On the seventh day of the Genesis creation poem, God finished his good (not perfect) work and rested—a term implying two separate ideas: (1) he took a break and (2) he took up residence in his earthly temple of Eden. The good (not perfect) humans he designed to take care of his good (not perfect) creation would handle things from there as their descendants eventually left his temple presence and went out to cultivate the rest of the earth to look like his garden.
This being said, it’s no wonder that John references the number seven over fifty times in the Book of Revelation, for all of these themes resurface there. On the seventh day God took a break from making his good (not perfect) creation, but John shows us that God’s alarm is about to go off and day eight of creation is about to begin. On that day, God’s presence shall rest not just in Eden, but on the entire earth as he finally makes it perfect (not good). John shows us that all of the meaning found in the sevens of this age are about to find their ultimate answer in God as the light dawns on the age that is to come.
Today, we take the seventh day of the week to rest so that we might enter into the divine pause between the ages—for just as there are sacred physical spaces on the earth, so there are sacred temporal spaces on the earth calendar. And there in that temporal space, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to lean into the goodness he designed us with, so that we might lovingly continue to pave the way forward for day eight.
Jamin Bradley 