God made man on the 6th day, and gave him his assignment to take dominion, and to be fruitful and multiply. The 7th day would be man’s first opportunity to begin his work, but instead of sending him off to work, God told him to rest.
As we know, even though the 7th day was the last day of the creative act, it was actually the first day in the cycle of weeks, and the first day was to be a day of rest. This the principle of the Sabbath Rest.
The Sabbath Rest doesn’t end the week, it starts the week. In the same way, the Jewish day starts at sundown, not sun up. Each day starts with rest, followed by work. God never slumbers or sleeps; so, as we start the day with Rest and sleep, we wake up and begin our activities knowing that God has already been at work all night on all the things we will be facing during the day.
The truth I want you to see is that all activity for Him must flow out of restfully abiding in Him. We don’t work to rest; we rest to work. Only as we are resting in our inner man in His absolute adequacy and sovereignty, are we fit to then go forth into all our tasks of life. This is the Sabbath Rest that Hebrews 3-4 talk about. Without first entering into His Rest, everything we do is dead works that flow out of the strain and spiritual sweat of Self effort.
Hebrews 4:9-10
“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”