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. Genesis 2:2-3
The first creation entered life in the rest of God until sin brought hpim out of that rest, and brought him into toil and struggle which became the hallmark of all who are in Adam. The first work was destroyed by sin resulting in God's return again to work. This new work was not aimed at repairing what was damaged in the first creation by sin because everything was destroyed, nothing good was left in man to be repaired. The new work was designed to get rid of the old man who sinned, and to bring about a new man without sin.
In Christ, God brought this about by placing the old man in Christ and crucified them together. In raising Christ from the dead, God brought forth a new man who shared no resemblance with the old man in anyway.
The character of the new man is not one of struggle because he works from the place of rest, not toil, as was the case of the old man. It is impossible to contemplate living in the victory that the cross made possible apart from coming into this rest, which is the finished work of Christ on the cross. In Christ, we rest because we are seated in Him. In Adam, we toil and struggle because of our union with him.
Apart from the cross, we struggle to be right with God. This is the struggle of all religions of the world which began in Adam's effort to cover his nakedness with fig leafs. Sadly, many who have come to Christ still seek to be right with God in the same way as those in Adam do. Only as we rest in the finished work of Christ can we enjoy to the fullest the benefits of being in Christ.
