It is not a small thing to say that man was satisfied (Gen. 1:29). Suppose Adam had been created and there was nothing for him to eat. Suppose God had said to Adam, "I made you, but I didn't prepare anything for you to eat. Please wait one or two days." The situation was not like this. Everything had been prepared before Adam came into being. God had made trees that were good for food. When Adam came out of God's creating hand, he immediately had something to eat. He was satisfied. Not only Adam was satisfied; all the living creatures were satisfied (Gen. 1:30). Later on we will see that real rest comes out of satisfaction. Can we rest if we are hungry? As long as we are hungry, we can never rest. Rest depends upon satisfaction. Hallelujah! Man ate and was satisfied.
Genesis 1:31 says that God looked at everything that He had made and it was very good. Before the sixth day, God did not say, "very good"; He said, "good." Why did God say "very good" on the sixth day? Because Adam was in God's image and had been given God's dominion. No one murmured and no one was hungry. God could say, "Very good!" That was the climax. After God said this, came the seventh day, the day of rest.
God rested because He was satisfied (Gen. 2:1-3). This was the last item of the ultimate consummation—God rested and was satisfied.
The reason for God's rest was that His glory was manifested because man had His image and His authority was about to be exercised. Satan, God's enemy, was going to be dealt with by God. As long as man expresses God's image and deals with God's enemy, God can rest. It was not simply that God had finished His work, but in His work was a man who could bear God's image and subdue God's enemy. Based upon these two facts, God rested.
The rest of creation was a small rest, a miniature rest. In this rest, man had the image of God and could exercise God's dominion. These two factors caused rest, but only rest on a very small scale.