Tuesday: Rejoicing in Creation
In Genesis 1 we see that each step of the Creation concludes with the same refrain: God saw that it was good
(see Gen. 1:4, Gen. 1:10, Gen. 1:12, Gen. 1:18, Gen. 1:21, Gen. 1:25, Gen. 1:31). The last step (Genesis 1:31) goes even further: It was very good.
The Hebrew word for good
contains the idea of enjoyment, and it also implies relationship. At the end of the whole Creation week God pauses to fully enjoy His creation (Gen. 2:1–3). The time of this pause, the Sabbath, is blessed. Likewise our poem concludes with wisdom enjoying the Creation.
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Read Proverbs 8:30-31. Why was wisdom rejoicing?
Wisdom’s rejoicing reflects God’s rejoicing at Creation. This rejoicing not only happens daily,
at each step of Creation, but also crowns the work of creation, when the Creation (of life on earth) itself was completed.
In Proverbs 8, we find the reason for wisdom’s rejoicing: My delight was with the sons of men
(Proverbs 8:31, NKJV). At the end of the Creation week, on Sabbath, God entered into a relationship with humans. The immediate application of this divine pause and rejoicing, after the work of the week, has implications for the human experience of Sabbath: Following the pattern of the Creator, he too may look back upon his finished work with joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. In this way man may rejoice not only in God’s creation but also in his responsible rulership, not exploitation, over creation.
— Gerhard F. Hasel, in Kenneth A. Strand, The Sabbath in Scripture and History (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1982), p. 23.
Read Colossians 1:15–17, Colossians 2:3, Revelation 3:14, and John 1:1–14. What do these verses tell us about Jesus’ role in the Creation itself? Why is His role as Creator so important in understanding His role as our Redeemer?
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The wisdom that God demonstrated in creation makes us accountable for our stewardship. At the end of each day of creation, he did self evaluation to see how effective his work was; this is best practice standard. What a precedent for us in our daily vocation! Have I done my best today? What can I change to impact others with my service? Have I realistically fulfilled the demands of my job description? Having accomplished this, the Sabbath brings more satisfaction at the end of a work week.
Noted correction to previous post! An indelible fact to me is that "all Things were created through Him" at Creation, without him nothing was made; fast forward to Preincarnate and incarnation, we see that in him was life - is life, and that life was - is the light of men; the light shined in the darkness however darkness did not comprehend it; he became flesh, and dwelt among us; we did behold his GLORY - FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.
A question was posed last week as I was presenting the lesson it was as thus did Jesus renounce his trinity during his life knowing that God never dies
Perhaps this can help answer that question:
John 10:17-18, 17 This is why the Father loves me43—because I lay down my life,44 so that I may take it back again. 10:18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down45 of my own free will.46 I have the authority47 to lay it down, and I have the authority48 to take it back again. This commandment49 I received from my Father.”
In that text we see that His death is in itself a great mystery. It boggles my mind to think that He from Whom we borrow life, once lay in the tomb as one who was lifeless. He in Whom we move and breath and have our being was as one who had no breath. The mystery of His incarnation is something that will take eternity to grasp. Praise God for His great love for us!!! Oh that each waking moment of our lives, we may love Him more and more and more....!
While on earth Jesus was fully God and fully man. I am think that it was the man part of Him that died as he was described as the second Adam. But even as I type this I wonder whether if redemption did require the death of a God....hmmmmm.....hope a couple of the regular contributors to this site comment on this as I am curious about their perspectives.
the death is all too real. If it was not real then our redemption from sin is fictional or farcical. For Jesus that cannot be for it will deviate from the Truth as He defined it. Also, by the worship service of the Tabernacle which prefigured His work of redemption the the sacrificed lamb died a real death. For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. As the death was real so is the eternal life promised by God to those who accept the death of His Son Jesus
The question is a lesson unto itself. However, in a few words, I believe Lystra is on correct path.
Because Matt 10:28 tells us there are two types of death: the body alone and the combo: body and soul. Since Satan is the one behind Christ's earthly death and he can only kill the body, I believe Christ may have only experienced the bodily death at this time.
Just as the first death is sometimes described as sleep or rest for the average man (John 11:11-13) so Christ experienced it. Our bodies obviously decay and time passes during this rest but we are unaware.
