God’s Work and Rest

Exodus 31:1-18

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. 3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, 4 to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, 5 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. 6 “And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 the tabernacle of meeting, the ark of the Testimony and the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tabernacle— 8 the table and its utensils, the pure gold lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, 9 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base— 10 the garments of ministry, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, to minister as priests, 11 and the anointing oil and sweet incense for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded you they shall do.”
    12 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”. 18 And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

God told Moses which ones He had gifted with artistic talent for His workmanship which we all are also in Christ (Ephesians 2:10), in order to honor the Lord with the tabernacle’s construction.  It showed His honor and glory due Him in the labor of those He so gifted to apply their hands, minds, wisdom, and hearts to the tasks given each of them.  As He commanded, so they did.  Then the Lord commanded them to rest on the seventh day to honor Him by resting from their good labor as He had in the beginning of all creation.  We now find ultimate rest from our work in Christ’s work for us, and therefore some see every day one of rest entered into (Hebrews 4:4-10, Romans 14:5) instead of the one made for man (Mark 2:27).  We were not created to serve the day of rest, but rest in serving the One who accomplished the entirety of salvation’s work for us so that we could find our rest in Him and acknowledge Him each day the same.  We do not serve the Sabbath, but God in Christ.  This passage finishes with God ending His verbal instruction and giving His written word which captured what He spoke to us through Moses, tablets of stone written by His very finger!  Ah, but we now who are in Christ have that same word and will of God written on our hearts by that same finger, not on cold stone tablets outside of us (Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Corinthians 3:3, Hebrews 10:16, Ezekiel 36:26-27). We now can follow Him in willing obedience from a heart resting in His word by His Spirit within us to do the works we were created to do as designed (Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:12-13).  This is God’s work and rest in followers of Christ.