just nonsensical. It is not biblical. It is unfortunate that so many have been duped by that system and just swallow it wholesale.
Now, to the credit of, you know, the modern DSPI teachers, they say, well, nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated. Thankfully, I'm glad that they're inconsistent and they'll at least hold out to us that we can't commit adultery. I mean, that's nice of them, isn't it? You know, I mean, they parent or they go to the tax, Romans 6, 14.
We're not under law, but we're under grace. That can't mean I can go commit murder or adultery. It can't mean that. Does it?
No! We're not under law as a covenant of works. We're not under law as a straightjack. We're not under law as an approach to God.
We're under grace. But that doesn't mean we get rid of the law. The law has a function within the context of the Christian life. Now, having said all this, something as offensive as resisting, rejecting, and throwing away the gift is a Pharisaic approach to the Sabbath.
Where did Jesus throw down more often than not with the Pharisees? It was on the Sabbath. Because they were fastidious. They were legalistic.
They were of the school, well, man was made for the Sabbath. God made man in his image so that he could obey the Sabbath. Jesus says, no, that's not the way it's supposed to be. So a high regard for the Christian Sabbath ought never to lead us to a Pharisaic finger-wagging, pointing down our noses at everybody else, and holding ourselves up as if we're the high and lofty and holy one.
Now certainly, we want to esteem the day, we want to seek by the grace of God to keep it in our own lives and in our own conduct, But we better watch against this whole idea of a checklist morality and this approach to judging everybody who doesn't do things the way that we do them. Jesus had very harsh words for the Pharisees of his own day when it came to that approach to the Sabbath. So those are some thoughts on Genesis 1 or 2, 1 to 3. God willing, in two weeks, nobody's going to show up next Wednesday night.
If you do, it's on you. But in two weeks, we'll start looking at the Garden of Eden. Well, how about if I close in a word of prayer?
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your Word and thank you for this great section of Holy Scripture and the consistency that we find from Genesis to Revelation. We ask that you would help us in our Sabbath ethic, help us to see the benefit, to see the gift character of it. Help us to see that it was not us made for it, but it made for us. And may we see it as a great blessing in our lives to cease and desist from our own things, our own thoughts, our own works, and to rest in our God on the day that he is blessed, on the day that he is sanctified.
We pray that you would go with us now, bring us together on the Lord's day, that we may worship you, that we may praise and honor and glorify you. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.