When the Bible talks about our rest, it actually starts by talking about God’s rest. In Exodus 20:8-11, when God’s people were told to stop and rest (the command to remember the sabbath), they were pointed back to the rest that God enjoyed after creating the universe.
Our starting point for thinking about rest is to see that rest is something that God enjoys—rest is His thing first.
The Infinite God Rests
Genesis 2:2 is the Bible’s first mention of rest. God’s creative masterpiece is finished, and then we hear words that catch us off guard: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:2-3).
When we pause to think about it, this may sound quite surprising, and maybe even a little strange. Why did God rest?
Our majestic, sovereign, infinitely powerful God is capable of creating the universe by the word of His mouth (Genesis 1:3). We’re told in Psalm 121:4 that God doesn’t “slumber or sleep”. In Isaiah, we’re told that “the Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary” (Isaiah 40:28).
Yet on the seventh day, God rested.
This tells us something about rest: if God rests, then rest can’t just be about resting so we can work. God doesn’t need to rest. He is the “everlasting God” so it’s not like His battery is running low. He doesn’t need to take a lie-down in the afternoon so that He can fling more stars into space in the evening. God rests even though He doesn’t need to.
As human creatures, we need to rest in order to work, especially in a world broken by sin where life is hard (Genesis 3:16-19). Yet the fact that God rests even though He doesn’t need to shows that there is something more to rest than simply recharging our batteries for work.
Rest is something to enjoy, to delight in.
The Joy of Rest
The garden imagery of Genesis 1-2 can help us understand. This last weekend I was planting some new flowers in our garden. After planting them, I sat back to enjoy the garden. I wasn’t tired, there was no particular purpose to this moment of rest, I just wanted to enjoy the garden.
Perhaps this is a little like what God is doing in Genesis 2:2 when He stops to rest. He’s planted the world and now He’s resting, enjoying it, delighting in it. He doesn’t just move on to the next thing. He stops to enjoy it for the sheer sake of enjoyment. In the words of a song by Mac Davis, there’s a joy to be found when we ‘stop and smell the roses’.
Rest is a joyful, delightful, celebratory thing. In a word, it’s gratuitous. It’s not just a necessity; it’s a gracious gift to be enjoyed.
The writer of Hebrews depicts eternity with God as “eternal rest” (Hebrews 4:1-11). And the tone for this eternal rest is one of joy and celebration. It’s ushered in with a marriage feast to be enjoyed by Christ and His bride, the church (Revelation 10:6-7). The ‘rest’ of eternity doesn’t start with a meagre meal that simply meets our needs; it starts with an exuberant, lavish feast!
God’s gift of rest is less like the Christmas ‘gift’ when a husband and wife agree to ‘give’ each other a new Dyson because the old one broke; God’s gift of rest certainly serves a function, but it’s more like the beautiful Christmas gift that is primarily to be delighted in. This is why Jewish people talk of celebrating the Sabbath, because it is a day of joy.
Rest is Not Like Hard Rubbish
There’s also something else here. God’s gift of rest is not like hard rubbish on the side of the street. It’s not something that God doesn’t care about and just wants rid of. When God gives us rest, He’s giving us something that He Himself enjoys and He delights in sharing that with us. That makes rest an incredibly precious and gracious gift!
How generous is our Father to give us something which He enjoys?
Respond: Perhaps you’d like to spend a moment giving thanks that our God is a joyful God and a God who blesses us with the privileges that He enjoys.
Next article – Why We Rest: God Works to Give us Rest
Stephen Unwin is a writer and editor with Our Daily Bread Ministries. He has degrees in sound engineering and theology and is currently studying for a PhD on the theology of gift and gratitude. He’s married to Katy and they live in Melbourne, Australia.
