Theme: Our need for sanctification
(Key verses: Genesis 2:1-3)
God made all in this creation “good” and even “very good” on the first six days of creation:
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
“Very good” and “good” is to be understood within the context of the purpose for which God , the ONLY Creator of ALL things, made them – which includes the darkness and evil. God takes FULL responsibility for ALL His creations as there is no other Creator besides Him:
Isa 45:5-7 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
That means everything fits exactly in the place, time and purpose appointed by God alone.
Ecc 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Nothing happens outside of God’s one will which is His one plan, as we live “by every word” from God’s mouth (Mat 4:4):
Ecc 3:11 (BBE) He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last.
Ecc 3:11 (DRB) He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot find out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.
Ecc 3:11 (CLV) He has made everything fitting in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart So that the man may not find out His work, That which the One, Elohim, does from the beginning to the terminus.
The natural man cannot see the spiritual works of God because God “dwells in thick darkness” from the natural mind’s point of view (2Chr 6:1: 1Cor 2:14). For example, the natural man cannot even understand how God brought forth this whole physical creation “suddenly” in six 24 hour days (John 11:9):
Isa 48:3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
On these six physical creation days all the host of heaven and earth were completed and they did exactly what God purposed for them:
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
But on the seventh day God “ended His work”:
Gen 2:2-3 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
When it says that God rested on the seventh day it does not mean Jesus, the God and Creator of this creation, or His Father were tired and in need of a rest or sleep. The Creator never is weary, never slumbers and never sleeps.
Isa 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Psa 121:4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Godhead is at work in all things all the time, even at this point in time (Eph 1:11):
Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
To understand this seeming contradiction that “God ended His work” when He is working “hitherto”, we need to have a closer look at this seventh day. It is also called the Sabbath, but few in this age are given to see how God is actually sanctifying this day:
Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
What about the other days if the seventh day is sanctified? Good question! As we know the other six days of this creation were set aside to created physical things, which is not spiritually sanctified as they are being used to teach us about God’s spiritual things:
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
So, physical things were never spiritual as all flesh are not spirit. They that are “after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh” and not the things of the spirit!
Rom 8:5-8 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Flesh and all physical things cannot please God! Flesh never enters God’s spiritual domain!
1Cor 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Many believe that Adam was spiritually perfect after his creation on the sixth day. That belief becomes a stumbling block and they cannot see what the sanctification of the seventh day is all about (Ez 14:3-4). It is indeed a “strange work” of God for those who believe that Adam was in no need for sanctification at that stage. When Jesus “sanctified” a man from his physical affliction on the Sabbath, the religious mind-sets of His day were very upset because from their point of view He did something unlawful:
Joh 5:9-10 and 16 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. 16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
This physically healing on the Sabbath is a type of what the spiritual sanctification of the seventh day is all about. God did not complete the first Adam to be spiritually perfect on the sixth day of creation:
Gen 1:26a And God said, Let us make (Hebrew tense here is an action that is incomplete at this specific time – the sixth day) man in our image, after our likeness:
The sixth day is the climax of all the days that went before it from an earthy perspective (“under the heaven”). All things are brought together on this sixth day for us to see that the first Adam is just an earthy beast at that stage (Ecc 3:18; 1Cor 15:45-50). From the beginning Adam was in need of sanctification through God’s fiery judgement of His Word and spirit in Christ (2Thes 2:13; 1Cor 6:11). The sixth day is not the completion of God’s work in the first Adam because He (and all in him) is not yet in the spiritual image of God! (John 4:24;). The seventh day, however, follows and concludes the six days of the physical creation just as the light (the morning or the day) follows the darkness (the evening or the night):
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
Gen 1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
From the human perspective the morning (or light) comes after each evening (darkness) on each of the six days of creation which also shows a progressive awakening in our lives. But in this process we are still “childish” and in “need of milk” (1Cor 13:11-12; Heb 5:12-14; 6:1-2).
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
This “exercise” is brought to us through the sanctification of the seventh day, “if God permits” (Heb 6:3: Lev 11:44; Mat 5:48; John 17:17; Eph 5:26). This relates to the “last day” or “last days” when the first Adam’s complete corrupt state is being revealed to him (Mat 12:45; 1Cor 15:50). It is when we are being drawn to be seated with Christ Jesus in the heavens to see that “we are His workmanship” from the beginning to end (Rev 1:8). Then we are at peace (Rev 4:6; Ps 107:29-31):
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Eph 2:5-6 and 10 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together (“rest”) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
The number seven is spiritually speaking about completion in general. It was on the seventh month, for example, that the ark “rested” upon the high mountains in the land of Ararat. This “rest” links with the judgement of “the old world”, even Babylon in its broader sense (2Pet 2:5; Rev 17:15):
Gen 8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
Jer 51:27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her [judgement against Babylon], call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
Trumpets in Scripture declare an imminent happening, like calling God’s people to come together, or to move forward. They also point out our transgressions/sins, and announce battle/judgement, among others (Num 10:1-10; Isa 58:1; Joel 2:10; Heb 12:26; Rev 1:10; 4:1). The blowing of the trumpets also links in various ways with the number seven in the Scriptures:
Rev 8:2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Jos 6:4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
Lev 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
The seventh month in the Jewish calendar has other important memorials for our admonition (1Cor 10:11):
Lev 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Lev 23:34 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.
Affliction of souls and offerings are again associated with the number seven here. It is interesting to note that it was in this seventh month (called “Ethanim” in the Jewish calender), during this feast of tabernacles, that Solomon brought the ark into the most holy in the new built temple in Jerusalem with the slaughtering of sheep and oxen that could not be numbered:
1Ki 8:2-5 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim (meaning “enduring”, “strong” or “valiant”), which is the seventh month. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. 5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
God ordained seven big festivals in the physical nation of Israel of which the feast of tabernacles or ingathering was the seventh or last at the end of the year (Lev 23; Ex 23:16). This again indicates the introduction of what is called “the end of the age” (the end of the physical / carnal age we all must live out first). God will indeed “end His work” in each of us on the “seventh day”. Everyone in the first Adam will eventually be in Christ after they have gone through their appointed time of judgement.
1Cor 15:22-28 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
The seventh angel in Revelation completes the blowing of the seven trumpets. These seven trumpets announce the time of the seven vials of judgement on the rule of the first man Adam in each of us:
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world [of the first man Adam] are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled [“God ended his work”].
God’s work is “ended” on the seventh day when the judgement is “fulfilled” and that is only done on “the Lord’s Day”:
Rev 1:9-10 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
1Cor 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
This is when the “last days” in the flesh and its carnal mind have come when God is drawing us out of this darkness to His marvellous light (John 6:44; Acts 2:17-20; Mat 24:29-33). God sanctifies and blesses the seventh day in the “perdition” (destruction) of all in the generation of the first man Adam. All in Adam will be circumcised in spirit to be entering into His “rest” – that is the eighth or new day (Isa 56:6-8: 1Cor 15:22-28; Isa 66:23-24; Heb 4):
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Col 2:11-12 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
4windkoinonia 