God was there at the beginning. The Lord God spoke, and it was. Light divides day from night; firmament, sky, and seas are spoken into existence on the second day; dry land and vegetation follow on the third. God forms the basic framework of time and geography, and then He fills it during the next three days. Lights govern the sky by day and by night.

Image © Bible Adventure Collection at Goodsalt.com

Different from the stories of most ancient cultures, the biblical Creation account makes it abundantly clear that the sun, the moon, or the stars are not deities. They enter into the picture only on the fourth day and are subject to the Creator’s word.

Moses’ description of days 5 and 6 (Genesis 1:20-31) is full of life and beauty. Birds, fish, land animals — they all fill the space prepared by God.

What does God’s evaluation indicate about Creation? Read Genesis 1:1-31.

This is not just any space that God has created; it’s a perfect place. Teeming creatures fill the earth. Like the refrain of a catchy tune, God keeps saying that it was “good” after each day.

What is different about the creation of humanity from the rest of the created world? Read  Genesis 1.26-27 , Genesis 2:7,and Genesis 2:21-24.

God stoops and begins to shape mud. Humanity’s creation in God’s image and likeness is an object lesson in intimacy and closeness. God bends down and breathes life into Adam’s nostrils, and there was a living being. Eve’s special creation from Adam’s rib adds another important element to Creation week. Marriage is part of God’s design for humanity — a sacred trust of partnership between ’ish and ’ishshah, “man” and “woman.”

This time, when God looks at everything He has made on day six, the refrain sounds different: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31, italics supplied).

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 1:1-31, Exodus 20:8-11, Exodus 16:14-31, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Psalm 92:1-15, Isaiah 58:13.

Memory Text: “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:3).

Who can imagine what the acts of creation — light amid darkness, oceans brimming with life, birds suddenly taking flight — must have been like? And the supernatural creation of Adam and Eve? We can’t even begin to grasp how God did it.

But then, after all of this active creating, God turned His attention to something else. At first glance, it did not seem as spectacular as leaping whales or dazzling feather displays. God simply made a day, the seventh day, and then He made it special. Even before humanity would dash off on our self-imposed stressful lives, God set a marker as a living memory aid. God wanted this day to be a time for us to stop and deliberately enjoy life — a day to be and not do, to celebrate the gift of grass, air, wildlife, water, people, and most of all, the Creator of every good gift.

This invitation would continue even after the first couple was exiled from Eden. God wanted to make sure that the invitation could stand the test of time, and so, right from the beginning, He knit it into the very fabric of time itself.

During this week, we will study God’s wonderful invitation to enter into a dynamic rest, again and again, with every seventh day.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 28.</

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