I’m guessing that most Christians know that when the Bible says God rested on the seventh day of creation week, it doesn’t mean that He was tired. This writing, then, is primarily directed at those who don’t know and for those who yet haven’t come to our faith.
After five days of creating the heavens and the earth, God created mankind on the sixth day. That was the finishing touch of creating physical life. Because mankind was made in his image, and God is spirit, another day was added that would be set aside to reinvigorate and nurture mankind’s spirituality. An added benefit to that was physical rest for mortal mankind.
God, however, being wholly spirit, didn’t and doesn’t need physical rest. The Bible says He rested, but that doesn’t mean He was tired. We know this because God has made it known. Isaiah 4:28 says, “The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.”
So what does Genesis 2:2 mean, saying God rested on the seventh day? The Hebrew word “shabbat” translated as “rest” has as its main definition the idea of “ceasing or stopping.” In the context of the creation week, God rested simply means He stopped His work. On the seventh day, He ceased creating the physical world, because all was complete and good.
His creative, physical work being finished, God decided that there should be a seventh day. In this day, creating having ended, He sanctified it. He set it aside as a blessing, not just for the Jewish people, but for mankind (Mark 2: 27). Like Him, His image – mankind – wouldn’t have to work. Instead, mankind would get to be refreshed in the holy memory that celebrates the love and wisdom displayed in creating the heavens and earth.
Mankind would get the whole day to walk away from the stresses of what would become a fallen world, and would get to engage in fellowship with Him and other humans in the spiritual family. In this way, as a result of investing quality time determined by Him, mankind would have the opportunity to get to know Him better and to become more like Him.
So, returning to topic, God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired. “Rest” should have been translated ‘stopped.” He ceased working on that day, not to take a break, but because His work was deemed “It is finished.”
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