Who can comprehend the mind of God? His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, His ways higher than our ways. Until we stand before Him one day, we will never fully understand the mind of Christ, but through the Holy Spirit, we can begin to understand. We have more questions than we do answers, but that is what learning is all about. Learning creates more questions. Without questions, we would not seek answers.
What was the earth like before the time of Adam? The Bible gives us a few hints, but it doesn’t give us details. I am convinced that if the Bible did expound on this time period, people would be so consumed with things that really don’t matter, they would not study the things they need to understand for living successful lives today.
Primarily, we need to understand the New Testament. Second Peter 1 says, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them and be established in the present truth.”
During Peter’s day, the “present truth” was the New Testament. Once we begin to understand the New Testament, the Old Testament starts to come alive because we can see Jesus on every page! We begin to understand that the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is the root of the New Testament. The New Testament does not disqualify or make the Old Testament obsolete; it actually fulfilled it. Jesus didn’t come to destroy the Law of the prophets; He came to fulfill the Law. The New Testament fulfills the Old Testament much like summer fulfills spring. Summer doesn’t destroy spring. The New Testament doesn’t destroy the Old Testament.
Much like youth is not destroyed by manhood, the Old Testament was not destroyed by the New Testament. Youth is enhanced and fulfilled by manhood. The New Testament is the “coming of age” of the Word of God. Many questions of the Old Testament were left unanswered for the saints of those days. God didn’t find it necessary to answer all of their questions. The Old Testament doesn’t expound on the history of mankind or delve into great scientific explanations. The Bible is not designed to teach about history; although when it does, it is always accurate. And it wasn’t intended to go into great explanations about science, although when it does, it too is accurate. If science doesn’t seem to line up with the Word of God, man will one day understand that it does. The Word will never change to agree with science if the two disagree.
The Bible is designed to teach us how to live in the devil’s world today and how to overcome and conquer him. The cosmos around us is the world’s system, which is Satan’s way of thinking. Therefore, the only way to overcome his way of thinking is to think superior to him — to think as the Word thinks, which is the mind of Christ. The whole plan of the New Testament is the renewing of the mind. The more you learn to think like Jesus, the more you have victory in your everyday life.
Genesis 1:2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
In Genesis 1, we have the six days of restoration. We often call it six days of creation, and that could be true, but God didn’t take six days to create the earth. He did it in one split second.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Boom! In a split second of time, the earth was created. Beginning in verse 2, we find out about the restoration of the earth. It took six days to restore the earth to what it was before the time of Adam. We don’t know how many years the earth was in perfection under Lucifer’s reign. We don’t know how long it was wrapped up in darkness and flooded, but we do know it took six literal days to restore it. The rotation of the earth and the rising and the setting of the sun tell us there were six days.
On the first day, light was created. (Genesis 1:3-5)But it wasn’t the light of the sun and moon. That wasn’t until day four. The light created on the first day was His glory. This same glory will light up the earth after the sun and the moon are destroyed and the earth is once again created in perfection. We will have a new heaven and a new earth and the earth will be lit up by the glory of God. Similarly, for the first three days of creation, the earth was lit up by the glory of God!
Day two is when we have the first heavens and the clouds. (Genesis 1:6-8)
On day three, we have the dry land, the trees, and the herbs. (Genesis 1:9-13)
The sun and the moon were created on day four. (Genesis 1:14-19)
All the fish and the birds were created on day five. (Genesis 1:20-23)
Day six is when all creeping animals were created and when man was created. (Genesis 1:24-28)
Man and woman were spiritually created simultaneously, but were physically made at different times. Within Adam was Eve and he carried her until many days later. The Bible doesn’t indicate how long man physically existed before Eve was removed from him. Eve was given a body and called woman because she was taken out of man. In marriage, woman is given back to man. Marriage completes the man and the woman. (Genesis 2:21-24)
Many believe God rested on the seventh day because He needed to rest after creating the previous six days, but that is not true. God doesn’t get tired. The reason God rested was because everything was complete, finished. When Jesus ascended into heaven after the resurrection and sat at the right hand of the Father, it wasn’t because He was tired. He sat down because His work was finished. God rests when His work is done, not because working makes Him tired. He’s not a man who can become tired. He never loses His strength; He is omnipotent.
