After 6 days of creation (work!) God rested the 7th day. If He is omnipotent, why does He take a day of rest? And if He rested the 7th day, did He start work again on the 8th day? If He did start work again, does He always take the seventh day off? If He never started work again, has He been resting ever since?..
Comments
Furthermore, some explanations say that we live in the seventh day and each day was rather a period of time ( The Hebrew word for day also denotes a period of time), and the end of the world will be the end of the seventh day ( the number seven represents temporal which is what this world is), and then the eighth day will start and will continue forever with us in Heaven with Him ( the number eight represents above time).
Remember this explanation is not doctrine and there are others, but what is agreed upon is that this was a rest from creating, not out of necessity, but rather that God willed that his creatures could now procreate and he would no longer need to create.
This doesn't mean that he isn't still working but rather that he no longer creates anything.
Please pray for me
The language used to describe God in the Bible is something we should approach with great fear and reverence knowing that we cannot understand neither God nor his mysteries.
When scripture describes the feelings or actions of God we know that its something which has been granted to us because God wanted us to have knowledge of Him and what He is doing. It takes humility on God's part for us to hear an explanation of what God is and what He is doing and we should receive this knowledge with fear. It is a sad thing that normally revelation of this kind of wisdom is reserved for those who have the special gift of spiritual insight but now it is called 'theology' and studied in seminaries by people overcome by passions who don't know the Holiness of the One they talk about. I say this because I too need to look into this mirror.
Creation is something that continuously occurring around us, God never stops his work of creation at any time nor at any moment. The current salvation which we receive comes from the continually renewal and recreation of our minds and hearts in the sacramental and spiritual work of the Holy Spirit. Christ also says in the Gospel of St John and He and His Father are always working.
The expression of rest is used in Genesis because God's work until the creation of man was a significant milestone that He wanted to commemorate. Since man was in the image and likeness of God, man is the centrepiece of His creation and God wanted us to know this and how significant it is that we are the one part of His creation blessed with these special qualities that make us unique from the rest of creation and that this is an intensely passionate thing on God's part that He was working towards completing the whole of creation for the sake of this event.
God bless,
LiD
@LiD: thank you for clear and inspiring reply. i am sorry if my question seems to lack reverence; it was not my intention or position. however i appreciate you pointing it out.
Sorry brother!
I wasn't trying to imply anything from your post! Sometimes because we're not in the presence of God like the angels with an awareness of His Glory we inadvertently speak about Him in a way that is not becoming of His Glory, I didn't mean to imply that there was anything irreverent about your question. They way you come to know someone is to ask questions about them. :D
God bless you,
LiD
And this was why the Jews(A) were persecuting Jesus,(B) because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working
God is still working on us.The physical creation may have been finished in six days. The work of God continues and the sabbath is for our Salvation.He is the potter,we are the clay.
LifeInDeath has actually put is more clearly which I realised after i posted.
I in no way meant the recreation of our mind and hearts as clearly God continues doing this.
God has never stopped working, but rather what I meant is that he doesn't create each animal as was done at first, meaning no births. Please forgive me if I have confused anyone.
Here is a quote from Pope Shenouda that should clarify things: Please pray for me and my weak self, and please correct me if I'm wrong in anything.