"And He [Jesus Christ] said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the
Sabbath'" (Mark 2:27,28).
How did Jesus Christ view the Sabbath? Many people see only what they
want to see regarding Christ's approach to the seventh day. Some believe,
based on misunderstandings, that Jesus Christ ignored or deliberately broke
the Sabbath commandment.
Actually, the Sabbath is mentioned almost 50 times in the four Gospels
(more than in the entire first five books of the Bible!), so there is ample
historical record of His attitude toward the Sabbath.
To understand the Gospel accounts, however, we must consider how Sabbath
observance had changed-or, more properly, had been changed-since
it had been created and later included in the Ten Commandments.
The Sabbath in history
Sabbath observance underwent a massive transformation in the centuries
leading up to the time of Christ. Earlier in this booklet we reviewed how
God warned Israel not to forget His mighty works and laws.
The ancient Israelites' sad record shows they didn't listen. Eventually
Israel did forget God and disintegrated as a nation, dividing into the
separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah before being taken away into captivity
by Assyrian and Babylonian invaders, respectively, in the eighth and sixth
centuries B.C.
One of the Israelites' most flagrant sins leading up to their national
captivity was the violation of God's Sabbath. Even as the kingdom of Judah
was self-destructing from its citizens' sinful behavior, God continued
to warn it through the prophet Jeremiah to "bear no burden on the
Sabbath day...nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded
your fathers...But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day...then
I will kindle a fire...and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and
it shall not be quenched" (Jeremiah 17:21,22,27).
