Rested From All His Work (Genesis 2:2)

 


Saturday, April 19, 2025


Psalm 30

Genesis 2:1-3

John 19:38-42


Observance: Saturday in Holy Week [Easter Eve]


Rested From All His Work (Genesis 2:2)


And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.


What do you suppose most people think Jesus was doing when he lay dead in the tomb?


The medievals, with their famous imagination, came up with the idea of “the harrowing of hell”, whereby Jesus descended into the place of the dead, did battle with Satan and released the prisoners he had come to save. It is a brilliant piece of historical fiction, but it doesn’t quite seem to line up with the rest of the Bible.


Jesus’ final words on the cross were “it is finished”. At those words the curtain in the temple split in two from top to bottom; the old covenant was finally fulfilled, and the eternal Son of the Father had done in time and space what he had been doing since before the foundation of the world: redeeming his chosen people. It is not for nothing that we read Genesis this morning: that Jesus rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.


Considering the importance of observing a Sabbath day of rest as a Christian, we often come at it from the angle that it is a gift from God in order to give our bodies a chance to stay healthy. That is true, but there is also a cosmic and eternal significance. For just as God rested on the seventh day after his first work of creation, he also rested on the seventh day after his work of re-creation.


Rising from the grave, Jesus will be “the firstfruits of the resurrection”. Just as Adam, the first human, was formed from the dust, and yet fell into sin, so too does Jesus rise but this time perfect, bringing about a new creation. And so when Christians observe a day of Sabbath rest we not only glorify God in our physical restoration, but also remembering the spiritual restoration we have in Christ.


How often do you observe a day of Sabbath rest? How might you see each new week from the perspective of the resurrection?


O Lord our God, you have turned for us our mourning into dancing and clothed us with gladness: may we rest in the knowledge that you have made everything new in Christ, that our glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

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