I believe that Matt 28:10 is referring to the difference between the first death and the second death.
Jesus is showing the difference between this temporary life we now have and the gift of eternal life.
He is saying, people may kill you but only God decides whether you get eternal life or cease to exist.
I believe we have to relegate this to the realm of mystery too deep for us to understand.
However, we do know a few things:
The death we all die is termed a "sleep" and not the final wages of sin. Thus Jesus did not just experience the "sleep" of death. Instead, as fully God and fully man, He experienced the second death which those who reject His salvation will experience - the agony of eternal separation from God. That's what drew from His lips the despairing cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?!"
Just so much as His relationship with the Father was more intimate than that of any human being, so His agony was greater than any human can ever experience.
Yet, because He was sinless, death did not have power over Him, and He took up His life again as fully God and fully human when the Father called Him. And He remains both fully humand and fully God throughout eternity. Thus, because of mankind's sin, humanity will be more closely related to God than if we had never sinned.
They mystery of God's love and grace is truly beyond understanding ...
30Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Wisdom acknowledges and loves God's creation and Him as creator. Wisdom means acknowledging and rejoicing in all that God created including fellow human beings by treating them with dignity.
Sabbath rest allows time for reflection upon all that God allowed to happen during the week and inspires us to move forward as we immerse ourselves in His Word.
Reflection, inspiration, and God's Word yield wisdom.
I am surprised that the lesson didn't deal with the issue that many interpret the "wisdom" of this passage with Jesus, and thus claim that Jesus is a created being. (8:22,23)“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago,at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
The passages and question at the end of today's lesson hints at the issue but doesn't make the full connection. The EGW passage in Friday's lesson (PP p. 34) Ellen White seems to make that connection as well--that Wisdom is Jesus.
I think that is b/c the author uses the NKJV which states (Monday's lesson):
22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.
23 I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
As the author stated, I don't believe this interpretation states that wisedom was created but existed.
One of the mysteries we may discuss/fatham for eternity. May God bless our honest attempts for knowledge/wisedom of who He is.
Why is His role as Creator so important in understanding His role as our Redeemer?
I'm at a loss as to what the lesson is after on this.
Any clarity or insights would be welcome.
My take on that is that being the Author of Creation/Source of All Life, only Jesus can become The Worthy sacrifice to pay for the sins of the human race which He created. When He died for our sins He was taking command responsibility for all the damage, hurt, and loss that our sins have caused on Creation destroying what was originally very good. Only in this way can any one justify for the sins of all and for all time. Also, in this regard no one can replace Our Lord Jesus as mankind's Ultimate Sacrifice.
One point is that because He created us we belong to Him,
however we went astray and went over to the dark side.
Never the less He was prepared to sacrifice himself to win us back to Him.
This is illustrated by the oft told story of the boy who built a boat, he was sailing it on the river and it was washed away.
Then one day he saw it in the shop window. he went in and told the shopkeeper but was told if he wanted it he would have to buy it. So although in fact it was his, because he really wanted it back he paid for it. So it was his twice over.
I thank you Lord for the Sabbath. I enjoying viewing and embracing all of God's creations. It reminds me of how awesome He really is. I will bless His name at all times.
(John 1:1-2)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
(Proverbs 8:22-23)
22“The Lord possessed me at the
beginning of His way, Before His works of old.
23 I have been established from
everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
From the two verses, we see wisdom as the word, the words that made all creation possible (In creation, we see "God said...). We again see that Word was God.
What an awesome analogy that we get to learn that the Word of God is Wisdom, God Himself is Wisdom.
We also see Jesus being described as the first of all creations. Same to the Word and to Wisdom. That means Jesus is the Word, Jesus is God and God is Jesus. Jesus is Wisdom, Wisdom is Jesus.
Bothe the Word, Wisdom, God and Jesus are described as existing before creation as different entities, then existing as one. The question then; did all the above exist independently? can be answered with a yes and a no if we go by the scriptures. But their character is well defined when you relate one to the other.
The lesson author described God’s rest after creation as a “pause”. Does this imply a temporary stoppage and then a resumption of work?
