The creation of the world transpired in seven days- six days of creative work and one day of rest. In the scriptures, the divine rest refers to God’s personally indwelling the world as King and Lord. Hence, “rest” in Isaiah 66 refers to the footrest of God on the ark of the covenant, which is the place of God’s dwelling and reign. As the world was called into being through the divine Logos, Holy Week- in which the Divine Logos recreated the world- replays the days of creation. On the sixth day of creation, God put Adam into a deep sleep and opened his side to bring forth his bride. On the sixth day of Holy Week, the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins- passing into the deep sleep which is death. His side, too, was opened, and living water flowed from it in the presence of His women disciples, who represent His bride, the Church. On the first sabbath, God was enthroned in the world. On the sabbath of Holy Week, God descended into Hades and laid waste to the kingdom of the enemy from His throne in the Tomb. The Gospel of John describes the tomb of Jesus at the resurrection- upon the burial stone there were two angels, one on either side. This recalls the two cherubim by the side of the ark of the covenant, the throne of God. Jesus conquered the enemy while resting upon the throne of the tomb. This is, after all, how God always brings conquest. The rest of God is not the cessation of activity, but the exaltation of activity. The king who rests upon his throne is now set over his kingdom such that he can rule it by his very word, and not merely his hand. The conquest of Canaan was preceded by the accession of the Divine King to His throne in the Tabernacle.
Here, Jesus Christ accedes to His throne on the Cross and in the Tomb. When a King conquers a territory and makes it His own, that territory becomes an extension of his power. If a person acquires forested land, those trees become instruments- a person can transfigure them into architecture. The power of ownership is the power of creativity. Likewise, when one nation acquires new territory, the people in that territory fall under the sovereignty and responsibility of that nation. The Babylonians carried the Jewish people into exile- yet when Cyrus received the kingdom from the Babylonians, it was within his power to release the exiles and send them home to build a temple. When Jesus Christ descends into the grave, He comes as conquering King. When death is conquered by the King of Kings, it becomes a tool in His hand. The creation is our homeland- we, the Children of Adam, were designated at the beginning of creation as the heir of the world. We were told to exercise dominion over the world- to be “fruitful and multiply”, to “subdue” it (Genesis 1:28). When God brought Adam from the dust of the ground, He exemplified what “fruitfulness” looks like by bringing forth every kind of fruit tree from the ground (Genesis 2:7-9). Man came from the world and that world is given to man. As man arose as life from the ground, so also is man to breathe new life into the ground by the very Breath of God which flows through him (Genesis 2:7). Man and the cosmos exist in a symbiotic relation of mutual interiority- the Tree of Life is that through which God imbues man with breath, and man is he through whom God brings forth and cares for the trees from the ground.
On Holy Saturday, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, descended into that very ground and breathed life into it. Isaiah 11 bore witness of the Messiah- the Spirit of God would rest upon Him (Isaiah 11:1-2) and He would destroy the enemy by the Breath of His Mouth (Isaiah 11:4). The word here is the same. The Messianic King slays the enemy by His breath because the breath is the Holy Spirit of God. On Holy Friday, Jesus Christ “breathed His last” (Mark 15:37) and by the breath of His mouth the curtain of the temple was torn open and the gentiles began to proclaim Him the Son of God, in the words of the Roman centurion: “Truly He is the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). On Holy Saturday, though He rested in the Tomb, the Breath of Life by which He reigns pulsed through every thread of His body so that He did not see corruption. He carried that Breath down to the grave and there slew the enemy by the Breath of His Mouth. The Holy One did not see corruption, but carried the Spirit into the kingdom of corruption and there slew the enemy. On Holy Saturday, we chant the words of the Psalmist: “Arise O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all the nations!” (Psalm 82:8). This psalm celebrates the day when the Lord of Heaven and Earth shatters the power of the oppressor, those heavenly rebels who incited the nations to idolatry and thereby enslaved them to death. On Holy Saturday, that day has come. On Great and Holy Pascha, God responds to our prayer: He “arises.”
Seraphim, I really wanted to know what you think of Isaiah 52:8 alluding to Numbers 14:14 in context of Isaiah 52:13 alluding to Exodus 14:19 and Isaiah 52 as a whole alluding to day of atonement and Isaiah 6 where the Lord fills the temple (the place for atonement) and the earth with his glory which again alludes to Numbers 14 "the whole earth shall be filled with his glory".
The unity and the literaey strategy is just profound.