The Rhythms of Rest
THIRD QUARTER 2021
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
AUGUST 28, 2021
“THE RHYTHMS OF REST”
“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:3, NKJV).
Living in a world that has endured the ravages of sin for 6,000 years makes it difficult for the imagination to grasp the beauty Adam and Eve beheld that glorious Sabbath, their first full day of life. Perhaps you have visited places of amazing natural beauty that took your breath away and filled you with feelings of grandeur and awe. But everything surrounding our first parents would have flooded their senses with such feelings as well as supreme gratitude toward their Creator.
Most are familiar with the parallel structure of Genesis 1. God creates the space/environment the first three days and fills that space/environment on days 4, 5, and 6. The highlighted day is the 7th.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1.
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1. Light 2. Air and waters 3. Dry land/vegetation/food |
4. Lights to rule day and night, also the stars 5. Birds and water animals 6. Land animals and mankind |
7. God rested from His work and blessed the 7th Day (Genesis 2:1-3) | |
The 7th day is set apart, separate and distinct from the other 6 days. On His holy day, God invites us to enter into His rest, to commune and fellowship with Him, to enjoy and appreciate His creation.
“Man was the crowning act of the creation of God, made in the image of God, and designed to be a counterpart of God; but Satan has labored to obliterate the image of God in man, and to imprint upon him his own image. Man is very dear to God because he was formed in His own image.” –Ellen White, Lift Him Up, p. 48.
The Sabbath has everything to do with being made in God’s image. God created the earth in 6 days. He rested the 7th day. We are to follow the Divine pattern, working the first 6 days of the week and ceasing from work the 7th. The Sabbath, rather than being restrictive, elevates human beings, created in God’s image with God-like qualities. This day was uniquely set apart to further our knowledge and appreciation of God’s character so that we might grow to reflect Him more fully.
While mankind has been gifted with creative intelligence, God alone is the eternal Creator of all. He speaks and calls into existence that which is not. “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?” Job 12:7-10.
God is Provider, Sustainer, and Protector. The manna God gave Israel during their wilderness wanderings, 6 days each week with a double portion bestowed on the day before the Sabbath, was a constant reminder of this. The LORD had miraculously delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage. He provided for them all during their desert sojourn. He gave them the sanctuary so they would know He, Himself, dwelt with them. He could and would bring them into the Promised Land. We need to know and understand this and make application to our own lives. We have been redeemed from sin. We can rest in Jesus, and trust that He will provide for all our physical, mental, and spiritual needs. We can look forward to a heavenly rest and finally an eternal rest in the new earth. Here the saved of all ages will forever dwell with the Bridegroom, their Kinsman-Redeemer.
The same parallelism noted in Genesis 1-2:3 is also observed in Genesis 2:4-25. Here units 4, 5 and 6 elaborate on units 1, 2, and 3. The 7th and highlighted unit is marriage.
“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens” Genesis 2:4.
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1. (5, 6) A mist from the earth waters the ground.
2. (7, 8) The LORD God formed man from dust and breathed life into him. The LORD God put the man in the garden He planted.
3. (9) The LORD God made trees good for food.
Also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. |
4. (10-14) A river goes out from Eden to water the garden. It parts and becomes 4 rivers.
5. (15) The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden to tend and keep it.
6. (16-17) The LORD God commanded the man that he may eat freely of every tree in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. “The day you eat of it you shall die.” |
7. And the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a help meet for him”… (Genesis 2:18-25) | |
Marriage and the Sabbath: God intended the two to go together (e.g. Ruth 1:9).
“Sabbath and the family were alike instituted in Eden and in God’s purpose they are indissolubly linked together.” -Ellen White, Education, p. 250. These Divine institutions teach us about the God of creation, redemption, and recreation (Genesis 1 and 2, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Matthew 11: 28-30, Ephesians 5:21-32, Hebrews 4, Revelation 14:6-13).
