Rest from Our Labors

REVIEW

• Why are human beings the most special part of God’s creation?
  They were created to image God and to rule over the world and the animals.
• Did God create anything else in His image?
  No. Only human beings were created in this way. Not even the angels were created in the image of God.

READ

Genesis 2:1–3; Exodus 20:8–11

• What did God do after He finished creating?
  After six days of creating, God rested from all His work. This happened on the seventh day.
• What made the seventh day special?
  It was the only day God blessed and made holy. To make something holy means to set it apart for God and His worship.
• Why are we to keep the Sabbath holy and do no work on it?
  Because we are to be like God, working six days and resting one.

REFLECT

Main idea: The Sabbath is God’s gift to help us worship Him and to teach us that we are saved by resting in Jesus alone for salvation.

God could have created the whole world in a single moment. He didn’t need six days to create, nor was He tired after His work and in need of sleep. So why did He work six days and rest on the seventh? He did so for us. When He blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy, He was giving us a gift. Man would have a whole day each week to rest and to worship God. When we are children, we often don’t appreciate rest. Nap-time is not something we look forward to. We want to keep playing when it is time to go to bed. But the Bible tells us that rest is a gift from God.

Man’s first full day on earth would have been the Sabbath. Think about that. Man did not work for six days in order to earn this rest. At the very beginning of man’s life, he was given rest. This is a picture of our salvation. Jesus calls us to come to Him to find rest for our sinful souls (Matt. 11:28), and when we do we are promised a rest in God’s presence forever in heaven (Isa. 57:2). This saving rest is not something we earn; rather, it is something God gives to us in Jesus. It is a free gift. As we rest and worship God on the Sabbath each week, we are reminded of this truth. We are also reminded that the worship and rest in Jesus that we enjoy on the Sabbath are a foretaste of heaven. Heaven is where we will worship God and enjoy rest in Jesus always and forever.

• Why did God create the world in six days and rest on the seventh?
  He was giving us an example to follow. We are to work six days and rest on one. This weekly day of rest, called the Sabbath, is God’s gift to us.
• What does God teach us by giving us a day of rest?
  He teaches us that we are not saved from our sin by working, but by trusting and resting in Jesus only.
• Should we be excited about the Sabbath day?
  Yes. Often we think of the Sabbath as a day where we aren’t allowed to do certain things. But that is not the right way to think of the Sabbath. Instead, we should think about it as a day that we get to do certain things. We get to rest from school and work. And we get to worship God with His people. The Sabbath is a gift to be enjoyed! It is about dos more than about don’ts.

REQUEST
Give thanks to God for the Sabbath, and pray that your family would grow to delight in it as they rejoice in the rest offered to them in Jesus and glorify God in worship.

Excerpt From
Beginning: Family Worship in Genesis
Joel R. Beeke & Nick Thompson