Why did God rest on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2)?

There are few subjects on which so much misunderstanding and contradiction prevails as the doctrine of "the Sabbath." Not that there is the slightest foundation for either the one or the other; for the whole subject Is laid down in the word, in the simplest possible manner. The distinct commandment, to "keep holy the Sabbath day" will come before us, the Lord permitting, in our meditations on the book of Exodus. In the chapter now before us, there is no command given to man, whatever; but simply the record that, "God rested on the seventh dray." "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." There is no commandment given to man, here. We are simply told that God enjoyed His rest, because all was done, so far as the mere creation was concerned. There was nothing more to be done, and, therefore, the One who had, during six days, been working, ceased to work, and enjoyed His rest. All was complete; all was very good; all was just as He Himself had made it; and He rested in it. "The morning stars sang together; and all the sons of God shouted for joy." The work of creation was ended, and God was celebrating a Sabbath.

And, be it observed, that this is the true character of a Sabbath. This is the only Sabbath which God ever celebrated, so far as the inspired record instructs us. After this, we read of God's commanding man to keep the Sabbath, and man utterly failing so to do; but we never read again the words, "God rested;" on the contrary, the word is, "My Father works hitherto, and I work." (John 5:17) The Sabbath, in the strict and proper sense of the term, could only be celebrated when there really was nothing to be done. It could only be celebrated amid an undefiled creation — a creation on which no spot of sin could be discerned. God can have no rest where there is sin; and one has only to look around him in order to learn the total impossibility of God's enjoying a rest in creation now. The thorn and the thistle, together with the ten thousand other melancholy and humiliating fruits of a groaning creation, rise before us, and declare that God must be at work and not at rest. Could God rest in the midst of thorns and briers? Could He rest amid the sighs and tears, the groans and sorrows, the sickness and death, the degradation and guilt of a ruined world? Could God sit down, as it were, and celebrate a Sabbath in the midst of such circumstances?

The writer refers to creation to show that from the beginning God has had before Him “rest”, and to manifest the character of God's rest. After the world was formed and man was created in the image and likeness of God, the creation works of God were finished. This led to creation rest with its two distinctive marks: firstly, God's satisfaction in all that He had made, as we read, “God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good”; secondly, the entire cessation from all His creation work, as it is written, “He rested on the seventh day from all his work which He had made.” (Gen. 1:31; Gen. 2:2). Thus we learn the two great truths that mark God's rest: the absolute complacency in the result of the labour; and satisfaction being reached, the absolute end of all toil.

How touching the testimony of God's complacency in the, as yet, unsullied creation! He rested on the seventh day: surely not in any such sense as that in which we use the word rest, as contrasted with fatigue, but simply as contrasted with the six days' work. "The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them;" "and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it," as that on which He could with delight survey the completed work. How beautiful a type of that eternal rest He is yet to have in the redeemed creation! (Rev. 21:5-6.)

And now comes the Sabbath, God's rest. We must not let this pass without carefully remarking it. God rested on the seventh day from the work which He had made.

God's rest is a very great subject in the scriptures; and in general, it is but little understood. It is well to look at it, as it is first presented to us here in Genesis. God could rest when all the works of this creation (of Gen. 1) were complete. I suppose that there is always the thought of satisfaction in the work, and of the absence of anything that could disturb the repose.

At the beginning, as Creator, He formed His works, so that He Himself might rest in them. He saw everything which He had made, that it was very good; and all furnished Him with a desired habitation.* The Sabbath at the end of creation-work tells us this. Whatever measure of happiness was provided for man in the arrangements of creation (and that measure was indeed complete), still the Lord God was to have a place in the garden. He walked there in the cool of the day, seeking the presence of Adam.

"And the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished. And God had finished on the seventh day his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that on it he had rested from all his work which God had created in making" (or, and made, lit. to make) (vers. 1-3).

The last is without doubt a remarkable phrase, falling in naturally with what we have seen in the opening verses, an original creation where man was not, succeeded by catastrophe, and by fresh creative energy, the details of which refer to the scene where and when man was to be brought into being. Here the work and the rest of God are in clear view of the race; and the seventh day or sabbath has immense importance. On its first mention it was unmistakably the witness of God's rest: His rest, not from weariness of course, but from the work of creation and making. This work was now ended for the life that now is. And as the six preceding days were literal, so is the seventh the closing day of the week.

Three things are mentioned. First, God ended His work — the dawning of the seventh day brought with it the end of His labor. Second, God rested; this is what the day brought in for Him — rest. Third, God blessed and sanctified it. The blessing of the day can alone consist in the delight and satisfaction of God concerning the accomplished work which thus makes rest possible. It is sanctified, in that it is set apart to the enjoyment of this delight and satisfaction. Who shall say what the men sure of these things is to be in that sabbath-keeping of God into which His people shall enter with Him?

This rest was not a matter of choice, nor was it in any way dependant on human will. It was to be perfect, and the God of grace, who had prepared it for man, took upon himself to work out the sanctification, without which it would have been of no avail for sinful man. The sabbath was the continual remembrance of the accomplished work of the Creator, and in this fact we get the explanation of its moral character, as well as of its perfection. God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. He had ended His work, and He rested on the seventh day. God's sabbath is thus the expression of His complete satisfaction with a perfect scene, where nothing is lacking that could add to the happiness of those creatures to whom He grants the enjoyment of it all in communion with Himself.

Genesis 2:1-3, really belongs to Genesis 1, and completes the paragraph. The seventh day was a day of rest for God. His work had involved both creating and making, but all was now complete, and evidently He has not set His hand to work of that order from that time until now. The entrance of sin necessitated His taking up work of another order, and the Lord Jesus alluded to this in saying, "My Father works hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17).

Thus the seventh day was specially blessed and set apart, and we may say that a seventh day of rest after six days of work is a thought that dates back to the very beginning of man's history. The word "sabbath" does not occur until we reach Exodus 16:23, where it designates the seventh day after the manna was given. After that the law was given, and this "sabbath" — this "ceasing" as the word means — became a legal institution for Israel, and a sign between them and the Lord for ever, as stated in Exodus 31:17. Hebrews 4:4-10 also alludes to this, and evidently Israel will yet enjoy her sabbath in the millennial age; God thus redeeming the sign He had given.

Number 7 is the number of completeness, and on that day God rested from all His work. In this case only we read of His blessing the day, as well as sanctifying it. It is set apart from all the others as having a far superior significance, “because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” Creating is bringing into existence from nothing, but making is modeling something from what had already been created. God's literal rest on that day is significant of something much more important.