The Change of the Sabbath

Christ Kept the Seventh Day

Modern enemies to the seventh-day Sabbath have sometimes united with the ancient haters of Christ ii accusing our Lord of being a transgressor of the law, i.e., a sinner. But it is impossible to show a single instance where he violated the Sabbath commandment. Had he done so, he would not have been sinless; he could not have been our Savior. The law would have condemned him; for all admit that it was obligatory all through Christ’s ministry till his crucifixion. We utter an emphatic protest against thus attributing disobedience to God, our only perfect example. Just as he was about to be offered for the sins of others, he declared, “I have kept my Father’s commandments.” John 15:10. He certainly had not broken them if he had kept them, and the Sabbath command was one of those which he had kept. ChSa 36.1

Our Saviour constantly justified his course against the accusers, who claimed that he or his disciples had broken the Sabbath. When they complained because his disciples had plucked and eaten the wheat, lie declared they were “guiltless.” Matthew 12:7. They had not broken the law. They had only violated one of those human traditions. When he healed the man whose hated was withered (Matthew 12:9-14), they sought to destroy him for it; but he declared his course in thus doing well was “lawful,” i.e., according to law. He had done no wrong. But they had erected their traditions, as we have seen, and they were angry because he would not regard them. ChSa 36.2

The time had come for Christ to strip off these wretched perversions of God’s truth, and restore the law to its own naked purity. He says, “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9. Our Savior ever exalted the law of his Father, and taught its eternal perpetuity. Matthew 5:17-20; 15:1-20; 19:16-22; 22:34-40; etc., etc. The Sabbath is an important part of this law. ChSa 36.3

It was our Savior’s “custom” to attend divine service on the seventh-day Sabbath, and to instruct the people. Luke 4:16. “Custom” implies a constant practice. He placed the most distinguished honor upon it, by teaching that the Sabbath was made for the race of man, and that lie was its Lord. Mark 2:27, 28. It was not made merely for the Jews, but for all men. This statement recognizes its existence when man was first created. This was some twenty-three centuries before Judah, the father of the Jewish people, was born. Hence our Savior teaches that it was in no sense a Jewish institution. ChSa 37.1