Genesis - 5
The Beginning of a Day of Rest
Do you get a day off work each week? Is there one day at least when you have a break from your normal working routine? If this is so, I’m sure you are thankful for it and feel that it does you good. It may be that you are one of those people who manage to have two days off each week and you look forward to what is now commonly called “the weekend.” This is when you spend more time with the family and use up the hours relaxing or engaging in some sporting activity, or visiting friends or perhaps doing some of those odd jobs around the house. In addition to all that, for the Christian believer Sunday - which is really the first day of the week - is given over to the Lord, with a complete break from everyday work. It will be a day of rest, worship and spiritual refreshment, and a time for fellowship with other Christians.
This custom of a day of rest, a day off work, is generally recognised throughout the world, although the day observed varies depending on local religion and tradition. Where Christianity and the Bible have been the main influence it is Sunday that is observed.
At various times in history this vital principle of a day of rest has been ignored and laws have been passed forcing people to work for much longer periods before having a break. It might have been eight or ten days before time off was given. Do you know that in each instance it was a disaster? Productivity levels fell, the health of workers suffered and the economy of the countries concerned declined. This principle of a day of rest each week was established by God at the world’s foundation because God, our Maker, knows what is best for man. It is not wise to interfere with what He has established.
All of this brings us to the question: How did it all begin? When was this principle of a day of rest for mankind established? This is where Genesis, the book of beginnings, can help us. It is there that we read of the very first day of rest. In Genesis chapter 2 verses 2 and 3:
“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.”
This seventh day was to be regarded as different from all the other days for it was the day that God Himself rested from all his work of creation. Creation is clearly described in terms of stages, day by day with a final day of rest. It is to that event that the fourth of the “Ten Commandments” refers in Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 to 11:
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God….. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
There is much debate about the six days of creation, but we must always make a clear distinction between true, honest science and what may be called scientism which is a philosophy, an outlook that is capable of ignoring, distorting or concealing observed results so as to leave God, the Creator, out of the picture. So, I am not going to enter into a consideration of the timescale of the six days of creation because my main purpose is to explain the principle of a day of rest given by God at the beginning of man’s history.
So here we have the teaching of Genesis: God created the world in six days by a power and wisdom beyond all our understanding. On the seventh day He rested from the work of creation. He is not inactive however, for He continues to sustain everything that He has made. Now He commands a day of rest for mankind. This is to be a day when we can think about our Maker, praise him and be free from our normal toil and duties.
But the question may arise in your mind, “How do we get from this the Christian principle of observing Sunday as the day of rest and worship?” For the answer we need to look more closely at the word “seventh”. The Hebrew word for it is “shabbat”, or in English, “sabbath”. The word simply means “the seventh”. It indicates a ratio or fraction: one in seven, or one out of seven. The Old Testament Law required the Children of Israel to keep the last, or seventh, day of the week as a separate day for the Lord. Many Jewish people still keep that practice today.
Why is it, then, that Christians observe the first day of the week as “The Lord’s Day”? For an answer to this we must go to the New Testament of the Bible and to the practice of the early church. It was on the first day of the week, that is early on Sunday morning, that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from death, having yielded up his life on the cross as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. He was crucified on the Friday and his resurrection took place on the third day, the Sunday. It was on another Sunday, seven weeks later that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church on the Day of Pentecost.
The early believers began to see a pattern in these events. A new era had begun. A new beginning and a new covenant between God and man had been established through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So they began to meet on the first day of the week which they called “The Lord’s Day”. On that day they came together as the Lord had commanded them, in remembrance of Him and his sacrifice for them. Luke records in Acts chapter 20 verse 7: “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.”
The practice of meeting on the first day of the week is also evidenced by Paul’s words to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 2: “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income…” Writing many years later the apostle John records in Revelation chapter 1 verse 20: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”
The principle of observing one day in every seven as a day holy, or separate, for the Lord was thus kept by the apostles and the early Christians and continues to this day. Although the day is called “Sun-day” because in earlier times people worshipped the bright light above them, Christians do something far better. On that day they honour the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved them and gave himself for them. They honour the Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, the creator of all things.
What will you be doing on the next Lord’s Day? Will it be a day spent for yourself or will you be praising and serving the Lord your Creator and Saviour Who Himself rested on the seventh day?