Genesis 2:1
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Everything was accomplished, all the host of them. The word hosts means armies. God created everything in groups. All of nature is organized this way from ants to elephants, from small to large. God created cells, which divide and stay together in groups—heart cells with heart cells, liver cells with liver cells. God designed the family unit to include a father, mother, and children. God places us in countries, cities, and neighborhoods. Have you ever wondered why He breaks everything down?
The reason is because we are in the devil’s world. God knew Satan would dominate Adam and Eve because of the fall. Therefore, even before the fall, God strategically planned and arranged to accomplish His purposes through grouping, through armies, and through hosts to ensure us victory in Satan’s world. Satan’s order is to divide and conquer. Divide the home and you will conquer it. Divide the church and you will conquer it. Divide the nation and you will conquer it. Get people focused on themselves rather than working with anyone else and defeat will be the result.
The independent attitude of self so prevalent in our country today is a tactic of the devil to deceive us into thinking we don’t need anyone else. Once we begin to operate in independent thinking, we are ripe for Satan’s plan.
Everything is set up under divine authority. A church has a pastor. Cities have police officers. Students have teachers. Even animals look to a leader. When there is a breakdown in reverence and respect for the one in authority, the door is opened for Satan to be in control. Satan doesn’t like hosts, armies, and groups. He doesn’t like authority and if he can cause a breakdown in the “chain of command,” he can conquer the group, army, or host.
Genesis 2:2
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.
This seventh day is Saturday. The Hebrew word in this verse is asah, which means to make from something that already exists. This represents the six days of restoration.
Genesis 2:3
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 1:22 says that after God made all the animals, He blessed them. Bless is referring to sex. Genesis 1:28 says God blessed the man and woman; again, referring to sex. Now, Genesis 2:3 says the same thing of a day. We have to understand that day. The seventh day is a memorial to grace and the only way you can reproduce in your life, have victory in your life, and cause blessing to come to you is through grace. Therefore, the seventh day was set up as a memorial to grace where man did not work, but the grace of God works for him. Blessings come into your life through multiplication, just as children (blessing) come into your life through sex. Sex is something thought of as pleasurable, yet it does all the work. Once the seed is there, you don’t have to help the child grow; it grows on its own. It is a memorial to grace. Therefore, God blessed the day like He blessed animals and blessed man. Once you understand grace and turn it over into the Lord’s hands, it works for you and you can rest while grace is at work.
The seventh day was sanctified, or set apart. God rested from the word He had created. The Hebrew word for created is bara, which means to create from nothing. Combining bara and asah, we have God resting from bara-ing and asah-ing in verse 3. This is the first mention of the Sabbath and it is not mentioned until two-thousand years later in Exodus 16:23 and again when it becomes law in Exodus 20.
Exodus 20:10-11
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The word Sabbath means to rest, along with the meaning of seventh. The New Testament talks about resting in the Lord and the Hebrew word is Shabbat.
The word for made in verse 11 is the word asah, meaning made from something, not created. God restored the earth. He restored the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.
The commandment was that no one in the household could work on the Sabbath. By the time Jesus came to the earth, man had added to and exaggerated this commandment so much, “work” was defined by religion. No one was permitted take more than six paces in any one direction on the Sabbath. Women could not cook on the Sabbath because it was considered work. The regulation surrounding the Sabbath became very legalistic. The religious leaders even made up Sabbath laws, including a “law” that prohibited anyone from picking corn on the Sabbath. So when Jesus picked corn on the Sabbath, the religious leaders were upset and accused Him of breaking the law. But Jesus wasn’t breaking the law; He was breaking men’s traditions.
Jesus said the Sabbath day was made for man; not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was intended to be a blessing to man, but religion turned it around and made man a slave to the Sabbath.
People today have done the same thing. There are some states with blue laws that prohibit you from buying certain items on Sunday. I know people who won’t wash their car, mow their lawn, or play sports on Sunday because that would be considered “work.”
