What Did God Do On The Eighth Day?

Selah » Tough Questions Answered

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And 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)
These two verses are much different from those describing the preceding days in the creation account. All of them included the phrase "it was evening and it was morning, day ... ". Not so for the seventh day. Also the Hebrew word translated rested is Shabath (pronounced sha-BAT). We get sabbath from this word. It appears 71 times in the Bible, and 47 of those times it's translated "cease". It only means rest 11 times.

Will This Day Ever End?
Now obviously, the seventh day had a beginning and an end just like all the days before and after it. But the fact that there is no mention of this in the text of the creation account indicates that in a spiritual sense this day has never ended. There is no eighth day of creation. God has never taken up the work of creation again, and that's why a word that also means ceased was used in describing His Sabbath rest.
Now don't accuse me of promoting the "Great Watchmaker" theory of creation. That's the one where God created the world and all that's in it, then set it in motion, and has been just sitting there watching it run down ever since. Let's look at what God has been doing since He stopped creating. We'll begin in John's Gospel.
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:16-19)
This tells us that both the Father and the Son have so much to do that they work every day, even on the Sabbath. So what are they doing? Matthew 11:5 explains. "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor."

Almost as soon as the Creation was finished, it was subjected to sin. From that day to this the Father and the Son have been battling to protect us from the effects of sin in our lives.
So they haven't been just sitting around waiting. They've both been working every day from that day to this, including the Sabbath. But my point is, God has never again taken up the work of creation. Where the creation is concerned he has never ceased his Sabbath rest.
In Numbers 15:32-36 we read of a man who was caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. It was a violation of the commandment, but the Israelites didn't know what to do with him. When they inquired of God, He told them to take him outside the camp and stone him to death. God was serious about not working on the Sabbath.
What's External And Physical In The Old Becomes Internal And Spiritual In The New
But when we get to the New Testament we find that the commandment to rest on the Sabbath is the only one of the 10 Commandments not specifically repeated. In fact the most frequent reference to the Sabbath commandment in the New Testament concerns the Lord's frequent and flagrant violations of it. On six different occasions, the Lord defended working on the Sabbath, each time showing the religious leaders of the day that their rules for keeping the Sabbath were man made, arbitrary, and counter to God's purpose. For example the priests in the Temple desecrated every Sabbath (Matt. 12:5), and the people could water their animals (Luke 13:15) or rescue them from danger (Matt. 12:11) but they couldn't heal a person (Luke 13:14).
In Romans 14:5 Paul taught that we have the right to either consider one day holier than the others or to regard all days the same, based on our personal convictions. And in Colossians 1:16-17 he said not to let anyone judge us in regard to a religious festival or a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. He said that these things were only a shadow of things that were coming, that the reality was found in Christ.
Somehow the Sabbath commandment was supposed to teach us something about our relationship with Jesus. So let's find out what it is.

God created the Heavens and the Earth. They didn't do anything to help, He did it all. At the end of six days, He rested (ceased) from His work because it was finished. He never again took up the work of creating. He made the seventh day, a day without end, holy. There was no eighth day. Then He created a memorial. From that time forward the seventh day was a day of rest where no work was permitted to remind us that when His work was finished He rested.
Since we're trapped in the dimension of time, we can't have any days without end. So when God set up our calendar He made every seventh day holy, and then the calendar began again. There's never an eighth day. This was to help us to see that the seventh day, the day of rest, never ends. To underscore the importance of this, He made working on the seventh day punishable by death.

But man missed the point. We thought it was about working on the Sabbath when it was really about resting when the work is finished. Here's how that relates to Jesus.
Jesus came to Earth with one job to do. It was to die for the sins of the people so that we could be redeemed and live forever with Him (John 1:29). He was making us into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) We didn't do anything to help, He did it all. When He went to the cross, His work was done. That's why His last words before He died were, "It is finished." Then He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit (John 19:30). He never had to do the work of redemption again, for by that one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy (Hebr. 10:14) When He ascended into Heaven, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. In effect, He rested. The work of our new creation was finished.
This is why some theologians refer to the Lord's "completed work" at the cross. It's is also why the writer of Hebrews said that going back into the Jewish sacrificial system is relegating His death to the same status as animal sacrifices and subjects Him to public disgrace. (Hebr. 6:6) It meant that they didn't believe the work was finished.

What Is Our Work?
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29)

When you believe that Jesus went to the cross for you, and that by His death all of the sins of your life are forgiven, you've done what God requires and the work of your salvation is finished. You will inherit eternal life. "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:40) When you believe that, you have entered into your life-long seventh day, your Sabbath Rest.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:9-10) Just as God never again took up the work of creation, and Jesus never again took up the work of redemption, you need never again take up the work of salvation. You're a new creation and the work is finished. Now you rest, as they have rested.
Please read this very carefully. As we can see from the above, the folks who keep asking whether Saturday or Sunday is the correct Sabbath for Christians are asking the wrong question. The question we all need to ask is whether we're keeping the Sabbath or not.

It doesn't matter that you say you're born again. Any work you do to earn or keep your salvation after saying that you've accepted the work that Jesus did for you is evidence that you don't believe the work is finished. This subjects you to the penalty of the Sabbath breaker in Numbers 15. His was a physical death, but yours will be a spiritual one, because by continuing to work after the work is done you're saying that Jesus didn't finish the job so you have to complete it and save yourself. It means you don't believe He saved you, and that means you haven't done the one and only thing He told you to do; "Believe in the One He has sent." It means you aren't saved.

