Day Seven: A 24 Hour Period of Time?

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“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”    Genesis 2:1-3 (ESV)  

Why no “there was evening and there was day, the seventh day” as we read in Genesis one describing the previous six days?  

The writer to the Hebrews tell us: 

For (God) has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” . . .

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

. . .  ⁹ So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, ¹⁰ for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

¹¹ Let us therefore strive to enter that rest . . . “   Hebrews 4:7-11 (ESV)  

Rest on day seven is the whole object of creation. It’s the culmination and purpose and goal of the first six days. This is when God comes to dwell in the home that has been prepared.  And God’s presence in the cosmos, the universe, the “home” he created, in which are meant to flourish with Him has not ceased.  He occupies every square inch, every split second of this world.  God made not only a home for people; he made a home for himself, though he has no need of a home for himself.  The previous six days were all about creating a sacred space where he could dwell with us, and in that relationship we could then flourish.

In short, we are living in Day Seven.  We are surrounded by God.  The writer to the Hebrews warns us not to harden our hearts, lest we miss Day Seven and God Himself.   Miss that and we’ve missed everything.   It seems to me that the only thing to fear in life is to come to the end of our lives on earth only to discover that we have missed everything.

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God . . . Let us therefore strive to enter that rest” 

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