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Friend, the eternal sabbath -- from creation to the eighth day!

Genesis 2:1-3  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. 3  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. 

Hebrews 4:9-11  There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10  For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11  Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 

When we read the creation account in Genesis, every day ends with the same rhythm: “And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day… the second day…” But when we come to the seventh day — the Sabbath — something extraordinary happens. The pattern breaks. There is no mention of “evening and morning.” The text simply says, “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and made.”

From the very beginning, the Sabbath was different. It did not end because it was never meant to. It pointed beyond time — a divine whisper of eternity woven into the first week of creation. The absence of “evening and morning” was God’s hint that His ultimate rest would have no sunset, no ending — an eternal day when His people would dwell with Him forever.

This was the promise that the writer of Hebrews spoke of: “There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever has entered His rest has also rested from his works, as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:9–10) The Sabbath of creation was not merely a command to pause from labor — it was a prophecy of redemption. Humanity’s fall broke that rest, but through Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, the door to it was reopened. Through Him, we can enter that rest now — not just by ceasing from work, but by ceasing from striving, by trusting fully in His finished work on the cross.

And yet, there is still more to come. The Eighth Day — the eternal Sabbath — lies ahead. It is the day when time itself gives way to eternity, when the temporary rest of Shabbat unfolds into the everlasting peace of God’s presence. The early believers understood this mystery deeply: that the seventh day pointed to completion, but the eighth day pointed to consummation — the final dwelling of God with His redeemed creation.

The rest of God is not just a pause — it is a person. It is found in Yeshua, the Lord of the Sabbath, the One who said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The invitation still stands: to enter His rest now by faith and to await that coming day when rest will never end.

Friend, so lift your eyes beyond the cycle of days and weeks. The seventh day marks completion, but the eighth day calls you into communion — the eternal morning where there is no night. Let His peace rule your heart today, for soon the dawn of the Eighth Day will break — and the King will say, “It is finished — enter into My rest.”

Shabbat Shalom ... have a GREAT WEEKEND and we'll see you first thing on Monday!

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George & Baht Rivka (Arad, Israel)

Editor's Note: As we continue this deep dive into Shemini Atzeret, the eighth day—the climactic culmination of all the feasts—if it feels a bit “meaty,” go back through the earlier devotions. Each one builds line upon line, revealing the profound truth of this day: the ultimate fulfillment when God will tabernacle with us for eternity!