How Christ Upheld the Sabbath
During His earthly ministry, Christ emphasized the binding claims of the Sabbath. He showed reverence for the institution He Himself had given. In His days people had so perverted the Sabbath that their observance of it reflected selfish human character rather than the character of God. Christ set aside the false teaching that had misrepresented Him. Although the rabbis followed Him with merciless hostility, He went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.RR 64.7
In unmistakable language He testified of His regard for the law. “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets,” He said. “I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19.RR 65.1
The great enemy of our happiness has made the Sabbath of the fourth commandment an object of special attack. Satan says, “I will work at cross purposes with God. I will set aside God’s memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath. I will show the world that the day God sanctified has been changed. I will obliterate the memory of it. In its place I will establish a day that does not bear the credentials of God, a day that cannot be a sign between God and His people. Through my representative, I will exalt myself. The first day will be praised, and the Protestant world will receive this false sabbath as genuine. I will be the prince of this world. I will so control minds that God’s Sabbath will be a special object of contempt. A sign? I will make the observance of the seventh day a sign of disloyalty to the authorities of earth. Human laws will become so strict that men and women will not dare to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. For fear of being without food and clothing, they will join the world in transgressing God’s law. The earth will be entirely under my dominion.” Through setting up a false sabbath, the enemy thought “to change times and law.” But has he really succeeded in changing God’s law? He who is the same yesterday, today, and forever has said this about the seventh-day Sabbath: “It is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations.” “It is a sign ... forever.” Exodus 31:13, 17. The changed signpost is pointing the wrong way, but God has not changed. He is just as jealous for His law now as in the days of Ahab and Elijah.RR 65.2