My dear friend, thank you for your very good question. Our Lord Jesus truly did fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law in every aspect. Christ Jesus was and is true Man and true God, and thus He was perfect, having no sin (1 John 3:5). Because He alone met God’s standard of perfection, He alone, the sinless Son of God, was able to pay the cost of our redemption through His own precious blood. He alone could save us from the judgment for our sins which we all deserve. He was the perfect sin offering, who alone could atone for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 4:10). The Law, though it was good, could only result in death and judgment for us; it only pointed to our need for a Savior, and that Savior is Christ the Lord. In Romans 8:3-4 we read: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit,” (See also Romans 10:4). Now this does not mean that the law could be simply ignored, but rather it was perfectly fulfilled by Christ. Through His death on the cross, we are now freed from the penalty of our sins according to the law, that penalty being death.

But now let’s consider what the Lord is actually telling us in Matthew 11:28. We read: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Was He speaking only of the Sabbath rest? I believe that when our Lord Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 11, He was referring to something much larger than the Law and the Sabbath requirements. I believe that He was calling all men to believe on Him as the Christ, the Son of God, by Whom they would find rest for their souls from the heavy burden of their sins (compare with John 1:29). The issue with the OT law was that people then and now want to try to keep the law to earn salvation, but this is quite impossible because we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). The Law could really only point to our need for a Savior. The Law, including the Sabbath,  had become quite a burden in Bible times, as the teachers of that day became very legalistic in their application of the law, thinking that they could be holy by their own efforts in law keeping rather than seeking grace and forgiveness for their sins. They failed to realize, as many today fail to realize, that the Law was never intended to, nor was it ever able to, save people from the judgment for their sins. Our Lord Jesus came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), and to this end, He came not to remove the Law, but to fulfill the Law (see Matthew 5:17). Because of Christ’s atoning work on the cross, believers today are redeemed, saved by grace and not by works of the Law (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). We are now, through faith in Christ, no longer under Law but under grace (Romans 6:14). Thus, we read in Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” This does not mean that Christians are lawless, but rather Christians are now held to a higher law, the law of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 9:21; 2 Corinthians 3:7–11). We should therefore give up trying to earn salvation through keeping the Law, including the OT Sabbath law. The law is not void, but rather its righteous demands are met and indeed fulfilled perfectly on our behalf by Him who died for us on the cross.

My dear reader, have you trusted Christ Jesus for your eternal salvation? Salvation comes only by faith in the finished work of redemption on the cross of Calvary through our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; John 5:24). The sabbath was the 7th day, Saturday. It was only a shadow of things to come. Today born-again Christians recognize the Lord’s Day, Sunday, the first day of the week. This is not a New Testament “sabbath day” under a new name, nor is it a legal statute with penalties like the OT law. It is simply the day that Christians reserve to gather for worship coinciding with the practice of the first century saints who met on the first day of the week to remember the Lord (Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10).  (SF)  (730.4)