I grew up Seventh Day Adventist, and I was taught that God had ‘made the Sabbath’ on the Seventh day in much the same way as He had made the birds and fish on the fifth. We believed that the purpose of God’s rest was to establish the principle of working six days and resting the seventh.

And that may well be so. But I have discovered that there is a far more profound principle to grasp here, which the Sabbath commandment, that came later, is only a shadow of.

Hebrews 4:3 tells us that ‘His work has been finished since the creation of the world.’ God rested then, because He had finished His work, not primarily because He intended to set an example for us to follow. It is, rather, in the example of the pre-Fall Adam and Eve that we find the deeper principle: Adam and Eve did not earn their rest by their work. They merely entered into Rest on the basis of the work that God had already done.

Think about it. The first full day that Adam and Eve experienced was a day of rest. They had, as yet, done nothing. They were born into a state of Rest.

And what a rest that must have been! For this Rest is about far more than a break for tired bodies, and the rejuvenation of the spirit. Adam and Eve could not possibly have been fresher.

But this Rest is the state of perfect harmony between God and humanity and creation, the natural state that God intended, and the state to which humanity has, since that rest was broken by the Fall, yearned to return.

And therein, I suggest, lies the point. This Rest did not cease because the day changed. Had Adam and Eve not sinned, this state of Sabbath—a Hebrew word that simply means Rest—would have continued. It is sin that broke this Sabbath-Rest and produced the state of Restlessness that is felt by every human heart, regardless of whether or not they acknowledge its source. There can be no true Rest while sin reigns.

But the good news is that God is at work to restore this Rest. John 5 tells the story of Jesus healing a crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. Because the healing occurred on the Sabbath—and I can only assume this was no accident—the Jews accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by doing the work of healing.

Jesus’ response indicates that the Pharisees had missed the wood for the trees: “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” In effect, Jesus’ response to the accusation of Sabbath breaking is, “The Sabbath is already broken. I am working to fix it. And I will continue working until the work is finished.”

And this is precisely what Jesus does. Hanging on the Cross, after enduring hours of agony, Jesus, at last declares in a loud voice, “IT IS FINISHED.” Then, just as God rested the seventh day after he had finished the work of Creation, Jesus rests in the tomb on the seventh day after He had finished the work of redemption. It is finished. The work is done. Sin is atoned for. Rest is restored.

Now Jesus invites those who are striving and struggling in the painful toil of the Curse (Gen 3:16, 17) to enter His rest.

“Come to Me,” He says, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28–30).

When we come to Him, we lay down the heavy burden of painful toil; the striving in our own strength to produce fruit that will not last. By the Spirit, we are united to Him and receive instead His easy yoke and the light burden of simple obedience to His Father, whom He now invites us to call Our Father.

Just as Adam and Eve rested in God’s finished work, so we, who are united to Christ, enter into God’s Rest on the basis of the finished work of the Cross.

There remains then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore make every effort to enter that rest. . . (Heb 4:9–11).

Today is a day to cease striving. Today is a day to stop working in our own strength. Today is a day to cast off the difficult yoke and lay down the heavy burden at the foot of the Cross. And leave it there.