Gen. 2:2 - How and Why Did God Rest on “the Seventh Day"?

Gen. 2:2 - How and Why Did God Rest on “the Seventh Day"?

Because God enjoys an “abundance of dynamic energy” and “does not tire out or grow weary” (Isaiah 40:26, 28), it is clear that He did not rest because He was tired.

As the “sixth day” of creation came to a close, the account tells us: “God saw everything he had made and, look! it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) God was satisfied with everything He had made. Many translations speak of God’s resting on the seventh day with expressions such as "he rested," "he desisted," "he had desisted," from further creative work with respect to the earth. As perfect and beautiful as the paradise garden then was, however, it covered only a small area, and there were just two human creatures on earth. It would take time for the earth and the human family to reach the state that God purposed. For this reason, He appointed a “seventh day” that would allow all that he had created in the preceding six ‘days’ to develop in harmony with his sacred will. (Compare Ephesians 1:11.)

So God rested (or desisted) from His creative work on “the seventh day.” It is as though He stepped back and allowed what He set in motion to run its course. He has full confidence that by the end of “the seventh day,” everything will have turned out exactly as He has purposed. Even if there have been obstacles, they will have been overcome.

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