Navigate / search

Sermons

The Seventh Day (Genesis 2:1-3)

Part of the The Book of Genesis series, preached at a Sunday Morning service

David Torres
David Torres
October 13, 2013

Sermon preached on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at Garden Valley Chapel during our morning worship service based on Genesis 2:1-3.

Take your Bible if you will and open it to the book of Genesis 2, Genesis chapter two, where we resume our study on Origins. Our 13th message in the series.

Though we concluded our study of chapter 1 with day six of creation, it is the first three verses of chapter two that bring creation week to a close, with the account of day seven.

It is a reminder to us that though we may have chapter divisions in our text of Scripture, which date back to the Latin Bibles of the 13th century, that does not necessarily mean we have an appropriate paragraph break.

The beginning verses of chapter two make for a beautifully arranged conclusion to the creation account.1

With that I invite you to stand in the reading of God’s Word.

Read Genesis 2:1-3.

The rest of chapter two will provide the additional details about the creation of Adam and Eve, but here we are brought to the seventh and final day of creation week.

If you will notice, that seventh day is mentioned 3x in our passage.

2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it...

It is rather a unique day to say the least. It stands apart from the foregoing six days of creation.

Three times do you see “the seventh day” because it is important.

So important that we have a powerful verb that shows up for the first time in all Scripture. It is the verb that is found in v. 3 translated as “make holy” (ESV, NIV84) or “sanctify” (KJV, NKJV, NASB).

The Hebrew term is קָדַשׁ which literally means “to cut” and whose basic meaning is “to set apart.”2

More specifically it is “to transfer something to the state of holiness, dedicate for use before God.”3

God set this day apart and transferred this day to the state of holiness, declaring it to be holy.

It joins in the ranks of the word “to bless” because it is God is who is acting and causing this effect. He is the One blessing and here He is the One making holy. He is the One performing this “act of consecration.”4

No doubt the seventh day is a special day, set apart, cut off from the other days (perhaps the reason why they placed it a part of a new chapter, a new paragraph and thought).

Now there are three reasons why the seventh day is unique and special and those three reasons are indicated by three verbs in this passage.

- The first verb is “completed” (v. 1). The Hebrew term is כָּלָה (kā·lā(h)). It is to “be finished” (ESV, KJV). Sometimes it is translated as “ended” (KJV, NKJV - v. 2a).
- The second verb is “rested” (v. 2, 3). The Hebrew term is שָׁבַת (šā·ḇǎṯ), which basically means to cease, stop.
- The third verb is “blessed” (v. 3). The Hebrew term is בָּרַךְ (bā·rǎḵ) where God makes the seventh day blessed.

Each of these verbs appear with the seventh day explicitly:

Verse 2 - “By the seventh day God completed His work..”
Verse 2 - “He rested on the seventh day...”
Verse 3 - “God blessed the seventh day...”

Plus, in each of these cases, God is the subject, these are the verbs, and the seventh day is the recipient of these verbs (direct object). Little grammar 101.

When you look at it with this in mind, the passage becomes simple yet very significant. So let’s look at these three verbs which distinguish the seventh day.

The seventh day is distinguished by the fact that...

God Completed His Work (vv. 1-2)
God Rested (v. 2)
God Blessed the Day (v. 3)

About David Torres: David Torres was born in San Salvador and moved to the States at the age of 6. He came to Christ at age 15. He is a graduate of The Master’s University (BA ’01) and The Master’s Seminary (MDiv ’06; ThM ‘19). He served as a pastor-teacher in Garden Valley, CA for 8 years. In 2014, he returned to Grace to You as the GAV Radio Producer serving the Spanish speaking world through the teaching ministry of John MacArthur. He serves in the Joint Heirs Fellowship Group at Grace Community Church and on the council for Grace Advance. He also serves as a Section Instructor at TMS. He was married to Angie in 2000, and they have seven children: Isaiah, Emilia, Micah, Eva, Isabella, Elizabeth, and Jeremiah.