After looking more closely at God's Sabbath rest in the previous entry, I felt the need to look again at the finished work of the creation account in Genesis Chapter 1. There are many things I needed to learn. Of those many things to discover in this chapter, I would like to look specifically at the creation of man for this entry:
"And God said (bara: say, command, promise, avow, require, certify, appoint), "Let Us make (asa: make, shew, accomplish, celebrate, appoint, ordain, press, squeeze, bruise, prepare, provide, practice) man (adam: man, mankind, red, rubbed red. root-dam: blood) in Our image (teshlem: shade, phantom, illusion, resemblance, representative figure, shadow), after Our likeness ( demuth: model, shape, resemble, compared): and let them have dominion (rada: tread down, rule, prevail against, subjugate, crumble off) over the fish (degah: prolific, squirming) of the sea (yam: roar), and over the fowl (ofe: flying creature, to cover with darkness, dimness, obscurity, weary from the darkness) of the air (shamayim: lofty, sky, seen universe), and over the cattle (behama: mute, dumb beast, unable to speak, beast of burden), and over all the earth (eretz: world, wilderness, Sheol, underworld), and over every creeping thing that creepeth (ramas: walk on all fours, crawl, swarm) upon the earth."
So God created (bara: choose, make, done, cut, carve out, polish, separate) man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female*, created He them.
And God blessed (barak: bless, praise, congratulate, be adored, make kneel) them, and said unto them, "Be fruitful (grow, bear fruit, increase), and multiply (rava: abundance, make great, be in authority, heap, gather, nourish), and replenish (mala: consecrate, accomplish, satisfy, fulfil, overflow, have wholly, fill the hand) the earth, and subdue (kavash: bring into bondage, keep under, force, make subservient, dominate, tread down, trample under feet, stones of the sling, subdue enemies, slaves, hostiles) it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing (khahe/khaya/khavah: sustain life, revive from sickness, discouragement, faintness and death, restore to life, repair, save, revive, be whole, tell, declare, show, make known, explain, breath) that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1:26-28
To sum up the Hebrew meaning of the above verses, God was fulfilling a prophetic promise when He created man, and He celebrated that fulfilment. He cut and molded man from the ground of the earth, ordered man to increase, and ordained man to rule over the described creatures. He created man to be a shadow, or pattern of God, Himself. Man was not only to rule, but to subdue forcefully. The creatures of Gen. 1 are described in natural terms, but the meaning behind them is also of spiritual powers on the earth, above the earth, and beneath the earth. While man was to rule and subdue those, he was also ordained to sustain, revive, restore, and repair all things pertaining to life, and to be the declaration of that revival and restoration.
There is also something very important to learn from God's description of man as "male and female" in the above verse. "Male" is zakar meaning a memorial of the parents, bring to remembrance, record, call to mind, to be recognized. The male causes creation to remember and recognize the One of whom he is the shadow and pattern. "Female", or nekava/nakav, tells us the image of God that man is to carry in the earth, and remind creation: pierce, pierce through, strike through, perforate, curse, blaspheme name, puncture, libel, perforate with violence.
The image pressed upon the man, to be a reminder in the earth, was that of the crucified Christ, slain before the foundation of the world. What an awesome truth to find in the creation account.
This shadow and pattern fulfilled by the man is of the promised Savior who rules, reigns and subdues. As we picture Jesus upon the cross, we might not associate it with ruling dominion, and the subjecting of powers, but several things are brought to mind. Pontius Pilate's plaque upon the cross of Jesus declared, "Jesus of Nazareth (one separated), King of the Jews" (Mt. 27:37, Mk. 15:26, Lk. 23:38, Jn. 19:19). Upon His head was placed a crown (of thorns). From the cross, Jesus issued decrees with authority:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Lk. 23:34
To the thief: "Verily, I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." Lk. 23:43
To His mother, and disciple, John: "Woman, here is your son.", and "Here is your mother." Jn. 19:26-27
To His Father: "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit." Lk. 23:46
Jesus determined His own moment of death, saying, "It is finished." Jn. 19:30
Did He also subdue, and subject spiritual powers from the cross? There was great darkness, and an earthquake during the crucifixion, so warfare may well have been taking place in the heavenly realm, and in the earth. Regarding this, scripture says that when our sins were blotted out, and nailed to His cross, He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (Col. 2:14-15). Also, had the princes and wisdom of this world known before time the resulting subjection by the work of the cross, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:6-8).
Considering these things I have learned, it is now more understandable and more poignant that Adam was called "the son of God" (Lk. 3:38). However, it seems clear from the choices made, and the words spoken by the first man, that he did not understand, or perhaps did not accept, the eternal importance of the image of the crucified Christ which he carried. Most of us welcome the idea of walking "in His image"- but not that image. Yet this is the very image in which Jesus commanded us to walk: "...let him take up his cross and follow Me." (Mt. 16:24, Mk. 8:34, 10:21, Lk. 9:23). How do we achieve that? Jesus said in the same verses that one must "deny himself". In the Greek this means, "to forget, to lose sight of one's self and one's own interests, to have no acquaintance or connection to one's self, to reject, refuse, disregard one's own interests". Walking in the image of God and Christ requires walking in exactly this crucified image.
I am certainly not successful in this. Studying these things makes me see how unlike Christ's image I really am. However, this was our purpose in the earth from the beginning, and even before the beginning, according to the details given to us in the creation account. We can choose to be that shadow and pattern of the very image of God, a declaration and reminder of Christ, our Savior, to the creation, or, like Adam, we can choose to refuse that image. It is a daily, and even moment by moment, choice. As Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I now live by faith in (of) the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me". (Gal. 2:20).
