Jesus Christ did not annul the Sabbath but magnified its importance, restoring it to its original God-given intent. He emphasized that the Sabbath was made for man, to equip us to come out of spiritual slavery and to help us remain free, as stated in Mark 2:27. Far from abrogating it, He liberalized it only in contrast to the Pharisees' perverted, bondage-producing approach, focusing on its purpose of blessing, deliverance, liberty, and redemption. His actions and teachings, such as healing on the Sabbath and defending His disciples' actions in Matthew 12:1-8, demonstrate that the Sabbath is a day for doing good, showing mercy, and engaging in loving service rather than adhering to rigid ritualistic rules. Through His ministry, He tied the Sabbath to concepts of liberation, as seen in His inaugural sermon quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, identifying His mission with setting people free from bondage. Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, exemplified its true purpose by prioritizing acts of salvation and compassion over legalistic observance, providing a foundation for judging the value of our own Sabbath activities.

The Sabbath Command, as magnified by Jesus Christ, reveals a deeper intent beyond mere observance, focusing on its purpose of liberation and redemption. Jesus, in His teachings and actions, enlarged the understanding of the fourth commandment, showing it as a time for fellowship with God to better comprehend Him, ourselves, our neighbors, and our place in His purpose. In His Sermon on the Mount, He magnified commandments by addressing their spiritual intent, such as equating hatred with murder and lust with adultery, demonstrating that the law reaches into the innermost being of a person. Similarly, with the Sabbath, He emphasized its intent as a day of liberation, not bound by rigid legalism, but as a time to free individuals from spiritual and physical bondage. Christ's ministry began on a Sabbath, as recorded in Luke 4:16, highlighting its significance as He read from Isaiah 61, proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord, a sabbatical year symbolizing liberty and freedom for the oppressed. He identified His redemptive mission with the Sabbath's liberating intent, tying His works of preaching to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, delivering captives, restoring sight to the blind, and setting the oppressed free to the very purpose for which God created the Sabbath. Through His actions, such as healings on the Sabbath, Christ restored its original divine function, countering the legalistic rituals of the Pharisees and showing it as a day for doing good, even in non-emergency situations, to address chronic spiritual and physical ailments. The Sabbath, as Christ exemplified, is a day to save life, relieve burdens, and express love toward God through service to others, reflecting a concern for both physical and spiritual salvation. His reactions, as seen in Mark 3, indicate that failing to do good when the opportunity arises on the Sabbath implies engaging in destructive efforts. Christ's healings, like that of the woman bound by Satan for eighteen years in Luke 13, further affirm the Sabbath as a time to loose individuals from bondage, contrasting sharply with traditions that prioritized rules over people. In every instance, He upheld the binding obligation of the Sabbath, arguing for its true values of redemption, joy, peace, and service, aligning its observance with the mission of leading humanity toward the Kingdom of God.

The Sabbath Command is magnified by Jesus Christ in a profound way, emphasizing its spiritual intent over rigid regulation. He consistently tied His Sabbath activities to the theme of redemption, focusing on liberation rather than mere rest from work. On multiple occasions across the Gospel accounts, He demonstrated the Sabbath's purpose through acts of healing and deliverance, showing it as a time to free people from physical and spiritual bondage. His actions, such as healing the woman bent over for eighteen years and the man at the pool of Bethesda, underscore that the Sabbath is a day to relieve burdens and make life easier for others. Jesus magnified the Sabbath by teaching principles for its application rather than laying down strict rules, allowing for judgment in varied circumstances. He argued that works of salvation are contemplated by the Sabbath Command, as seen in Deuteronomy 5:15, where redemption is a central focus. His justification for Sabbath activities was rooted in doing the work of God, mirroring His Father's ceaseless labor of redeeming and healing, which does not involve physical creation but spiritual transformation. Through these teachings, He showed that the Sabbath is not a day of idleness but a time for merciful acts and service, aligning with its purpose to ensure life and liberty. Furthermore, Jesus highlighted that loving service outweighs ritual fulfillment on the Sabbath, as seen in examples like the disciples eating grain due to hunger under unusual circumstances. He equated such acts with the lawful work of priests in the temple, who performed redemptive tasks like circumcision on the Sabbath without blame. His role as Lord of the Sabbath affirms His authority to determine its proper use, emphasizing that it is a day for intensive work toward salvation, preparing for the Kingdom of God, and promoting faith through service to those in need.

