The pressing question at hand is this: Did God foresee the impending Fall of Man before He chose to rest from all His work?
If no, then God is not all-knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent etc. If this is true, the whole account of creation by an almighty God cannot be, but a load of rubbish.
If yes, why did He allow it to happen and after it did, choose not to take any urgent damage control measures? Surely this cannot be the attitude of an all-loving responsible God?
Either way, the conclusion draws pretty close that God is perhaps not God after all. The teaching from many churches seem to imply that the first coming of Jesus is no more than a desperate "Plan B" to savage a situation gone totally awry. Could God possibly still be in the state of rest during the crucifixion of Jesus? (After all, there was no mention of God arousing from His breather after the seventh day.) Hardly gives one the confidence that God is truly sovereign.
If no, then God is not all-knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent etc. If this is true, the whole account of creation by an almighty God cannot be, but a load of rubbish.
If yes, why did He allow it to happen and after it did, choose not to take any urgent damage control measures? Surely this cannot be the attitude of an all-loving responsible God?
Either way, the conclusion draws pretty close that God is perhaps not God after all. The teaching from many churches seem to imply that the first coming of Jesus is no more than a desperate "Plan B" to savage a situation gone totally awry. Could God possibly still be in the state of rest during the crucifixion of Jesus? (After all, there was no mention of God arousing from His breather after the seventh day.) Hardly gives one the confidence that God is truly sovereign.
Unless, our common interpretation of events is misguided.
By definition and understanding, everything can only happen in accordance to the will of a sovereign Being. Along this line, the Fall of Man and all our troubles must be part of our Sovereign’s plans, and not events gone horribly wrong.
Genesis 1 records: “And the evening and the morning were the first day… And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” In Middle-East tradition, a new day begins after sunset, not sunrise.
However, it is not written of “And the evening and the morning were the seventh day.” And of course, no eighth day as well. There is no need for an 8th day because God had completed His ALL His work and so He rested. The first parts of Genesis contain not just the opening timeline of the created universe, but it’s ending as well. The entire story of Creation falls completely within the seven days.
In other words, we, the creation, are living within the sixth day. The creation process, (including all the moulding, pruning, refining etc) is still in progress.
When Jesus died on the cross, he said "It is finished". Yes, God has finished all His work and entered into His seventh Sabbath day of rest. He is waiting for us, His creation, to join Him.
Genesis 1 records: “And the evening and the morning were the first day… And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” In Middle-East tradition, a new day begins after sunset, not sunrise.
However, it is not written of “And the evening and the morning were the seventh day.” And of course, no eighth day as well. There is no need for an 8th day because God had completed His ALL His work and so He rested. The first parts of Genesis contain not just the opening timeline of the created universe, but it’s ending as well. The entire story of Creation falls completely within the seven days.
In other words, we, the creation, are living within the sixth day. The creation process, (including all the moulding, pruning, refining etc) is still in progress.
When Jesus died on the cross, he said "It is finished". Yes, God has finished all His work and entered into His seventh Sabbath day of rest. He is waiting for us, His creation, to join Him.
Hebrews 4: 1-11 says: - A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "
And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
REST means for us to rely totally on Him, in a love relationship, for everything. When creation learns to look beyond our problems and unto Him, when we surrender our right to judge good from evil according to our own knowledge (the original sin), then will creation be reconciled with our Creator. Till this happens, the whole purpose of creation is not fulfilled. The work will be incomplete.
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "
And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest." It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
REST means for us to rely totally on Him, in a love relationship, for everything. When creation learns to look beyond our problems and unto Him, when we surrender our right to judge good from evil according to our own knowledge (the original sin), then will creation be reconciled with our Creator. Till this happens, the whole purpose of creation is not fulfilled. The work will be incomplete.
Revelation 22:5 writes:
"There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."
This describes of the seventh day - God’s day of rest. At the end, creation has returned to God's embraced and entered into His Sabbath Rest. There’ll be no need for another new day.
Yes, Genesis and Revelation are intimately linked! This is crucial to our faith in God because it assures us that at no point from Alpha to Omega, from the Beginning till the End, is our God not in sovereign control.
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