By this post I hope to do two things. First to underline the liturgical nature of Scripture, and secondly, to show how Christ crucified is the subject of it all.

There is no doubt in my mind that the first two chapters of Genesis are not narrative, or historical report, but liturgy. That is not to say the six day creation is untrue. It is most assuredly true, but it's not a scientific account of creation that we are given here, but a liturgical one. It seems logical to me that God's people regularly prayed Genesis chapters one and two in their corporate worship in the form of versicles and responses. We did not invent that. It's as old as the Bible.

Today I'd like to focus on the Genesis 2:1-3 and give a possible liturgical sequence if it.

V: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, 
R: and all the host of them. 
V: And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, 
R: And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.  
V: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, 
R: Because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

When we hear these words the New Testament verse that should immediately come to mind is John 19:30 "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and handed over the Spirit."

If we remember that the Old Testament is a Christian book, a book of promises that are all fulfilled in Christ, then we can easily understand that Genesis 2:1-3 does not stand alone. On its own it recounts (in liturgical format) God's entire work of creation, including the enigmatic phrase "and on the seventh day God rested."

People have always wondered why God, who is Almighty, required rest. If we try to understand these verses as something less than the promise of a Greater Creation, and a Greater Rest, a fruitless debate is sure to follow.

But if we understand these verses in Genesis as the promise of a New Creation, in which Christ is the New Adam, who brought about a New Creation by his blood, and then rested in the tomb on the Seventh Day, then we have the whole story. 

This is how we should take the words, "It is finished." (John 19:30) Jesus is not only saying by them that all sin is now atoned for: though that is the blessed case! But more over that the New Creation which was forecast in Genesis chapters one and two is now consumated in the Lord's glorious death. It means that every promise God ever made throughout the long night of sin (from Genesis to Malachi) is now come to its logical end in Christ crucified. It is finished. Complete. Fulfilled. Consummated. Don't look for more. Don't look for another. Beyond this New Creation, of which we are members by baptism, there is nothing. But here there is everything.

This is just one example of how we should hear the Old Testament, both its form and its message. Everything written in it points to Christ and him crucified. As Peter states in Acts 10:43 "To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."