John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 4:10

"For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his." — Hebrews 4:10 (ASV)

For he who has entered into his rest, or, For he who has rested, etc. This is a definition of that perpetual Sabbath in which there is the supreme happiness, when there will be a likeness between humans and God, to whom they will be united. For whatever the philosophers may have said of the chief good, it was nothing but cold and empty, for they confined humankind to itself, while it is necessary for us to go outside of ourselves to find happiness. The chief good of humankind is nothing other than union with God; this is attained when we are formed according to Him as our pattern.

Now this conformity the Apostle teaches us takes place when we rest from our works. It therefore eventually follows that a person becomes happy by self-denial. For what else is ceasing from our works but to mortify our flesh, when a person renounces himself so that he may live to God?

For here we must always begin when we speak of a godly and holy life: a person, being in a way dead to himself, must allow God to live in him, and must abstain from his own works, so as to make room for God to work. Indeed, we must confess that only then is our life rightly formed when it becomes subject to God. But through innate corruption this is never the case until we rest from our own works; in fact, such is the opposition between God’s government and our corrupt desires that He cannot work in us until we rest.

But though the completion of this rest cannot be attained in this life, yet we should always strive for it. Thus believers enter it only on this condition—that by running they may continually go forward.

But I do not doubt that the Apostle intentionally alluded to the Sabbath in order to draw the Jews away from its external observances; for in no other way could its abrogation be understood, except by the knowledge of its spiritual design. He then addresses two things together: by extolling the excellence of grace, he encourages us to receive it by faith, and at the same time he shows us in passing what is the true design of the Sabbath, so that the Jews would not be foolishly attached to the outward rite.

Indeed, he does speak expressly of its abrogation, even though this is not his main subject; but by teaching them that the rite had a reference to something else, he gradually withdraws them from their superstitious notions. For whoever understands that the primary purpose of the precept was not external rest or earthly worship immediately perceives, by looking to Christ, that the external rite was abolished by His coming; for when the body appears, the shadows immediately vanish away. Therefore, our first task is always to teach that Christ is the end of the Law.