The final state = an eternal Sabbath/rest. This can be gleaned from Hebrews 4 - though it is speaking primarily about the rest we find in Christ presently from our sinful works, it also applies to eternity where we will be finally freed from all such works: "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, hath also ceased from his own works, as God from His. Let us study therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of disobedience." (vv.9-11).
Will there be jobs in heaven (Isa. 65:17-25)?
I don’t know. Seems like Isaiah is saying there will be jobs in Heaven. “They shall not labor in vain” seems to speak of an undoing of the curse man came under through Adam’s sin.
So are you saying:
Rev 21:23
That depends on how you define "jobs." We will have purpose. "Therefore we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed daily. For our light affliction which is but for a moment, causeth unto us a far most excellent and an eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor.4.16-17). I would think that "weight of glory" refers to works of righteousness for " we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained" (Eph.2.10). After all, work is not a punishment for sin. We were created to work, so I would think in a new earth we would have new work to do.
Do we take that as there will literally be no more stars and planets orbiting them and rotating on an axis anywhere in the universe (since that is what constitutes a day, as far as my non-scientific brain can understand)?
That's talking about the new earth, not the new heaven.
Time is prior to and independent of stars and planets. Time was the 1st thing created: "In the beginning..." Day and night existed on the first day before the lights in the heavens were created on the fourth day. The heavenly bodies were created to separate times, like days and years, and day and night (Gen.1.14-19).
Work of course was never wrong it was only after the fall it became a struggle
I do believe we will be "working" in eternity - worshipping God: "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him." (Rev.22.3). I've always felt there is some sense of this in Christ's teaching in Matthew 12.5: "...have ye not read in the Law, how that on the Sabbath days the Priests in the Temple break the Sabbath, and are blameless?" Yes, eternity for the elect will be an everlasting Sabbath/rest, but we will be doing holy work. If the work the priests did on the Sabbath was good and acceptable, how much more so our perfect worship in our eternal rest. Even the earthly Sabbath is not a complete resting - we rest from our normal labors ("an holy rest all the day from their own works"), in order to take up "the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy." (WCF 21.8)
We will also be kings... reigning..
This is what i was reflecting on earlier in thinking about this question. I don’t know that we meditate enough on how wholly captivated we will be with our Savior as we behold him in all
I think these two responses have so encouraged me in my thoughts regarding the Eternal Sabbath that I really have no further questions. I am once again humbled by how little I think of the wonder of an eternity glorifying and enjoying God will be. Lord, come quickly!
Because there will be a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no death and no night. There may be a new work/rest pattern, but it will be different for what will distinguish one day from another when there is no night?
The law of God existed before the fall of man.
I think it does follow when considering the eternality of the new creation. Before the fall our first parents worked, ate (Gen.1.29-30), and rested. But as the saints before the eternal throne of the Lamb "shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore" (see the end of Rev.7), so it doesn't seem to follow that their glorified bodies will become weary and need rest.
Before the fall, light was given before God created the means of light, the sun (Gen.1:3, then later Gen 1:14-16). You have light, and the absence of light, in an unfallen world. (I'm avoiding the word darkness because of its synonymous meaning of evil after the fall.)
That’s what I was thinking. But I also have heard an argument that Adam was in a probationary period and if he had obeyed God in the midst of his temptation, he would’ve entered into an "eternal Sabbath" and the seventh-day rest would become an everyday rest in perfect communion with and worship of God.
Yes - I mentioned this above.
Ah, yes, you did! Thank you for the reminder. I've only recently (past year or so) been studying these things so I appreciate the edifying discussion!
I sympathize with both sides of this discussion but I do think what you are arguing for makes a tad more sense in my mind.
God did not just rest, He "rested from all His work, which He had made." (Gen.2.2). He did not rest from other activities (like providentially upholding all He had created).
Are we not all priests? (1 Peter 2:5)
