Permit me to offer my explanation of Genesis 2:3. It says, “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.” In a perfect world, God blessed that seventh day, but not the other six. In a perfect world, He made that day holy, but not the other six.

This ought to catch our attention, for in Paradise every day would already bring perfect praise to God. For six days every stroke of the hoe, every cut of the scythe, every shake of the ripe plum tree would be completed to the glory of God. Everything Adam and Eve would do at any given time would glorify God. They had all they needed to completely serve Him. Yet God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because his own activities changed on that day. He rested rather than creating.

God wanted the seventh day to be different, or holy. What is holy is dedicated to God in a special way. This can only mean that every seventh day would be used by mankind purely for communion with God, no work taking up their thoughts and energy. On that day they would rest, as God did. It would not be a day to sin less, for there was no sin. It would be a day to stop work and dedicate the day to knowing God all the more. In this way much good spiritual fruit would come from that day, more than from the other days – this is what it means to have that particular day “blessed.”

If in the holy perfection of Paradise God had already ordained one day out of every seven for such a purpose, his act needs to weigh heavily in our discussion of the Lord’s Day. We are not now speaking of an ordinance for Old Testament Israel, but a creation ordinance that binds the entire world to worship and rest.