The Sabbath Command, as magnified by Jesus Christ, reveals a deeper intent beyond mere observance. Jesus expounded upon the Sabbath, just as He did with other commandments in the Sermon on the Mount, to correct distortions and highlight its true purpose. He addressed the Pharisees' rigid and burdensome application of the Sabbath law, which turned it into a grievous obligation rather than a liberating delight as intended by God. In John 7:21-24, stemming from an incident in John 5 where He healed a man on a Sabbath day, Jesus instructed against superficial judgment, emphasizing that the Pharisees' centuries of analysis missed the righteous understanding of the Sabbath's purpose. He stressed that the intent of God's law, including the Sabbath, is to produce justice, compassion, and faithfulness, fostering right relationships with God and fellowman while building character. Jesus further illustrated this principle with examples, such as David and his men eating the shewbread in a time of need, showing that the law can bend in unusual circumstances to align with God's desire and pleasure. Through these teachings, Jesus magnified the Sabbath command to reveal that it is not about the amount of energy expended, but about the purpose and intent behind actions on God's holy time, ensuring it remains a day of honor and delight in accordance with His will.

There is no doubt that the Sabbath is not annulled by commandment or by example of the Father, the Son, or the apostles in the Bible. Far from annulling it, Jesus Christ magnified the Sabbath during His ministry, providing a foundation for judging the value of our own Sabbath activity. A major purpose of the Sabbath, apart from being a sign, is to know God, tying it to eternal life, as without knowing God, there is no eternal life. Keeping the Sabbath identifies the true God to us, and it is not merely observing the day but how it is observed that enables one to know God. Jesus deliberately and frequently focused His attention on the Sabbath, teaching its intent through His actions and examples. He began His public ministry on a Sabbath, and major events in His life, including His resurrection, occurred on or around Sabbaths, drawing attention to the supreme purpose of the day. In His inaugural address, He tied His mission to the liberating intent of the Sabbath, identifying it with redemption, blessing, deliverance, and liberty. The Sabbath is a day blessed by God to bring a fuller and more abundant life, liberating us from bondage, both physically and spiritually. The Sabbath is enjoined on God's people for two basic reasons: to remind us that He is Creator and to recall that we were once slaves, thus emphasizing His role as our redeeming Liberator. It is a constant reminder every week of our spiritual heritage, our original release from sin, and a reorientation in the right direction. Jesus, by identifying Himself with the Sabbath, affirmed His Messiahship, showing that at the very beginning of His mission, the first law He clarified was the Sabbath, echoing its initial revelation to the children of Israel in the Exodus. Through His actions on the Sabbath, such as healings and casting out demons, Jesus signaled an attack against the forces of evil, beginning a holy war to free mankind from satan and sin. These acts, including spiritual and physical healings, demonstrated the Sabbath as a day of redemption, liberty, joy, peace, and service through fellowship and instruction. He showed that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, restoring it to its original divine value and function, focusing on relieving burdens and delivering freedom, even in cases of chronic issues that could have waited until another day. Jesus' example makes it clear that God intends good to be done on the Sabbath, and failing to do so when the opportunity arises implies destructive efforts and attitudes. The Sabbath is a day to prepare for the salvation of others, to show compassion towards the weak and defenseless, and to relieve burdens, whether through encouragement or small acts of kindness. He contrasted His approach with that of the Pharisees, who turned the Sabbath into a legalistic ritual of rules rather than a loving service to God and fellow man, arguing for a right, merciful evaluation of those under heavy burdens and using the Sabbath to free them. Throughout His ministry, Jesus continued to magnify the Sabbath's use, emphasizing it as the day of liberation, blessed by God to keep us free from bondage. His teachings and actions on the Sabbath consistently highlighted its purpose for deliverance and redemption, ensuring that we remain free through proper observance.