Three Aspects of the Third Work

The third work was finished from the beginning of the world.

The third work is the eternal Sabbath.

The third work reveals the goal of redemption

The third work was finished from the beginning of the world.

The works of God have been finished from the time of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. The historical fulfillment of Passover was accomplished from the beginning of the world. The Lord Jesus is the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit also was "finished" from the beginning of the world, being spoken of in advance by the Prophet Joel.

Every aspect of the Kingdom of God, every part and inhabitant of the new Jerusalem, was established for eternity from the beginning of the world.

Every human being born into the world sets about to create his own heaven and earth. God desires that each of us cease striving to achieve his own security, pleasure, and works of prominence and enter that which He has planned for us. We are not to press toward our own mark. We are to press toward the mark that God established for us long before we were born.

We cannot enter the rest of God until we are willing to cease from our own efforts to gain security, joy, and prominence. We must trust that God will keep us by His power, give us the joy we desire, and bring us to the usefulness, fruitfulness, and rank in His Kingdom for which we were created.

As long as we are striving to save our own life, grasp our own desires, and accomplish our own goals, we will find it impossible to enter untroubled rest in God's Presence. The works were finished from the foundation of the world. Let us rest in that fact, understanding that if we look to God every moment of every day, His Word will bring us to the fullness of salvation.

The third work is the eternal Sabbath.

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. (Hebrews 4:4)

The Ten Commandments were the Covenant of God with His chosen people, Israel. The Fourth Commandment was an important part of the Covenant.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11)

The Fourth Commandment is derived from the eternal moral law of God, which is much more comprehensive than the Law of Moses. The Prophet Isaiah presents the full intention of the Sabbath rest of God, the Sabbath of the eternal moral law:

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:13,14)

To be continued.