Both the Sabbath and family, as God ordained them, are relational. We find family and community embedded in the fourth commandment. We are not to oppress those within the circle and sphere of our influence. The rest God invites us to enter into is to be extended to all who come under our care and responsibility. “You shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates” Exodus 20:10.
“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made” Genesis 2:2-3.
The three repetitive statements of God resting from His work contain seven words each in the original Hebrew. Sevens and multiples of sevens abound in Genesis 1 as well as in the rest of the Bible. Of course, seven is the biblical number that symbolizes completion. God knew His creatures needed the weekly Sabbath to be complete and whole, and I believe we will more fully explore the subject of the Sabbath as it relates to all of creation during eternity.
Circaseptan rhythms, 7 day cycles: There is a growing body of scientific research on this topic. God’s creation is wired for Sabbath!
Type circaseptan or 7 day cycles into a search engine and you’ll encounter some interesting results. The following is taken from an abstract of a research article entitled: Seven-day human biological rhythms: An expedition in search of their origin, synchronization, functional advantage, adaptive value and clinical relevance.
The abstract begins by stating, “This fact-finding expedition explores the perspectives and knowledge of the origin and functional relevance of the 7 d domain of the biological time structure, with special reference to human beings. These biological rhythms are displayed at various levels of organization in diverse species - from the unicellular sea algae of Acetabularia and Goniaulax to plants, insects, fish, birds, and mammals, including man - under natural as well as artificial, i.e., constant, environmental conditions.”
The authors, writing from an evolutionary perspective, ask the following questions. “What is the significance of the 7 d activity/rest cycle, i.e. week, storied in the Book of Genesis and adopted by the Hebrews and thereafter the residents of nearby Mediterranean countries and ultimately the world? Why do humans require 1 d off per 7 d span? Do 7 d rhythms bestow functional advantage to organisms?”
What are their conclusions? “We hypothesize the 7 d time structure of human beings is endogenous in origin – a hypothesis that is affirmed by a wide array of evidence – and synchronized by sociocultural factors linked to the Saturday (Hebrews) or Sunday (Christian) holy day of rest. We also hypothesize they are representative, at least in part, of the biological requirement for rest and repair 1 d each 7 d, just as the circadian time structure is representative, in part, of the biological need for rest and repair each 24 h.” -Reinberg AE, Dejardin L, Smolensky MH, Touitou Y. Chronobiol Int. 2017.
So why not choose any day in seven for renewal? The 7th day is a memorial to the Creator and His finished work, not ours. We enter into the Godhead’s rest thus acknowledging God’s supreme authority and goodness.
I’d like to recommend the reading of the article The Rhythm of Life by Tim Crosby from the Signs of the Times, January 1, 2017 (https://www.hopechannel.com/au/read/the-rhythm-of-life). Here is a portion of it.
“We live in a universe, not a multiverse. All of life is a symphony, and we’re each players in God’s great orchestra. Every song has a cadence, a rhythm. When we’re “in the groove” with the conductor, our lives experience a certain serenity, a familiar flow. Once we get out of step with the cadence of the song—the rhythm of time—our lives falter…
Why should all living things have an innate seven-day cycle? I’d like to suggest a not-too-wild theory. It’s found in Exodus 20:11: “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
I believe that God put within us rhythms that flow from the internal logic of our bodies.
Isaiah 58 contains some powerful health secrets. The first is a promise that God will bless those who bless the less fortunate (verses 5–12). The second is that God will bless those who honor His holy day. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land” (verses 13, 14)” -Tim Crosby, The Rhythm of Life, Signs of the Times, January 1, 2017.
Marriage and family, as given to mankind by the Creator, are being assaulted by the enemy of souls as never before. Soon the Sabbath will be the controverted truth. These Divine institutions are foundational to creation and to the everlasting gospel. May we receive the love of the truth so that we will not be swept away by the tidal wave of the lie.
“It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth….. The last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love.” –Ellen White, Christ Object Lessons, p. 415
~ Martha Ruggles