Lesson Study The Creation Comleted

Wednesday: The Creation Completed Posted: 15 Jan 2013 06:00 AM PST After the Creation was completed in six days (we will study the creation of humanity later), we find the first mention in the Bible of the seventh day. Read Genesis 2:1-3. Notice especially verse 1, which emphasizes the The Hebrew word for rest in this text is shabath, which is closely related to the word for Sabbath. It indicates a cessation of labor upon completion of a project. God was not weary and in need of rest; He was finished with His work of creating and so He stopped. God’s special blessing rests on the seventh day. It is not only “blessed” but also “sanctified,” which carries the idea of being set apart and specially devoted to God. Thus, God gave special significance to the Sabbath in the context of the relationship between God and humans. Read Mark 2:27, 28. What did Jesus say was the purpose of the Sabbath? Notice that the Sabbath was not made because God had a need but because man had a need for which God made provision. At the end of that first week, God rested from His acts of creation and devoted His time to relationship with His creatures. Humans needed the communion with their Maker in order to understand their place in the universe. Imagine the joy and wonder that Adam and Eve experienced as they conversed with God and beheld the world that He had made. The wisdom of this provision for rest became even more evident after sin. We need the Sabbath rest in order to prevent us from losing sight of God and getting caught up in materialism and overwork. God commands us to give one seventh of our lives to the remembrance of the act of Creation. What should that tell us about the importance of the teaching? How can you learn to have a deeper and richer experience with the Lord through resting on the Sabbath as He Himself did?