SABBATH IS THE TRUE CLIMAX OF CREATION
By Akin Ojumu
Many people read Genesis 1 as though the creation story reaches its climax on the sixth day with the creation of man.
It doesn’t.
The creation account reaches its theological conclusion on the seventh day, when God rests from all His work.
And that matters.
Humanity is not the ultimate end of creation.
God is.
Man is certainly the crown of God’s earthly creation, uniquely made in His image and appointed to exercise dominion over the earth. But the creation narrative does not terminate with man standing triumphantly at the center of the universe. It terminates with God—God enthroned over His completed creation, delighting in the work of His hands.
Genesis 2:2–3
“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. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.”
That seventh day tells us something profound about why human beings exist.
We were not created merely to work, build, multiply, rule, accumulate wealth, establish civilizations, and enjoy the earth.
We were created ultimately for God—to know Him, delight in Him, worship Him, glorify Him, and live forever under His gracious rule.
Creation begins with God:
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
And the creation account reaches its consummating moment with God resting over the world He has made.
That is the theological architecture of Genesis.
God is not a supporting character in humanity’s story. Humanity is a creature in God’s story.
The seventh day, therefore, is not some insignificant appendix tacked onto the six days of creation. It is the climax toward which the narrative has been moving.
God blesses the seventh day. God sanctifies the seventh day. And later, under the Mosaic covenant, the Sabbath becomes a covenantal sign reminding Israel that their time, labor, land, possessions, and very existence belong to the LORD.
But the biblical theology of rest does not stop with Israel’s weekly Sabbath. It moves forward.
From Creation, to Canaan, to Christ, and ultimately to the eternal presence of God. The Bible is the story of God bringing His people into His rest.
Israel entered the Promised Land under Joshua, but Joshua could not give them the ultimate rest of God. Their rest in Canaan was temporary and incomplete. Enemies remained. Labor continued. Sin remained. Death remained.
There had to be a greater rest.
As The MacArthur Bible Commentary explains:
“God’s true rest did not come through Joshua or Moses, but through Jesus Christ, who is greater than either one. Joshua led the nation of Israel into the land of their promised rest. However, that was merely the earthly rest which was only the shadow of what was involved in the heavenly rest. The very fact that, according to Psalm 95, God was still offering His rest in the time of David (long after Israel had been in the land) meant that the rest being offered was spiritual—superior to that which Joshua obtained. Israel’s earthly rest was filled with the attacks of enemies and the daily cycle of work. The heavenly rest is characterized by the fullness of heavenly promise (Ephesians 1:3) and the absence of any labor to obtain it.”
This is precisely the argument developed in Hebrews 3–4.
Long after Joshua had brought Israel into Canaan, David could still speak in Psalm 95 of entering God’s rest.
Psalm 95:11
“Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
If possession of Canaan had been the ultimate rest God intended, there would have been no further rest to offer.
But there was.
Hebrews 4:2–5
“For Good News came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, ‘As I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest,”’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.’ And again in this passage He said, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
Notice what the writer of Hebrews does. He reaches all the way back to Genesis 2. God’s rest at creation becomes the theological foundation for understanding the greater rest into which God calls His people.
And that rest is entered by faith.
The unbelieving generation in the wilderness did not enter because of unbelief. But: “We who have believed enter that rest.”
The ultimate answer is found in Jesus Christ.
Christ calls sinners who are exhausted from carrying the impossible burden of establishing their own righteousness to rest in Him:
Matthew 11:28
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Faith in Jesus Christ brings the believer into God’s rest even now. We cease trying to earn acceptance before God by our own works because Christ has accomplished everything necessary for our reconciliation with God.
The work of redemption is finished. The righteousness we could never produce has been provided. The debt we could never pay has been paid. The sacrifice we could never offer has been offered once for all. Christ has done the work. And so, the believer rests in Christ.
Yet even this present rest points forward to something greater.
Hebrews 4:9–11
“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
There remains an ultimate Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Creation began with God. The Fall separated us from God. Redemption brings us back to God. And eternity culminates in the unhindered enjoyment of God.
This is where the Christian hope reaches its glorious fulfillment: what Christian theology has historically called the Beatific Vision—the direct, unhindered sight and enjoyment of God in glory.
