In the biblical account that symbolizes God's spiritual creation we are told that God created everything in six days— finished it and saw that it was very good. On the seventh day He "rested . . . from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."Gen. 2:2, 3. Then, in the fourth commandment, we are told: "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."Ex. 20:8-10.
These passages indicate a two-stage activity. One stage is to stop doing our usual work, and the second is to engage in holy rest—that is, spiritual activity dedicated to the service of God. Since postexilic times, the greatest emphasis has been placed on stopping routine work. The carnal mind (a material sense of existence) has always been a fearful and cruel taskmaster. Fearful that it will suffer (perhaps by not becoming rich enough) if it allows human work to cease, it will not of its own volition permit the activities of materialism to come to a stop. Left to its own devices, the carnal or mortal mind will never find or allow time for a sabbath—for anything dedicated wholly to the service of God, Spirit. The fourth commandment thus places the full weight of divine law behind the spiritual demand for a regular interruption in the otherwise unceasing busywork of mortal mind, so that a sabbath can take place.
It is much easier to bring human activity to a virtual halt, however, than to humanly assure that a spiritual rest—an activity dedicated solely to God—is taking its place.
