Facts of Faith

Did Christ Change The Sabbath?

Christ came to lift people out of the degradation of sin, not to leave them in sin. He received the name “JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21. And sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. The law here referred to is the moral law of the Ten Commandments. (Romans 7:7, 12; James 2:10, 1 L) Christ firmly refuted the idea that He was to abolish any part of God’s law. He says: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law.... For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:17, 18. Christ was to “magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isaiah 42:21. And this He did, for He freed it from all the traditions and additions of men. (Matthew 15:3, 6, 9, 13) The Pharisees had burdened down the Sabbath with hundreds of man-made regulations. All these Jesus swept away, and restored it to its original purpose, that it should be a blessing, a sacred ” delight ” to God’s people. (Isaiah 58:13) But He never made any change in the day. He kept it Himself, and taught His followers to do the same. (Luke 4:16, 31; Matthew 24:20; 12:11, 12.) FAFA 76.1