Revelation 22:3–4
“The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship him. They will see his face.”
They will see His face. That is where the Bible is going.
Not ultimately to bigger houses. Not greater earthly accomplishments. Not wealth. Not influence. Not human self-actualization. Not man enthroned at the center of his own universe.
God.
The creation story begins with God. The creation story culminates in God’s rest. The story of redemption brings sinners into that rest through Christ. And the biblical story ends with redeemed humanity dwelling forever in the presence of God, worshiping Him and seeing His face.
That is why the seventh day matters. It reminds us that man was never created to make himself the center of creation. We were created for our Creator.
Man is not the destination of the creation story. God is.
Our chief purpose is to glorify God. Our highest good is God Himself. And our final blessedness is to enter His eternal rest, behold His face, and enjoy Him forever.
"behold His face", means to gaze upon or enjoy His Presence; it's an internal reality, nothing physical as the LANGUAGE suggests .1John 4v12 . Psalm 27v4, Scripture is full of Figurative Expressions which then means we need to study and "rightly divide the Message of Truth" because sometimes the language needs to be taken on face-value (Acts 1v11-12 . ZecharYah 14v3-4).
ReplyDeleteIt is precisely because of humanity’s fallenness and corruption by sin that, in our present condition, we are incapable of beholding the unveiled glory of God face to face.
DeleteIsaiah’s response when confronted with the holiness and majesty of God makes the point vividly:
Isaiah 6:5
“And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’”
Likewise, God told Moses:
Exodus 33:20
“You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
The problem is not that God will forever remain invisible to His redeemed people. The problem is that fallen, mortal, unglorified humanity cannot endure the unveiled manifestation of His glory.
But glorification changes that.
When the redeemed are finally perfected—cleansed from every vestige of sin, clothed with immortality, and conformed to the glorified humanity of Christ—they will be able to behold God in a manner impossible in our present condition.
That is precisely what Scripture promises:
Revelation 22:3–4
“The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face.”
Notice the language.
“They will see his face.”
The text does not say, “They will metaphorically experience His presence.” It does not say, “They will merely perceive His attributes.” It does not say, “They will figuratively behold His favor.”
It says: “They will see his face.”
That is the glorious culmination of redemption—the beatific vision. The redeemed, now completely holy and glorified, will behold God without terror, condemnation, or destruction.
What fallen man cannot endure, glorified man will enjoy. What caused Isaiah to cry, “Woe is me!”, will one day cause the redeemed to worship without fear.
So, there is no exegetical necessity to evacuate Revelation 22:4 of its straightforward meaning simply because the promise is astonishing. The astonishing nature of the promise is precisely the point.
“They will see his face.”
And unless someone possesses compelling grammatical, lexical, or contextual evidence that the language means something other than what it plainly says, merely insisting that it “must be figurative” is not exegesis.
Nor is dismissing the consensus reflected across standard Bible translations an argument. Those translations were produced by committees of scholars with substantial expertise in biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
If you want to overturn their rendering, the burden is not discharged by assertion. Bring the Greek. Bring the syntax. Bring the lexical evidence. Bring the context.
Otherwise, Revelation 22:4 remains gloriously straightforward: “They will see his face.”
There's a lot to say on this. However, see the language "... the THRONE of God and of the LAMB will be in the CITY ... His Name will be ON THEIR FOREHEADS" (Rev 22v3-4) . His Name physically being on foreheads is not the true-will of God. His Name (Spirit) should be in you, not forehead sensually . Scripture says "GOD IS A SPIRIT". His physical manifestation or sensual experience of His glory is less and not what He truly desires but the internal Presence is what He desires for us more than anything . What is the "throne" of God?? It's Not physical . What is LAMB?? physical lamb?? that's nothing but suya (like barbecue) to enjoy sensually to the praise of God.
ReplyDelete1John 4v16-19, this is something a true-believer should be experiencing (ginosko) even before we are physically transformed/glorified.
Sometimes the language must be taken on face-value, for instance do you have any other way of interpreting Acts 1v11-12 and ZecharYah 14v3-4, to not mean a physical sense?? Even if there's another interpretation, which is possible, the physical sense is incontrovertible and will certainly take place at the appointed Time.
ReplyDelete