If you believe that you can lose your salvation because of your behavior, it means that you don't believe Jesus took all of the sins of your life to the cross (Col 2:13-15), and therefore you don't believe He saved you completely (Hebr. 7:25). It means that you don't believe God has accepted responsibility for keeping you saved (2 Cor. 1:21-22) and you have to finish the job yourself by meeting some standard of behavior. That means that you're working to keep your self saved after your work of salvation was finished, which means you're subjecting yourself to the penalty of the Sabbath breaker in Numbers 15. It means that you aren't saved.

There isn't much time left for the Church. The Lord could come while you're reading this. Please consider these things carefully. Make sure you're really saved by grace through faith. Not by works, lest anyone boast. (Ephes. 2:8-9) You can't be working to become saved and you can't be working to stay saved. You are either forever saved or you were never saved. Remember, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:5) There is no eighth day. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 05-24-08

OPRAH AND THE GOSPEL OF ME

By Paul Proctor
April 9, 2008
NewsWithViews.com
There are a couple of You Tube video clips making their rounds on the Internet that have aroused a lot of attention lately. I know this because they keep showing up in my email inbox from readers of this column.
I’ve seen two versions – both of which reveal celebrity talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, denying the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only way to God – going so far as to tell members of her studio audience:
“There couldn’t possibly be just one way.”
The clip I’d like to focus on, Oprah Denies Christ – obviously taken from an earlier episode of Oprah, shows her challenging a couple of audience members’ faith in Christ – recalling author Daniel Quinn and apparently a character from one of his books – more specifically, a gorilla, as saying:
“…One of the mistakes that human beings make is believing that there is only one way to live and that we don’t accept that there are diverse ways of being in the world – that there are millions of ways to be a human being…and many ways…many paths to what you call God – and her path might be something else – and when she gets there she might call it the light. But her loving and her kindness and her generosity – brings her…if it brings her to the same point that it brings you, it doesn’t matter whether she called it God along the way or not.”
In light of the now sacred theory of evolution and all of the people throughout history she could quote to make her case, I find it curious that she chose to cite a simian, as if to suggest primates have a better understanding of humanity than do homo sapiens.
I did, however, find it encouraging that two members of Oprah’s audience spoke up and took exception to her heretical views. It requires no small degree of faith and courage to stand up to someone so powerful and popular, while they are surrounded by adoring fans, and tell them they’re wrong.
What surprised me initially was that Harpo Productions had not edited them out of the prerecorded telecast. But then, the two ladies really only expressed an opinion, didn’t they? – A common mistake among Christians today that is not always viewed as objectionable by the secular media – especially where the consensus process is at work and the herd mentality rules.
However, had one of those women actually quoted Jesus Christ as having said, “I am they way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” they could have then asked Oprah, who claims to believe in Jesus, if He was lying. Unfortunately, it appeared to have been left as a mere exchange of opinions where absolute truth dissipated into the murky realm of feminized chitchat. In that type of superficial atmosphere, whomever receives the most applause, wins.
That’s consensus.
This is what happens when we endeavor to share feelings, speculation and personal experiences instead of God’s Word. In doing so, we unwittingly reduce it to just another human opinion – which plays right into the trained facilitator’s trap.
This is how biblically illiterate Christians today are gradually and carefully being led astray from true faith in Christ – even in their own churches – through their feelings and opinions – their egos and experiences – by pragmatism and consensus – always seeking Results & Relationships – a self-damning religion that has no absolute truth – no accountability and no authority figure to answer to for our actions.
What is the New Age all about?
It is the Gospel of Me – the divinity of self.
It is about setting aside the Word of God for everyone’s “felt needs” – the very thing the church growth movement and its leaders have been teaching Christians to entice the lost to church with for years.
Claiming they were schooling us on how to evangelize more effectively – they were, in reality, teaching us to set aside the Whole Counsel of God, in all its offence, and instead lure “seekers” to the great consensus we call church for processing – to share our feelings, emotions, appetites, experiences and imaginations with one another rather than God’s Word – all with a “love” that is ignorant of and apathetic toward sin and obedience – requiring nothing of participants but participation.
It’s like leading an alcoholic down the aisle on Sunday morning with a bottle of Jack Daniels and calling it repentance and faith.
If you break it all down, the New Age is, at its core, just spiritual narcissism – cloaked in charity, compassion and unity.
Remember this next time you see celebrities, authors, books, movies and commercials promoting The New Earth – The Secret – The Shift and The Moses Code.
Do you see a pattern here?
It’s about the acquisition of special powers, hidden secrets, divine knowledge, a deeper understanding and saving the world from intolerance with good deeds, good friends and good intentions. How is this different from Harry Potter?
Training, you see, begins as a child.
So, where does it all lead?
It leads to the same place Lucifer was headed when he said, in all his pride: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” – that wicked one who seduced Eve into taking of the forbidden fruit by telling her: “your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.”
After all – the New Age is about discovering the divine within oneself, is it not?
In a nutshell, the New Age and its New Spirituality promises to help you find God in everyone and everything, including yourself, with or without Jesus Christ.
But unfortunately for the millions of misguided viewers and listeners tuning into Oprah for spiritual guidance, that’s not what the Bible teaches:
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12
© 2008 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserve

Jhn 14:2

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Jhn 14:3

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.


Days of Deception (What time is it?)
Mat 24: 4-8
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these [are] the beginning of sorrows.

Rom 1: 17-32
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God‑haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Rom 3: 10-12
As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good,
not even one.”

What can we do? Praise God for the answer below!!

Rom 3: 21-26

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–

he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Deu 30:19
This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.