The Relationship Between Man's Performance and the Toil of Sweat

 

by Barbara Latta

In the Bible, sweat represents works and performance.

There are only three places in scripture where sweat is mentioned. The first is when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. God told Adam from now on he would toil by the sweat of his brow.

 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19 NKJV)

Before sin, Adam and Eve had an effortless relationship with their Creator.

After the expulsion from the garden, now Adam and Eve had to strive in order to live.  They had to struggle to grow crops.  Approaching God required work through bringing sacrifices.

 When the couple was created, God gave them dominion over the earth. He told Adam to tend the garden. Nothing took any labor. He planted, picked, and ate.

 But later part of the curse was thorns and thistles. Hard ground would make seeds difficult to sprout. Now Adam had to dig, work, and pull weeds. His brow dripped with perspiration. While they still heard from God, they no longer fellowshipped with their Creator in the coolness of the day.

 The second place this bodily function is mentioned is in Ezekiel 44:17. The instructions for the clothing of the priests were to be made of linen and not contain any wool. Wool produces heat and the body perspires; linen allows cooling.

 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen trousers on their bodies; they shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat.

This represents that coming to God is not supposed to be from any exertion on our part. Even though the priest’s actions represented works according to the Law, they were supposed to approach the altar with sacrifices in faith.

Through the years, different rules were added to what God said and the Israelites thought obeying all these commandments is what made them acceptable to the Almighty.

Self-righteous sweat.

 Jesus had to counter these when He healed on the Sabbath. He told them man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.

The day of rest pointed toward the eternal spiritual rest He would provide in the third mention of sweat.

 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44)

Jesus sweat drops of blood when He dominated His flesh to give place to the will of God. His travail in the garden of Gethsemane was the first step in taking away man’s efforts to reach the Father.

The results of Adam’s toil manifested through the sweat of his brow. Jesus’ toil in the garden manifested in blood coming from the sweat of His brow to break that curse of separation between God and man.

 Adam was told he would eat bread through toil until he returned to dust. Exertion to survive. Strain to worship.

 But Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. We are given this bread through no strength of our own. We are just told to eat.

 He purchased our right to approach God’s throne boldly. We are to bring our prayers to Him in faith according to His Word. Our performance has no bearing on answered petitions.

When we do think our good works are what make us accepted, it is like we are offering spiritual sweat to the Lord.

He doesn’t want our endeavors. He wants our trust.

Jesus did all the work at the cross. He said, “It is finished,” because it was.  We enter His spiritual rest by leaving our burdens with Him. We approach our heavenly Father through what Christ did, not what we do.

 Instead of wrapping ourselves in the wool of works, we can cast off our filthy rags of self-righteousness and put on the cool, pure linen robe of Christ-righteousness.

 What are your thoughts? Join the conversation.

 The results of Adam’s toil manifested through the sweat of his brow. Jesus’ toil in the garden manifested in blood coming from the sweat of His brow to break that curse of separation between God and man.  (click to tweet)