It would seem that a “pause” would be more correctly applied to the sabbath rest given to Israel. They were to observe their sabbath from evening to evening Lev 23:32, but resume work the next day. On the other hand the 7th ‘day’ in creation never came to an end. All the other days were designated “the evening and morning were the .... day” or “there was evening and morning, 1 day” etc. The 7th on the other hand does not end. Could that be a mistake? Again God said his work was finished, complete. There was no work to be added, or to take up. He ceased work because His work was complete.
He said He blessed and sanctified the 7th because in it HE RESTED from ALL His work and was Refreshed Gen 2:3; Ex 31:17. He blessed it not because He created, not because He was celebrating creation. He blessed becaus He rested.How are the TWO SABBATHS related ?. Israel found rest in the Sabbath given them once a week. But God swore in His wrath that Israel “would NOT ENTER MY REST” PS 95:11;Heb 3:11; 4:3. GOD further says that “We who have believed ENTER THAT REST although His work was finished from the foundation of the world”. Heb 4:4 identifies GOD’S REST as that which began at the foundation of the world. This rest, GOD’S REST, was a PROMISE reserved for HIS PEOPLE (Heb 4:1).
As GOD as always done HE brings in a type, symbol, shadow, forerunner before the real or true, which the people have always misconstrued. There were these types, shadows, forerunners : Adam before Christ; Ishmael before Isaac; Esau before Jacob; Moses -type of Christ; Israel according to the flesh (Ishmael) before the Israel of God(children of promise -Isaac), lambs before THE LAMB OF GOD -- the type before the True or Real.
CHRIST, THE TRUE, the FULFILLMENT AND REALIZATION of ALL the PROMISES enters saying, “All things have been placed in ME by MY FATHER.....COME unto ME all that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you REST... unto your SOULS (Matt 11:27-29). “So there remains a Sabbath Rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered HIS REST has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that REST, so that NO ONE WILL FALL, through the same example of disobedience”(Heb 4:9-11). Is this the Sabbath Rest that should really
Kenney, in bringing up the texts in Hebrews 4 you have added a dimension to the discussion of the Sabbath command with respect to creation week that I think we rarely think about. To me it is more than simply resting because God created, it is multidimensional that also includes a promise.
We most often view Sabbath from the standpoint of creation (Ex 20:8-11) as something that was done (past tense) but then in Deut. 5:15 Moses says, "And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day" (NKJV). So, Moses also looked at it redemptively as a promise of something that was both present and also something to come. I also think you are correct in looking at the seventh day of creation as open ended, in a way of ongoing ministry.
I tend to look at the Sabbath as something that is past, present, and future. The creative works in Gen 1 are completed according to the Hebrew text of Gen 1 and yet there is the business of seven millenniums; the three sets of 2000 years and the seventh millennium beginning with the Second Advent. It is as though the work of creation won't actually be completed until the great controversy is settled at the end of the sixth millennium. Meanwhile there is a Sabbath rest for God's people on a theological basis where we rest in Christ as our redeemer and salvation (1 Cor 1:30). It is a faith experience we have in Christ as our only hope.
Amen, Tyler. Wonderful truths!!
Sir thank you for your enlightening comments. May I ask would those time periods after the original Sabbath be as we know it had man not fallen in sin? My personal view is that those time lines came into being as God's plan of salvation as a result of sin but not necessarily a part of the original plan of God for man's existence. Because there is that other scenario where man did not sin and that would certainly need a different plan altogether.Then would creation have been finished at the first Sabbath? Bible and God said that the work of creation was finished. Gen 1:31-2:2
Ric, those time periods are only theological. Just about everyone knows that Usher's chronology is not accurate, in fact, there are a lot of questions about just how many years there have been since creation week. Most scholars will say that it has been about 6000 yrs, some as high as 10000 yrs or more.
Personally I think God created knowing that sin was going to be a problem and planned for it. That to me is the reason that the plan of salvation was conceived before God created life on this planet, before the foundations of the world (Eph 1:4).
I am sorry bro. Tyler but you misunderstood my point. I was saying we are living in a Plan B scenario of God's plan for mankind because we failed the test. There must have been a Plan A where man did not sin and life would surely be better than what we have today, than what the bible and certainly the history books described about mankind's existence on earth. Too bad though because that Plan became theoretical real quick like the plan of Jesus for the Jews before they rejected Him which caused Him to shed tears for them.