Commentary on "Rest and Restoration"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 2: Sunday, May 9, 2010

 

Overview

The theme for today is centered on the understanding that God’s intention, even before sin entered into the picture, was that mankind had work to do.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Gen. 2:15 ESV)

The assumption is made that if mankind has work to do then rest has always been needed to regenerate the body.

 

Observations

The lesson author rightly points out that there has always been God ordained work for mankind to perform. But then, makes an unwarranted assumption, not supported by Biblical references, that rest following the work we do was always a requirement and something that we had need of.

Rest, as a command from God, is not mentioned until the weekly Sabbath is given to the Hebrew people as a sign of the covenant between them and God.

And the LORD said to Moses, "You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you (Ex. 31:12-13 ESV)

God rested from creation because it was finished, not because he was tired and needed to recuperate from the work he had done.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Gen. 2:1-3 ESV)

There is no mention of mankind resting from his work or having a need for rest prior to the consequences of sin that affects his life.

And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Gen. 3:17-19 ESV)

The references (Pro. 6:9, 13:4, II Thess. 3:10) simply state the obvious. Mankind now requires rest to recuperate from the harm that sin has inflicted upon his physical body.

 

Summary

1. Our need for rest to rejuvenate our body is obvious and beyond dispute. Normally, we rest each day of our lives with physical rest at any other time being simply a supplement to our daily rest. Even workaholics must take at least some time out to rest. To ignore the need for proper rest simply accelerates the effects of sin in our lives.
2. The Bible makes no statement concerning mankind’s rest prior to the entry of sin with the resulting decay and ultimate death of our physical bodies. Therefore it is an unwarranted assumption that the command given to the Hebrew people to rest by keeping the Sabbath was in place at the end of the creation week.
3. Clearly, perfectly created mankind had no need for this kind of rest. As we will soon see, the command for the Hebrew people to rest on the Sabbath Day was a Shadow of something much deeper and of an even greater importance than our need for physical rest.

 

GO TO DAY 3

 

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