Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2 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.
This passage of scripture gives us in precis form, the history of the creation of the Earth. After the Lord was finished with his creative work on the first six literal days, the bible states that He rested. Thus the God of heaven led us by example, setting in motion one of the most important cycles ever known to man. Not only is the sabbath (Saturday) a sign of his creative and redemptive work, but it also includes the the essential principle of rest. This principle is to be found throughout all of God's creation. Trees produce fruit and rest, before starting the process all over again. Our heart beats and then it rests. The same principle could be observed in our breathing patterns, in our digestive systems, in the way we blink our eyes and in the recurring seasons of the year. After the severe winter storms of 2014 are over, then the snow would take a rest and pass the baton on to spring, and then on to summer, and so forth. Even our traffic lights are of necessity built with the principle of rest.
God in his wisdom chose to set aside Saturday as the natural, God ordained day of rest for man, since it comes at the end of six days of toil. It was given to the human family as being absolutely essential to our well-being, for if we were to work seven days a week our energy, our health, our relationships, and every thing we hold dear, would suffer tremendously as a result. The theory of evolution does not contain a principle of rest, and thus removes a core asset of survival from the human family. The inevitable result is that it interferes with our relationship with our Creator and consequently with one another. The reasons given for the sabbath rest are clearly seen to be in our best interest, when observed in the bible. It reads: Exodus 23:12 "Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed". Those who in obedience to the Lord, follow his wise instructions would reap tremendous benefit; not only spiritually, but also in the temporal realm. A person keeping the sabbath holy, and living for a hundred years, would have gotten an extra 14 years of rest more than a person who didn't.In addition, a very great promise in the bible is made to all who keep the sabbath day holy. It reads: Isaiah 13 "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it".
We sincerely hope and trust that those who read this brief presentation would adopt the principle of rest as outlined in the fourth commandment, for it is the will of God that every member of the human family should benefit tremendously from the instructions He has given to us for our own good. "Good night" and God bless!