“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”
My Notes
What Does John 8:56 Mean?
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." Jesus claims that Abraham — who lived two thousand years before Jesus' birth — saw Jesus' day and was glad about it. The claim is chronologically impossible by human standards and theologically explosive: it asserts that Abraham had access to a vision of Jesus' ministry and celebrated it.
The Jews' response (verse 57) reveals their literal-minded confusion: "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" They think Jesus is claiming to have met Abraham in person. Jesus' response (verse 58) goes even further: "Before Abraham was, I am." Not "I was" — "I am." The present tense echoes Exodus 3:14, God's self-identification to Moses. Jesus claims not just preexistence but eternal present existence.
The phrase "rejoiced to see" suggests Abraham's gladness wasn't reluctant or confused — he celebrated. Whatever vision Abraham received of Jesus' day, it produced joy. The patriarch looked across two millennia and was glad about what he saw.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What does 'I AM' — eternal present tense — mean for your relationship with Jesus?
- 2.How does Abraham seeing Jesus' day change your understanding of the Old Testament patriarchs?
- 3.Why does the crowd respond to 'I AM' with stones rather than worship?
- 4.What would it mean to encounter the eternal I AM in your present moment?
Devotional
Abraham saw your day, Jesus says. Two thousand years before you were born, Abraham looked forward through time and saw you — and he was glad. He celebrated what he saw. The patriarch who left everything for a promise glimpsed the fulfillment and rejoiced.
The crowd hears this and sputters: you're not even fifty! How could you have seen Abraham? They're stuck on chronology. Jesus is speaking about identity. They're counting years. He's declaring eternity.
The climactic response — "before Abraham was, I AM" — is the most audacious claim Jesus makes in John's Gospel. Not "before Abraham was, I was" (that would claim preexistence). "I AM" claims eternal present tense — the same words God used at the burning bush. Jesus doesn't just predate Abraham. He exists in a permanent now that makes chronology irrelevant.
The crowd picks up stones (verse 59). They understand exactly what Jesus is claiming. He's not confused or metaphorical. He's claiming to be the I AM — the God who spoke to Moses, the God who called Abraham, the God who exists before and after and outside of time. The stones are their theological response to what they consider blasphemy.
But it's not blasphemy if it's true. And if Jesus IS the I AM, then Abraham seeing His day across two millennia isn't strange. It's expected. The eternal One can be seen from any point in time because He exists at every point in time.
Do you believe Jesus is the I AM? Not was. Not will be. Is.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Then they took up stones to cast at him,.... Supposing that he had spoken blasphemy; for they well understood that he,…
Your father Abraham - The testimony of Abraham is adduced by Jesus because the Jews considered it to be a signal honor…
Abraham rejoiced to see my day - Or, he earnestly desired to see my day; ηγαλλιασατο, from αγαν, very much, and…
In these verses we have,
I. The doctrine of the immortality of believers laid down, Joh 8:51. It is ushered in with the…
rejoiced to see my day Literally, exulted that he might see My day, the object of his joy being represented as the goal…
Cross References
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