Abba, Father, I …

What is God doing nowadays?

July 20th, 2010

When not at “war” and lazing about, do you ever wonder at some things about God, such as today’s topic? Have you ever wondered what the Lord God is doing in this 21st century? Isn’t creation done? Is He just sitting yonder “cloud” relaxing?

Here is what i found out.

And God finished all His work

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ( Gen. 1.1 NKJV)

We all know this. But we are not at the beginning. Furthermore, it is recorded that

¹ Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. ² And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

He basically said “It is finished!”.

To the Jews, God was done with all His work. He rested. He told them so. They held it so.

So they observed the sabbath religiously. Fervently, almost to the point of worship of the day. They followed the sabbath law so perfectly that it controlled them. Man now served the sabbath, rather than the other way round. They missed the spirit behind it.

Fast forward to the time of Jesus Christ.

“My Father is Still working”

Jesus comes along and began saying and doing things in rather bizarre ways. One, He claims that He Himself is their one and only God ( not another, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Father Himself. The great I AM. Needless to say, they cannot stand it, and seek to kill Him, as Moses commanded). Secondly, He breaks their holiest of laws, sabbath, by working on the sabath!

And here we get a glimpse of what God was doing in the 0th century:

¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” (John 5: 17)

He claims the Father is still working! Of course they ” … sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.”

And then, of course, He does the ultimate work, dying for man. Finally, the deed is done. It is finished!

He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. ( John 19:30)

So He ascends and sits down. He is done. No more work remains for Him, it would appear.

No man worketh but the Spirit

When He left His disciples on earth( choosing not to take them with Him to be sitted where He sits, but left them on earth) He said:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; ( matthew 28: 19,20)

More work. No rest yet. But this is human work, right?

In the book of Acts and elsewhere, you see these people busy at work, doing God’s work. But really, it is not men working, doing God’s work. It is, just as before, the Father working on earth, through human flesh, doing His work. The Father is still working. The sabbath is not yet.

What is the work?

So, what work is it that God is doing? Creation of course. That is what He set out to do in the begining. Creation goes on ( No wonder the universe is said to be in motion, ever expanding). Can you see it?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ( 2 Corinthians 5:17)

And He is not finished. No, the Father is till working. (This is the order. The Father, through the Son, through the Spirit, through men ). It is not yet sabbath. When it is sabbath, the Father will sit down with all His children, break the bread, and all will rest:

¹ Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. (Hebrews 4:1)

⁹ There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. (v9)

How lovely and gracious that He would not sit down and eat the sabbath without us? Do you see how important we are to Him, that He delays all things till we all get home for supper?

Oh, what did we say He is creating? He is creating sons to himself.

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ( John 1:12,13)

He wants a full house.