I. “On the seventh day God ended the work which He had made” (Gen. ii. 2). He ended it in the sense that He had now completely equipped the earth for the purpose that it was intended for; and thenceforth it was to work out its destiny under the guidance of man. In another sense that work is not ended; i.e. it has not yet fulfilled the aim and object of its being; and it will not have done so till the end of time, when all the results are summed up and the elect are gathered into eternal happiness. Then the Almighty will pass the final verdict on His work and declare that it is good. The end of the material development of this earth has come; there will be no further days of creation, no superior race of beings to succeed man. Evolution indeed goes on, but it is of a kind now that depends on man’s will aided by grace, and not on God alone. It should be an evolution of truth and justice, of the knowledge of God and the perfecting of His likeness in the soul. As this depends on the good-will of man, the result is various: in one line there goes on a development towards eternal life, but there is also an alternative line of deterioration. Each man chooses for himself which he will. It depends on you now to carry on the work of God in your own soul and in others. Go on constantly till you have finished your portion of the task. Imitate the regularity and thoroughness of God, so that He may be able to declare that you and your work are very good.
II. “God rested on the seventh day from all the work which He had done” (Gen. ii. 2). This does not mean that there was any change in God from activity to non-activity, nor that He retired from His creation and left it thenceforward to itself. God is immutable, and there is not in Him, as in us, a change from striving after something deficient, to the fruition that follows attainment. God is always in a state of peace, repose, attainment: at the same time He is always perfect activity; according to the word of Our Lord, “My Father worketh until now, and I work” (John v. 17). The beginning and the ceasing, the change from work to repose, were in the temporal operation of God upon His creatures, and not in Himself. The repose, as spoken of God, was symbolical. Learn to unite in yourself activity and repose. Work unceasingly for God, but work peacefully without excitement or anxiety. Employ all your energies, but do not trouble yourself about success or failure. Leave the results to Him “who giveth the increase.” Be content to have done your allotted task; and then, whatever happens, you have done God’s will, and your work cannot be called a failure.
III. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Gen. ii. 3). The divine action is the rule of ours. We require alternations of activity and rest. The history of creation has been so arranged in Holy Scripture as to point out the due proportions of the two states, and to give a new sanction to the custom and to the division of time already existing. Our physical need of rest coincides with our spiritual need for a season which we may devote to worship and religious meditation. These needs are consecrated and secured to mankind by the symbolical rest of the Creator on the seventh day. Thus God, having supreme repose in Himself, becomes the source of repose for men. Labour is necessary that we may enjoy repose. Repose is necessary that we may be able to labour. God must be the rule of both. Without God, the turmoil of life is so absorbing that it exhausts our energies and destroys us before our time. Without God, repose becomes depravity, and recreation a fierce excitement. The world requires more restfulness, of mind, of heart, and of body. A dominant sense of religion is the only agent that can impart the repose so necessary for wholesome living. God will give you this at present, and a Sabbath of eternal rest in Him hereafter.
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