In the light of the foregoing let us now consider 35:1-3. When God was about to charge His people to make the tabernacle with its furniture and the garments for the priests, the first thing He told them to do was to keep the Sabbath. This means that before they worked in building the tabernacle they should rest. This corresponds to the record in Genesis 2:2 and 3: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” We have seen that after man came forth from the creating hand of God, the first thing he did was rest. Man’s first day was the Creator’s seventh day. The first thing man did after he was created by God was to rest with God. This indicates that before we can do anything for God, we must first rest with Him. If you intend to work for God, you must receive grace, enjoy grace, and rest with God. Then you may proceed to do something for God. We should not first work for God and then enjoy grace and rest. That way is according to the law. According to grace, we first enjoy grace and then we work. First we rest with the Lord, and then we work for Him.
This principle should be applied in our daily living. Often I will pray before I do a certain thing. For example, I take a walk every day. Before taking my walk, I may pray, “Lord, I thank You for the peace I am now enjoying. You know that I intend to go out to take a walk. Lord, grant Your blessing upon my walk.” If I do not pray like this, I may not have peace when I take my walk, for in that case I do not rest with the Lord before doing the little work of taking a walk.
We can apply this principle to many things. Suppose you need to write a letter to your parents. Before writing the letter, take a minute to rest with the Lord. You may say, “Lord, I thank You that I can be with You. Lord, I need to write a letter to my parents. Lord, be with me as I write this letter. I would like to rest with You and then write the letter with You. Lord, I ask You to write this letter with me.” This is an illustration of the principle of resting with the Lord before we work with Him and for Him.
Resting with the Lord in this way may even affect the way we dress ourselves in the morning. If you rest with Him before you dress yourself, I believe that you will clothe yourself according to the image of the Lord. Suppose a brother has recently purchased a worldly item of clothing. If he rests with the Lord before putting on that article of clothing, he may realize that he should not wear it.
I can testify that regarding resting with the Lord, I know what I am talking about. From experience I know what it means to rest with the Lord before doing things.
Do you know the real significance of the Sabbath? According to Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 12, the significance of the Sabbath is to remember the Lord as our Creator and Redeemer. When we remember the One who created us and redeemed us, we keep the Sabbath. If we are busy day and night, we shall forget the Lord and push Him aside. But there is a principle, a spiritual regulation, that before doing anything we need to remember the Lord and rest with Him. Let us rest with Him in remembrance of Him as our Creator and Redeemer and also as our Savior, Lord, Master, and life. How wonderful it would be if we did this regularly!
This understanding of the word concerning the Sabbath in 35:1-3 comes not only from my experience, but also from the sequence of the record in chapters thirty-four and thirty-five. When Moses was on the mountain with the Lord, the Lord spoke to him concerning three feasts to be held yearly and the Sabbath to be kept weekly. Then Moses came down to tell the people to make the tabernacle with its furniture and to make the garments for the priests. Moses, however, did not forget what the Lord had told him. Therefore, charging the children of Israel to make the tabernacle for God, he told them first to rest with Him and thereby to remember Him as their Creator and Redeemer. I believe that this is the reason the record concerning the making of the tabernacle with its furniture and the garments for the priests begins with a word concerning the Sabbath.