Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

DISCOVERING THE NEW COVENANT
leaders quickly began to verbally attack Jesus for His work
on the Sabbath and His encouragement of the man to do so
as well. In reply, Jesus called attention to His Father and
His work on the Sabbath. Since His Father worked on the
Sabbath, Jesus stated that it was appropriate for Him to do
so as well. Notice the response of the leaders in John 5:
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him,
because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said
that God was His Father, making Himself equal with
God. John. 5:18
This passage of Scripture was recorded by John
sometime around 90 A.D. He does not argue with the
statement but lists it as fact. We would all agree that Jesus
called Himself equal with God. Did he not also break the
Sabbath? According to the Old Testament Scripture He did.
According to John’s record He did as well. John did not say
“they thought He broke the Sabbath”, or “He broke their
idea of what Sabbath should be.” He stated that the reason
they wanted to kill Him was because He broke the
Sabbath. 3
If Jesus had already fulfilled all that the Sabbath
pointed forward to, as we just studied in Luke 4:18ff. then
He was at complete liberty to ignore the Sabbath
regulations and to teach others to do so. On the other hand,
if He had not, then He was guilty of breaking the Sabbath
and teaching others to do so. What does that imply as it
relates to Matthew 5:17-19? There Jesus said that the one
who breaks the least of the commandments and teaches
others to follow suit would be called least in God’s
kingdom. These are the only alternatives. Either Jesus was
the fulfillment of the Sabbath, therefore at total liberty to
ignore and teach others to ignore these Sabbath regulations,
3 Richard Fredericks, The Sabbath in Christ (Sermon series presented at
Damascus Road Community Church, Damascus MD, 1999) Part 1.
110