If you read Exodus 20:10, it appears that we are to just sit down and do nothing on Sundays. But the Sabbath day is much more than inactivity.
Exodus 20:8
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Remembering doesn’t take much effort. On the Sabbath, God intended for man to sit down and reflect on the goodness of God. We were never to focus on the “don’ts.” Instead, the Lord is saying, “I want you to take your mind off those other things and focus on Me. Sit down and remember Me.” The Word says to forget not all of His benefits. Remember the goodness of the Lord. In regards to practicing communion, Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” It’s not the fact that we eat the bread and drink the cup; it is the fact that we remember the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those elements are there to spur our memory of the shed blood of Jesus and His broken body providing healing and the removal of sins. It is a memorial to the work of the cross. Therefore, the Sabbath was a memorial to the grace and goodness of God.
Keeping the Sabbath is not found in the New Testament. The day believers meet to worship God is insignificant. Sunday is no more special than Monday. We should worship the Lord on Monday like you do on Sunday. Sunday is simply a day that we traditionally come together. I am thankful for Christmas and Easter, but I think every day ought to be Christmas and Easter. Jesus wasn’t born on December twenty-fifth. He is no more alive on Christmas than He is on any other day. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The more you understand about the Lord, the less difference days make to you. Every day is the same with the Lord.
God set aside certain days in the Old Testament for the children of Israel to remember the things of God. After working six days, they didn’t get two days off like most of us do today. They worked six days and got off one. After working six days, it may be tempting to focus on what they had accomplished during the week. But on the seventh day God wanted them to take time to remember Him and to be reminded that He was the reason for their prosperity. After spending a couple of hours remember God’s goodness, they would once again be reminded that their prosperity came from God and that without Him we are nothing.
The Sabbath was designated by God to teach grace. (Genesis 2:2-3) Just as on the seventh day of the creation story God rested because His work was complete, the Sabbath is a type of entering into God’s rest. The moment we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we enter into our Sabbath because God has completed the work. If Jesus is sitting down, so should you. Jesus isn’t working; He’s in heaven. The work was completed when He arose into heaven. We cannot add anything to the finished work of Christ.
On the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” He was speaking of the Law. He arose from the dead because our justification was complete. (Romans 4:29) Our salvation was complete.
Hebrews 4 speaks of believers entering into rest. The Greek word for rest is Sabbatismos, which comes from the word Sabbath. When we enter into our Sabbath with the Lord, nothing can be added. God rested in Genesis 2 because there was nothing else to do. He couldn’t create another thing. Everything was done and he turned a completed work over to man.
The Jewish Sabbath was instituted to remember the provisions of the Lord. (See Exodus 20:8-11; Isaiah 58:1-14; Deuteronomy 5:12-15, and Leviticus 23:3.)
Hebrews 3:11 tells us about our Sabbath. Our daily walk of faith is a Sabbath. The Bible says we are to work for the Lord, but it’s actually a work without work. Faith is the only thing you can do without doing anything. To get born again, you don’t have to be baptized, walk down an aisle, or go to a counselor. You can sit in the congregation and believe in Jesus and be born again. It doesn’t matter where you get born again. You get born again by believing, and believing is the absence of works. There is no human merit attached to it.
If someone gave you a gift, you wouldn’t brag about how you put your hands out and received the gift. You would brag on the one who gave you the gift because they did all the work. They bought the gift, wrapped it, put a bow on it, and brought it to you. All you had to do was reach out and receive it. That is how salvation is. God has done all the work. Jesus went to the cross, and when you received Him as your Lord and Savior, you received the work of the cross.
Believing is what you do without doing anything. They that have believed have entered into rest. Therefore, the things I do for the Lord, I don’t count as works, trying to get God’s blessing. I already have God’s blessing! We don’t work to try to win God’s approval. We already have His approval! I work for the Lord out of appreciation. Therefore, there is constant rest in the work. Being a Christian and being guided by the Holy Spirit is the only work you can do throughout the day and at the end of the day, still be refreshed in your spirit.
