His resting upon it then, was to lay the foundation for blessing and sanctifying the day.
His being refreshed with this rest implies that He delighted in the act which laid the foundation for the memorial of His great work.
The second act of the Creator in instituting this memorial was to place His blessing upon the day of his rest. Thenceforward it was the blessed rest-day of the Lord.
A third act completes the sacred institution. The day already blessed of God, is now, last of all, sanctified or hallowed by Him. To sanctify is “to separate, set apart, or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use.”
To hallow is “to make holy; to consecrate; to set apart for a holy or religious use.”
The time when these three acts were performed is worthy of especial notice.
---The first act was that of rest. This took place on the seventh day; for the day was employed in rest.
---The second and third acts took place when the seventh day was past. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it He had rested from all His work.”
Hence it was on the first day of the second week of time that God blessed the seventh day and set it apart to a holy use.
The blessing and sanctification of the seventh day, therefore relate not to the first seventh day of time, but to the seventh day of the week for time to come, in memory of God’s rest on that day from the work of creation."
J.N. Andrews
