What is the work of God? According to the bible, God created heavens and earth in the beginning, and new heaven and new earth at the end. And He takes His people, the firstfruits of his creation work to the new heaven and the new earth.
2000 years ago, Jesus says that God is still working for the creation and the work of God is not finished yet.
John 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
Jesus was healing the infirmities and disabilities of people, making them complete again. When people criticized him for the desecration of the Sabbath by working on the Sabbath Day, Jesus taught them that he was working to show them the work of God for the salvation.
The promise of God on the Sabbath Day was that He would make whoever keeps the Sabbath Day holy.
Exodus 31:13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. 14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
God sternly warned against people who desecrated the Sabbath Day. They must be put to death. Then why is the Sabbath Day so important? Because it is the day when God promised that he would work to make them holy. When we keep the Sabbath Day holy, God is working to make us holy even though we are sinners. Therefore, by keeping the Sabbath Day holy, we are taking part in the creation work of God and made into a new creation to be holy like God.
God teaches us to be a new creation as children of God and we must be changed to resemble God.
Ephesians 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Then the question is how we can be changed to be a new creation resembling God as children of God? We do not know how. Since God gave His promise that he would make us holy on the Sabbath Day, however, we can be made holy according to the words of promise of God. When we keep the Sabbath Day, in the spiritual realm God is working for us that we may be holy like him.
John 5:8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”
John 9:14 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
John 5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
Jesus, who is God, was showing the creation work God is doing for the salvation of his people by healing their infirmities. He was teaching them how God is working to make us into a new creation.