It is easy to slip into legalism because it is a temptation of the flesh to win God’s favor. But you can’t do it with works. The only One who won God’s favor was Jesus, and once you accept Him, you have God’s favor. The Bible says our righteous works are as filthy rags before the Lord. (Isaiah 64:6) In other words, we stink! We want to be a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God.
An eternal Sabbath is brought out in Matthew 11:28, where Jesus said, “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy-ladened, and I will give you rest.” That rest is an eternal rest that continues throughout this life, through the rapture, and into the presence of God.
In the Old Testament, they had a sabbatical year that came once every seven years. (See Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:3-4; and Leviticus 26:33-36.)The people planted crops for six years, and on the seventh year they did not plant. This was a memorial to the Lord. God would give them a bumper crop during the sixth year and it was enough to carry them through the seventh year.
However, the people forgot this sabbatical year very quickly. From the time of King David, the people planted through the seven years and they did this for 490 years. They owed the Lord 70 years. The land was to rest for 70 years, which is one of the reasons they went into Babylon captivity for 70 years. When they were in captivity, the Lord told Daniel, “I will give you 490 years.” That is Daniel’s 70 weeks in Daniel 9.
The land rested. The Samaritans tried to go there and make a living, but the land would not produce for them until the Jews came back and their seventy years were completed. After captivity, God gave them 490 more years and then the Millennium was supposed to come. Instead, after 483 years, the Messiah came, went to the cross, and the Church Age has been inserted. Daniel’s seventieth week, which is the last seven years of the Jewish Age, is left to be completed during the time of the Tribulation.
Then there was the Year of Jubilee. (Leviticus 25:8-17) This took place after the forty-ninth year and the people rested for a full year. During that time, everything went back to its original owner, all debts were forgiven, and it was a way of totally cleansing society. God knew what He was doing. There had to be cleansing. Some say this is a slap to free enterprise, but free enterprise is the world’s system, which is not perfect. As good as free enterprise is, it still has flaws — greed, interest rates, inflation, recession, until finally depression hits and it cleanses out the system. God had a way of avoiding depression. After forty-nine years, let everything go back to its original owner, forgive all the debts, and start all over again.
So what about the guy who had built up a great amount of capital? Did he have to let it all go? Yes, and if he is smart, he’ll get it all back again. This is why communism won’t work. There will always be wise people and foolish people. You can’t legislate equality to make everyone wise. You can give everyone equal opportunity, but you cannot make foolish people wise through legislation. Foolish people don’t know how to handle money, but wise people do. We could equally distribute the wealth of this world and in ten years, the wise people would have it all back and the foolish ones wouldn’t have anything.
The year of Jubilee was a means of cleansing the land, a year of everything going back to its original owner. God is the ultimate original Owner. This was a year to remind the people that God is the author of everything.
To reject the Sabbath was to reject the Word of God and the grace of God. (Exodus 23:37-39; Nehemiah 13:15-21) Rejecting the Word and grace of God is always met with discipline.
The Sabbath has been interrupted. (Colossians 2:16-17) We are no longer under the law of observing the Sabbath Day. Under the New Covenant, the actual day doesn’t matter because all the days are the same and one day is no better than another. We meet on Sunday because it is found throughout the Word of God that believers met on the first day of the week. (Acts 20:7; John 20; 1 Corinthians 16:2) However, Sunday is actually the eighth day. Eight is the number of new beginnings. In the Church Age, Sunday has been established as a day of worship, the day for the Lord, but it is also a memorial to the grace of God and to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s where our victory began and the law ended.
God created for six days and rested on the seventh. His work was complete. He sanctified, hallowed, and blessed that seventh day for rest. If He can rest, we can rest. Jesus completed the work and we can rejoice just as Adam rejoiced in the Garden. God placed Adam there after everything was completed. He put us into a finished work and we can add nothing to it for by grace are we saved through faith, and not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
If you like this outline, check out Creation at the BYM Store.
Copyright 2009 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
Reproduction of this material in whole or part in any format without
written permission is prohibited. All Rights Reserved.