In order to keep the Sabbath day holy, one MUST remember it. For the commandment does not read "remember the sabbath day AND keep it holy". For it is written: "Remember the sabbath day, TO keep it holy." Exodus 20:8. One can only keep the Sabbath day BY remembering it. It is a consecrated mind placed wholly on the Lord's side.
The Sabbath day was made holy AFTER God had rested in it. For it is written: "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:3
In other words, God rested on the seventh day from the work of creation. And right AFTER the seventh day had ended, He blessed and sanctified the seventh day. Therefore, the seventh day was not made holy until the 8th day. Adam did not keep the first seventh day holy for that day was not made holy by God until 1 day later. The first sabbath Adam kept holy was the seventh day of the SECOND week.
The commandment to "remember the sabbath day" was given to Adam the week following the creation week as a memorial of God's work in creation. The word "remember" implies that sabbath was something that HAD happened, past tense. So on the first day of the second week, or the 8th day, Adam began to "remember the sabbath day", as well as keeping all the other commandments of God. And on the seventh day of the second week or the 14th day, Adam kept his first sabbath day holy. Hence, the sabbath was a seal to Adam's obedience to all of God's commandments. At any time of the second week, Adam could have broken the Sabbath commandment by not "remembering the sabbath day". For this reason, to keep the Sabbath day holy requires the person to remember the sabbath day throughout the week.
The Sabbath was never meant to give physical rest to Adam, for Adam did not get tired from working, neither was God tired from the work of creating. For it is written: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." Isaiah 40:28. Just as God is a spirit, so the Sabbath was given to Adam as a spiritual rest. We break the sabbath by crowding our week with secular works and seeking a physical rest from our labors on the sabbath. God wants us to "remember the sabbath day" from the first day of the week to the sixth day of the week, so we can "keep the sabbath day holy" on the seventh day of the week to seal our obedience to all of God's commandments.
"All through the week we are to have the Sabbath in mind and be making preparation to keep it according to the commandment." Testimonies to Churches Volume 6 Page 353.4
"As Seventh-day Adventists, let us be sure that we bear the sign of God. Is this something that is seen?—No; it is unseen. It is the consecrated mind, placed wholly on the Lord's side." Review and Herald, September 2, 1902.
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