PerryDox – BeJustAChristian

Then God Rested (requested follow-up to “Then God Said”):
“Then God rested” (Genesis 2:3). God needs resting? As a young one I was confused. As a not so young one I was confused. Then I learned to see this not from my perspective, but of those to whom it was written.
In Ancient Near East (ANE) religious thought, temples were built for gods. Upon finishing, the gods sat on their thrones. They rested.
Genesis is an apologetic that Elohim or Yahweh is Israel’s God, the only God. The creation accounts are a temple enthonement narrative. God created and built His own temple, then God rested by sitting on His throne.
“But there is nothing said about a temple” you might be thinking. True, but that’s where seeing it through ANE eyes helps. It also helps that one of the themes throughout the Bible is God dwelling with His people, seen in both the Tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple. Watch this theme reveal itself.
[ ] CSB’17 Ps 132:7-8: “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool. Rise up, LORD, come to your resting place, you and your powerful ark.”
[ ] CSB’17 Isa 66:1: “This is what the LORD says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be?”
Then we find Jesus is the temple, the dwelling place of God among His people (John 1:14). Watch this theme be built concerning Jesus resting:
[ ] CSB’17 Ps 22:31: “They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.” This is, I think, another way of saying…
[ ] CSB’17 John 19:30: “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.”
Jesus came to build His temple which we now are:
[ ] CSB’17 Eph 2:21-22: “In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.”
No wonder then, when looking at God resting after building His temple, Jesus tells us:
[ ] CSB’17 Mat 11:28: ““Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Those who dwell in and as God’s temple can rest because “then God rested.”

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This entry was posted by PHall on Saturday, September 29th, 2018 at 8:34 am and is filed under Genesis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.