In listening to that lying serpent, the first man desired to empower himself, and by making that choice, he turned away from the greatest power-the image of the Crucified Christ.
I need to be more conscious of this, more attentive to it, and keep this in prayer, and in repentance. It is not just about sin. It is also about self.
If we understand and accept, and become this image of Christ, it is a purpose to celebrate and adore, as God did when He created man.
Our Father created man as a shadow and model of Christ.
"The Anthem"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24apOa9CZuU
The Sabbath rest is something that is very important to God, and to man. It was so important to God that He made it one of the Ten Commandments, and also one of the feasts of the LORD, one of the holy convocations that God revealed to Moses:
"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11
And:
"Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: "The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation, You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings." Lev. 23:2-3
This very important holy day of the LORD's is associated with the rest that He entered on the seventh day, at the conclusion of the six days of creation. There is, however, something deeper here. The completion of the manifested, physical creation, and the subsequent day of rest, is really a shadow and type of an even greater spiritual work, and rest, which we will see. Unfortunately, the Sabbath became, instead, an occasion for religious legalism regarding what can or cannot be done on that day, or, even worse, it has been totally disregarded as a feast of the LORD, and removed from its proper context as such by the Church.
All of the feasts of the LORD, including the Sabbath, also have a prophetic significance, which is revealed in the Hebrew word for convocation. The apostle Paul tells the Church that there is prophetic meaning when he says that the convocations shadow "things to come", and he also tells the Church that the substance, or Body, of these convocations is Christ, Himself (Col. 2:16-17).
Jesus certainly directly connects Himself with the Sabbath by saying, "For the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath (Mt. 12:8, Mr. 2:28, Lk. 6:5). He also said, "Come to Me, all you who labor (exhausted, troubled, beaten with grief and sorrow, wailing in mourning) and are heavy laden (overburdened, carrying spiritual anxiety), and I will give you rest." (Mt. 11:28). As Paul told us, Jesus is indeed the Body of this feast.
One of the reasons given for many having rejected Jesus as Messiah at the time of His coming, was because He did not observe the man-made religious legalisms that had been loaded onto the Sabbath (Jn. 9:16). Jesus instead turns their understanding of the Sabbath on its head by telling them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." What is Jesus telling us? Why is God so insistent that we not only consider the Sabbath holy, but do no work on the Sabbath, not even our animals, nor our servants (employees), nor the stranger that might come across our household? When God talks about the six days of creation, and the seventh day of rest, what is He really revealing to us? And if the convocations are also prophetic, what is the prophetic depth of the Sabbath?
The Book of Hebrews gives us great understanding of the epic, eternal, depth of the Sabbath of the LORD. In Heb. 4:3-11, the Word reveals that although the work of the LORD was manifested and represented in the six days of creation, the actual creative work was begun and completed before the foundation of the world. The reason why the Israelites in the wilderness were not allowed to enter into God's rest (Ps. 95:11), was because they did not believe that He had completed the work regarding them, and that He had rested from it. Entering into the Sabbath rest of the LORD, the holy convocation, requires that we understand and believe that all of His work had already been begun and completed, before the physical world even existed. The past, present, and future has already been created, set into place to such a complete extent that God has rested. This is the rest that the LORD has called us also to enter: the knowledge that all has already been done, already completed:
"There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience (the Israelites' unbelief)." Heb. 4:11
The prophet Isaiah also revealed the eternal dimension of the Sabbath:
"Remember the former things (beginning, first, before, aforetime) of old (perpetual, always, continuous existence, indefinite, unending future, eternity) for I am God (El), and there is no other; I am God (Elohim), and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times (before, anticipate, precede) things that are not yet done, saying "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure...I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it." Isa. 46:9-11).
When Jesus compels those who labor, and are heavy laden to come to Him, He is talking about the place in Him of this eternal completion, that all of those efforts and burdens are gone in the knowledge that it is already finished. This is the Sabbath rest.
Jesus is the eternity of completion from the beginning to the end, or rest- the work completed before the foundation of the world:
"And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." Rev. 21:6
"Father, I desire that they also, whom You gave Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." Jn. 17:24
"He (Christ) indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you." 1 Pet. 1:20
The atoning work of the cross was completed before the world was physically created:
"All who dwell on the earth will worship Him (Jesus), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world". Rev. 13:8
We also are part of this eternal, completed work:
"...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before Him in love..." Eph. 1:4
Of those who were called:
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." Rom. 8:30
The holy Sabbath rest is not just a day for going to temple, or church as usual (most churches have changed the day, and context of Sabbath anyway), and it is definitely not a set of religious rules regarding what is allowed on the day. It is something much deeper than that. The Sabbath feast of the LORD, commanded by Him and revealed to His prophet Moses, is the place where we are to enter by the faith, with the understanding, the assurance in Christ, that everything concerning us, our household, our circumstances, our conditions, our salvation, our perfecting into His image, has been begun and completed by the Father and the Son, before the world was even manifested. Therefore, we can join Him in His rest, and accept that the work is finished. The manifestation of that creative work in us and around us, will follow. The Sabbath is not just a day, it is a picture of eternity. To believe less is to refuse to enter into His rest.
Our Father wants us to honor, enter into, and keep His Sabbath rest.
"Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq59iE3MhXM
"Rest In The LORD"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiKWeK37C6Q
