Genesis doesn't say that god ceased work on the seventh day, it says he rested on the seventh day. This was also meant as a model for humankind, to work six days and rest on the seventh, the Sabbath. It has nothing to do with centuries or epochs. ----------------- That Jews were to have a Sabbath rest was first made mandatory to the Israelite nation alone many centuries after God's rest began. (Exodus 31:16, 17) The Israelites must keep the Sabbath; they must observe the Sabbath during all their generations. It is a lasting covenant. It is an enduring sign between me and the people of Israel, for in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and refreshed himself.’”
The inspired record reveals that the nation as a whole were delinquent in abiding by God's requirements and for that reason even though they would be led to the promised land they would not enter God's ''rest''.
(Psalm 95:10, 11) For 40 years I felt a loathing toward that generation, and I said: “They are a people who always go astray in their hearts; They have not come to know my ways.” 11 So I swore in my anger: “They will not enter into my rest.”
It becomes evident from this that God's ''rest'' is something much greater than what was required of the Jews.
