Sanctification of the Sabbath: The Permanent Obligation to Observe the Sabbath or Lord’s Day

by Robert Haldane

Second, he presents a compelling examination of the transfer of the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday in the new covenant. Many non-Sabbatarians view the transfer of the day as the Achilles’ heel of the Sabbatarian position.9 Haldane, however, demonstrates that the transfer of the day is not only seen in the New Testament but was in fact foreshadowed in the Old Testament. For example, the Old Testament contains differing motivations for Sabbath observance: Exodus 20 offers creation as the motivation, while Deuteronomy 5 offers redemption, a fact that Haldane believed indicated a forward-looking anticipation to the change of day. Further, all the “eighth day” language of the Old Testament (e.g., circumcision on the eighth day, priestly consecration on the eighth day) found its typological culmination in the resurrection—the eighth day, or first day of a new creation.