Genesis chapters 1 and 2 outline God’s process of creating the earth, the plants, the animals, and finally human beings. Genesis 2:1-3 state that God finished this creative work, and on the seventh “day,” God rested “from all his work which he had made.” The importance of God’s seventh “day” of rest was reinforced by the laws which God would give, generations later, to the descendants of Israel (Exodus 20:8-11). Exodus 20:10 lays out a series of expectations that the people were to also do no work on the seventh day of their week (the Sabbath). Exodus 20:11 reinforces Genesis 2:2-3, repeating that God rested on the seventh “day.”

In various places in the Bible, however, there are references to God doing “work,” despite the statements in Genesis and Exodus that God rested on the seventh day. For example, in Philippians 1:6, the Apostle Paul encourages his fellow members of Christ’s church to be confident that God would complete the “good work” he began in them. Later, in Philippians 2:13, Paul, again speaking to the members of the church, assures his brethren that God “works” in them. John 5:17 is another verse describing God as “working.” This verse is especially significant, because the words were spoken by Jesus.

Because of the specification in the Law regarding not performing work on the Sabbath, specified in Exodus 20:8-11, the Jewish people and their religious leadership placed a high degree of importance on defining what “work” actually meant, and what was acceptable on the Sabbath and what wasn’t. When Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath (John 5:1-15), the religious leadership considered this action work done on the Sabbath, and thus a violation of the Jewish law. This angered them so much that they decided to kill Jesus (John 5:16). When they confronted Jesus, he told them that both he (Jesus) and his Father (God) worked, which angered them even further.

This wasn’t the only time when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day and was confronted by the religious leadership about it. In Luke 14:1-6, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, and when questioned about it, he replies with a question. He asks them that if an animal they owned fell into a hole on the Sabbath, wouldn’t they work to pull it out? Jesus was teaching the lesson that even though the Sabbath was to be a day of rest, some forms of work were still necessary, whether it is for the well-being of animals, or other people (as when Jesus healed the man).

Sometime after their creation, during the period when God “rested,” Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, disobeyed God and were subject to the penalty of death (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:17-19). Because of that sin, every generation of mankind since then has been subject to the same penalty of death. However, it is not God’s intention that mankind stay under this penalty. Through the willing sacrifice of his perfect life, Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, provided a corresponding price, or “ransom payment,” which “paid” for Adam’s sin of disobedience (1 Corinthians 15:23).

Part of God’s plan for the eventual restoring of mankind to the perfection lost by Adam and Eve is the calling forth of a group of faithful followers who are willing to give up their worldly ambitions to follow Jesus’ example of serving God. This group is known by several different names in the Bible, including “Christ’s church.” This is the group of people that the Apostle Paul addressed in Philippians 1:6 and 2:13. God “works” in the hearts of those who choose to dedicate their lives to Him to change them from their old, worldly natures into something focused on God’s plans and purposes. This group, if judged faithful to their vows, will receive a heavenly reward (1 John 3:2-3) and, at the appropriate time, have the privilege of assisting with helping mankind back to harmony with God (2 Timothy 2:12). Humans being granted a heavenly existence as a reward for faithfulness was not part of the original creation recorded in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. For this reason, Paul refers to those who faithfully dedicate themselves to God as “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

This “new creation” – those consecrated individuals of the church – are completely unable to fulfill their vows of dedication on their own. They need God “working” in their hearts and minds in order to remain faithful, which is Paul’s point in Philippians. Consider again Jesus’ words in Luke 14:1-6, where he teaches that the spirit of “resting on the seventh day” isn’t meant to be completely restrictive; that some types of work, such as healing or helping those in need, are not only permitted, but necessary. God continues to “work” to develop His “new creation” of the church in order to rescue mankind from the curse of death they find themselves under, in the same way that Jesus worked on the Sabbath to heal the sick, or the notional man in Jesus’ question worked on the Sabbath to rescue his animal from the pit it had fallen into. This is the work Jesus refers to in John 5:17 that both he and God continue to pursue.

Additional Resources:
PDF Article: The New Creation

Christian Questions Podcast
Episode #1324: “What Is the New Creation?”
The profound results of God creating something never seen before
Preview Video
CQ Rewind Show Notes