Moving from Carnal Work to Divine Rest

In the previous post entitled Moving from Imperfect work to Perfect Fruitfulness, I looked at the concept of creativity and divine fruitfulness coming as a consequence of letting go of our carnal mindset and allowing the Holy Spirit to renew and transform our mind, this is part and parcel of the transformation that takes place as we move into and begin to enter into God’s Shabbat (Promised Rest). For a fuller understanding of what rest means and how it links to creativity and fruitfulness please see this post. This current post takes these concepts further.

‘Shabbat Shalom‘ is probably my favourite phrase in the entire world, the bible generally translates these two words as ‘rest’ and ‘peace’ respectively but this does them absolutely no justice at all. Shabbat (where the English Sabbath is derived from) refers to God’s divine rest, it has always been God’s intention for mankind to permanently reside in a state of rest (Eden was the most restful place that ever existed for mankind) however, with the fall of Man and the Curse of sin mankind moved from a state and place of rest to a state and place of toil, hardship, striving and struggle otherwise known as work.

The concept of Shabbat (a true and divine experience of rest) is extremely difficult for humans to fully grasp simply because it is in opposition to the carnal mindset, we hold fast to the inheritance of the curse that man must work to survive (see Genesis) until it has now become the status quo. Anyone seen to not be ‘working’ by the sweat of their brow for their daily bread is seen as crazy, lazy or both. But is it really God’s intention for us to be struggling and striving in order to live? I definitely do not believe so.

Moving from imperfect work to perfect fruitfulness

Why did God rest on the seventh day?  Is it because He was tired from all His work as some people have suggested?  The bible doesn’t say this at all.  Such an explanation suggests that God created the seventh day so that He could ‘recuperate’ from all of His hard work, there are many issues with this theory but I won’t go into them here.  If God wasn’t tired and didn’t really need to rest, why did He? And why did He choose to rest on the seventh day at all, why not start again on day one?

I love the explanation highlighted in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) based on the Hebrew text which explains that God rested so that creation could begin to produce and create of and from itself (Genesis 2:3).  God stopped working on the 6^th day so that creation could start its own work on the 7^th!  Think about it this way, when a parent wants to teach a child to make something quite complex and difficult what does the parent do?  A good parent would first of all show the child exactly how to create it and give the child instructions before giving him/her time and space to have a go for their self.  This is exactly what God did, first He created of and from Himself, then He gave creation (‘Be fruitful and multiply’) and mankind (Genesis 1: 28) specific instructions before allowing creation to begin to create of, in and for itself.