Calvin on The Fourth Commandment.

After he had spoken of the pure worship and serving God, … he now mentions service to God as it is required in his Law...  For example, the [Sabbath or] day of rest was, first, a figure partly to show that men cannot serve God properly unless they put to death all that is of their own nature and dedicate themselves fully to him so as to be separate from the world.

Second, the day of rest was a ceremony to bring the people together so that they could hear the Law, call upon the name of God, and offer sacrifices and do all other things that concern the spiritual government. Thus we see the type of Sabbath day being spoke of yet it cannot be well understood without setting forth these two parts separately. Therefore, we have to note that the Sabbath, or day of rest, was a shadow under the Law until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ so as to make men understand that God requires that they should utterly cease from their own works. This is what I meant when I said that we must put to death all that is of our own nature if we are to conform ourselves to our God.

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Does it surprise you that Calvin expounds this law in Gospel terms?  Firstly, he says, we cannot serve God as He wishes unless we have dedicated ourselves to Him and have separated ourselves from the world.  Our old nature has to be put to death - it does not wish to give to God anything, let alone one day in seven.   

Secondly, this is a ceremony to bring us together for the hearing of His Word. God had to legislate for worship time!  Let us use the Sabbath as a God-given opportunity to dedicate ourselves wholly to Him, and to separate ourselves from the world.  As we hear God’s Law (Word), may our response be one of gladness and willing submission to Him.