Genesis chapter one outlines God’s creative process. The scope of this description quickly narrows to focus on the earth. Given that the purpose of the Bible is to provide a means for mankind to understand God, this focusing on man’s home, the earth, is understandable. As the development of the Earth progresses, the account breaks the developmental process into six distinctly labeled phases, or “days.” After the creation of mankind in verses 26-30, Genesis chapter one concludes with God looking over all of His creation up to that point, including mankind, and declaring it “very good” (verse 31).
Genesis chapter two begins with the seventh phase or “day” of God’s creative process. Verses two and three declare that God “ended his work which he had made.” Other translations of this same verse read as “God finished his work which he had made.” Consider this thought with relation to chapter one: with God declaring His creation “very good” only after mankind’s creation, there is an implication that the creative process up to that point was intended to culminate in mankind’s creation. With that goal achieved, that phase of the creative process was successfully completed. With mankind’s creation, all previous creative phases, or “days” could also be considered completed.
The seventh creative phase, or “day,” is described in Genesis 2:3-4. These verses describe God as “resting” twice and once as having “finished.” All three descriptions, however, include some variation of the qualifier “which He had made.” Some interpretations equate the idea of God “resting from His work which He had made” with creation being completed. Consider, however, an alternative interpretation, likening creation to a garden. The gardener first marks off the area of the garden, then tills the soil, plants the various seeds, fertilizes the ground and provides water. At a certain point, the gardener completes the work of establishing the garden. The gardener may be seen as “resting” from the work of establishing the garden; however, the garden is not complete. The garden is only complete when the plants have fully grown to their final state. From this interpretation’s perspective, the creative act, as required by God’s plan for mankind, did not end on that seventh creative day. For the past six creative days, God oversaw and directed the creation of the earth, and all the surrounding universe and its laws, to result in the creation of mankind. With that process complete, a new phase in God’s plan could begin that marked a different level of involvement by God.
In Romans chapter eight, the Apostle Paul discusses this notion of creation being currently incomplete, as well as the goal of the current creative phase. In verse 22, the Apostle Paul refers to “the whole creation groaning and travailing.” Through this description, he depicts not just mankind, but all of creation in a “painful” process of waiting, which supports the thought that “creation” is not complete. The surrounding verses describe exactly what the creation is waiting on, namely “the manifestation of the sons of God.”
The scriptures are clear in declaring Jesus to be God’s “only begotten son” (John 3:16). Since the time of Jesus’ sacrifice of his perfect human life, God has been calling members of mankind to emulate Jesus’s example of living a life devoted to God (Philippians 3:13-15). The reward granted to those who God finds worthy of having kept their commitments to Him is the divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4), which is a condition of existence previously only experienced by God and by the glorified Jesus. Sometimes referred to as “the church” (Colossians 1:18), this class is also referred to as “joint heirs” with Christ (Romans 8:16-17), as well as other descriptions. This is the class of individuals who the Apostle Paul refers to in Romans 8:19 as “sons of God.”
In Romans chapter eight, the Apostle Paul emphasizes that “creation,” which may be seen as the current phase or “day” of creation, is waiting on the development of this group of mankind. Although this process has spanned centuries which from a human perspective may seem like a very long period of time, it is actually relatively short when compared to the previous phases of creation. Further, Paul stresses that Jesus provides the example for those who seek to be “joint heirs,” and that Jesus provided the way in which those called from mankind may seek to answer this calling.
From this perspective, God may be seen as “resting” from the creative process, allowing the time for those of mankind who choose to answer His calling to develop according to the perfect example that Jesus left for them. John 5:17: “But Jesus answered them, my Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” God’s work would continue through the work of Jesus, finding and developing his faithful followers, his church. The time will come, however, when even this phase of God’s plan will be completed and the next wonderful phase of God’s plan for mankind will begin (Revelation 21:1-4). All mankind, past and present, upon being restored to the perfection that was lost so many centuries ago (Acts 3:21) will finally understand forever more the true breadth of God’s promise to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 22:16-18, Genesis 28:14).