Entering God's Rest - Genesis 2:1-3

In my last blog post, we looked at the six days of creation in Genesis 1. We will now look at the seventh day and explore how we can enter into God's seventh-day rest.

After describing the six days of creation, Genesis continues the narrative as follows:
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Genesis 2:1–3 NKJV
1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 
2 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. 
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
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One of the reasons Genesis was written was to help the ancient Jews to understand where their various traditions came from. One of those traditions was keeping the Sabbath as a day of rest. The Sabbath was from Friday evening to Saturday evening.  It was on this day that the Jews went to the synagogue to worship God and to hear His word. The reason for keeping the Sabbath was that God Himself rested on the seventh day, after completing the creation of the world in six days. Furthermore, we are told that God blessed the seventh day and "sanctified" it, which means that He consecrated that day, setting it apart for rest.
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Keeping the Sabbath became part of the law that God gave to Israel. For us Christians, who are not under the law of Moses, keeping the Sabbath is not mandatory as the following passage makes clear:
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Romans 14:5–6 (NKJV)
‌5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 
‌6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it...
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Of course, it is still wise for us to have a day of rest. However, it is not a religious requirement for Christians. The reason for this is that the Sabbath day was actually symbolic of the true rest that is available to us through Christ:
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Colossians 2:16–17 NLT
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.
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So Christ is the reality that the Sabbath day pointed to. In other words, only in Christ can we find true rest for our souls. Jesus Himself said:
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Matthew 11:28–30 NKJV
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
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The heavy load that was on those that Jesus addressed is likely a reference to the various traditions that God never commanded but were nonetheless imposed on the people by the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. These were very burdensome. But Jesus is not like that. Instead, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
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Notice that Jesus says,  “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, and you will find rest for your souls”.  In other words, follow Me, and you will find rest for your souls. This rest is not a peace that comes from being perfect. It is a peace that comes from knowing that we are on the right path because we are following Jesus. But we cannot have peace if we are afraid that every time you slip up Jesus will severely chastise you. However, our souls are at rest because Jesus says He is “gentle and lowly in heart”. In other words, He is gentle in His dealings with us. Also, because He is gentle with us, He doesn't give us more than we can bear but gives us the grace to deal with anything we face. He knows what it is to be human, and He knows our weaknesses - "Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested" (Hebrews 2:18 NLT).
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Let us look again at the seventh day in Genesis 2:2-3:‌
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Genesis 2:2–3 NKJV
2 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. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
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Notice that it doesn’t say, “So the evening and the morning were the seventh day”. On the other six days, we read, “So the evening and the morning were the first day”, “So the evening and the morning were the second day” etc. However, that is not said on the seventh day. Because of this, many believe that the seventh day never ended, and that we are still in the seventh day today. Bearing that in mind, let us now consider what the book of Hebrews says about the seventh day. ‌
The author of Hebrews told his readers that God's rest was available to the Israelites, but they failed to enter it because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:19). He went on to say:
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Hebrews 4:3–4 NLT
3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’ ” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”
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So God’s seventh day of rest was something that the Israelites could have potentially entered into, but they didn’t. It continues in verse 7...
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Hebrews 4:7 (NLT)
‌7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today....
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So today, through faith in Jesus, we enter into God’s own rest. But what is this rest? It continues in verses 9-10...
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Hebrews 4:9–10 NLT
9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.
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So, to enter God’s rest means that we rest from our labors, as God did on the seventh day. This means that we rest from are our own efforts to achieve salvation. Instead, we rest in God’s grace:
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Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
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The fact that we have been saved by God’s grace does not mean that we can now sin as much as want. Those who have been saved by God's grace have also been given a new nature that desires to live a life that pleases God:
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1 John 3:9 NLT
9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
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As such, those who wilfully live lives that violate God’s commandments show by their actions that they have not yet entered into God’s rest.

Those who have entered God’s rest do not trust in their own ability to live righteously. Instead, they depend on the strength that comes from the Holy Spirit to empower them and to keep them on the path that leads to life (see Galatians chapter 5).
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As we come to the end of this blog post, I want to remind us of an excellent example of rest in the midst of a storm:‌
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Luke 8:22–25 NLT
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and started out. 
23 As they sailed across, Jesus settled down for a nap. But soon a fierce storm came down on the lake. The boat was filling with water, and they were in real danger. 
24 The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Suddenly the storm stopped and all was calm. 
25 Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?” The disciples were terrified and amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “When he gives a command, even the wind and waves obey him!”
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In the midst of the storm, Jesus rested. This is a picture of the fact that in the midst of the storms we face, our hearts should be at rest because we know that God is with us. And if God is with us, our boat will reach its God-ordained destination. So let us cast aside anything that causes our hearts not to be at rest. Let us instead cause our hearts to think about God’s faithfulness and His power, and let us trust His plan for our lives!
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Philippians 4:6–7 NLT
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
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Summary:
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• Keeping the Sabbath is not a religious requirement for Christians, but it is still wise to have a day of rest.
• ‌The Sabbath day was symbolic of the true rest that is available to us in Christ.
• ‌Through following Jesus, we find rest for our souls.
• Jesus is gentle in His dealings with us.
• ‌Jesus doesn't give us more than we can bear, but gives us grace to deal with anything we face.
• ‌Entering God's grace means that we rest from our own efforts to achieve salvation, and instead rest in God's grace.
• Those who have been saved by God's grace have also been give a new nature that desires to live a life that pleases God.
• ‌Those who have entered God’s rest do not trust in their own ability to live righteously. Instead, they depend on the strength that comes from the Holy Spirit to keep and empower them.
• ‌In the midst of the storms we face, our hearts should be at rest because we know that God is with us.