17. According to Isaiah, what was Christ to do with the law? “He will _magnify_ the law, and _make it honorable_.” Isa. 42:21. NOTES.—In nothing, perhaps, was this more strikingly fulfilled than in the matter of Sabbath observance. By their traditions, numerous regulations, and senseless restrictions the Jews had made the Sabbath a burden, and anything but a delight. Christ removed all these, and by His life and teachings put the Sabbath back in its proper place and setting, as a day of worship and beneficence, a day for doing acts of charity and mercy, as well as engaging in contemplation of God and in acts of devotion. Thus He magnified it and made it honorable. One of the most prominent features of Christ’s whole ministry was this great work of _Sabbath reform_. Christ did not _abolish_ the Sabbath, nor _change_ the Sabbath; but He did rescue it from the rubbish of tradition, the false ideas, and the superstitions with which it had been buried, and by which it had been degraded and turned aside from the channel of blessing and practical service to man designed by its Maker. The Pharisees had placed the institution _above_ man, and _against_ man. Christ reversed the order, and said, “The Sabbath was made _for man_, and not man _for the Sabbath_.” He showed that it was to minister to the happiness, the comfort, and the well-being of both man and beast. Because of the false ideas which the Jews held concerning the Sabbath and its observance, and the conflict which Christ had with them in consequence, many of the professed followers of Christ a little later were led into the error of rejecting the Sabbath itself as Jewish, and, without any divine command or Scripture warrant, to substitute another day in its place. 18. Knowing that the unbelieving Jews would still cling to their false ideas respecting the Sabbath, and that flight from Jerusalem and Judea on that day would be attended with difficulty, for what, in view of the coming destruction and desolation of the city and people, did Christ tell His disciples to pray? “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, _neither on the Sabbath day_.” Matt. 24:20. NOTE.—Christ’s experience with the Jews, the chosen and professed people of God at that time, respecting the Sabbath is but a type of what, according to prophecy, is to occur in the last days. Already it is beginning to find its parallel in the movement to enforce Sunday observance by law. See readings on pages 271, 484, 488. The Sabbath In The New Testament [Illustration.] Paul On The Way To Assos. "And they ... rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. 1. According to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?