Times of Refreshment

"Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷ It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."

Exodus 31:16-17

This is a remarkable passage.  From the beginning of creation, God established a seven-day week.  He created the heavens, sea, earth, and all that is in them in six actual days.  God is an eternal being and chose to operate within the confines of time, establishing the orbits of the planets according to a 24-hour day consisting of morning and night.  God created time, seasons, months, and years.  In the Mosaic law, God told His people that the Sabbath day was a sign between them, affirming that God in six days made the heavens and earth and rested on the seventh.  I see no reason to debate and argue about the actual age of the universe.  There is no consensus view, and the most "accurate" views based upon new discoveries continue to drastically evolve.  The world most certainly had a beginning, and according to God's divine plan it will have an end.  It was not man that decided on 24-hour days or 365-day years:  it was dictated by the heavenly design God created and implements, for in Him all things consist. 

Isaiah 40:28 says, "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable."  Now isn't it interesting that God never faints, is weary, or sleeps, and yet He chose to rest on the seventh day?  Even more thought provoking than the fact God rested for a day is that He was refreshed.  He chose to remain under the confines of time for a day, enjoying the beauty and wonder of what He had made.  The crown jewel of God's creation is man, the only creature made in the image of the invisible God.  God made made distinct from all other animals, having breathed into him a living soul.  Ecclesiastes 3:21 affirms the difference:  "Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?"  The thought that God can be refreshed is an amazing truth.  It was like He sat back to rest and a delicious, cool breeze washed over Him.

The Sabbath was a shadow of Jesus Christ, the Messiah who would come to earth and fulfill the Law.  Colossians 2:16-17 tells us, "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." Christians today are freed from the strict limits of the Law concerning the Sabbath because Jesus has fulfilled it.  God chose to reveal Himself to man as a man, placing Himself in the person of Jesus under the restrictions of time, years, hours, minutes, and seconds.  We no longer need to heed the shadow when the substance indwells us and leads us by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus taught that the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath.  Instead of seeking to find rest only for our bodies, it is through Jesus we find rest for our souls.  He called out in Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Rest and refreshment do not come from taking time off work or laying around the house on a Saturday or Sunday:  true lasting refreshment comes from fellowship with Jesus Christ.  Acts 3:19 says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."  When we spend time in the presence of the LORD, both He and us are refreshed.  How delightful is the refreshment that comes from the presence of God!  Let us return the favour!