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bondage and sin just as He redeemed ancient Israel from Egypt, a type of the world we find our-
selves in.

Now, some have asked why did Jesus Christ -- who had done the WORK of creation --
rest? Was He exhausted from all His efforts? Was He so tired that He was forced to stop and rest?
Absolutely not, for God "fainteth not, neither is weary"! (Isaiah 40:28). Yet, let us realize, this was
a real rest because it is written in Exodus 31:17 that "in six days the Lord [Christ] made heaven
and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Since He was evidently "re-
freshed" by this rest, it had to be a REAL rest -- yet He was not tired or weary! So, then, WHY did
He rest? To place His DIVINE PRESENCE IN THAT DAY! In other words, He made the Sabbath
on that day by resting, whereas He had made all other things by working!

Taking this a step further, we find He "blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it"! What
does "sanctified" mean? If you check in a dictionary you will find that it means "set apart, for
HOLY use or purpose." Christ set this day apart from all the other days -- He set it apart for
HOLY use -- for a day of physical rest in which His people may assemble and worship Him!

The "Soul" of the Sabbath!

From the article Creation: The Jewish Oral Tradition, we read something else about the
Sabbath day that Christ "created" or set aside in Genesis 2 --

Now we all know that God created the world during the original six days,
and rested on the Seventh. Everyone thinks that God refrained from His
creative activities on Shabbat, and did not introduce anything new into
the world -- but did God perhaps "create" something on the Sabbath?
The Talmud indicates (BT Chagigah 12) that yes, something new certainly
was introduced into the fabric of the world with the advent of the Sabbath.

What was this "something new" that God introduced with the Sabbath?

It was the element of permanence. "The world was unstable and shaky," say the rabbis,
"until the arrival of the Sabbath -- then the earth was firmly anchored into place." Why? What is it
about the Sabbath that brought "stability" to the world? Before the Sabbath, the whole of creation
was a shaky and insecure thing. It is as if the permanence of creation was debatable, uncertain; an
open question hanging in the balance until the arrival of the seventh day; it almost seemed as if
there was some doubt as to whether or not this will be a sure thing -- the earth hung suspended in
the universe, lacking a sense of cohesion -- quivering and heaving with the possibility that perhaps
all is only temporary. Continuing, this fascinating passage concludes:

Indeed, something about the Sabbath had the capacity to bring the world its sense of per-
manence, and lock it into place -- but just what is it? The powerful answer is at once both
beautiful in its simplicity and staggering in its depth: The holy Sabbath is the soul of the
world; it is the soul of creation itself.

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