John 8:56

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY, [ eegalliasato (G21) hina (G2443) idee (G1492)] - 'exulted,' or 'exceedingly rejoiced that he should see;' that is, exulted to see it by anticipation; AND HE SAW IT, AND WAS GLAD - he actually beheld it to his joy. If this mean no more than that he had a prophetic foresight of the Gospel Day-the second clause just repeating the first-how could the Jews understand our Lord to mean that He "had seen Abraham?" And if it mean that Abraham was then beholding, in his disembodied spirit, the incarnate Messiah, as Stier, Tholuck, Alford, etc., understand it, the words seem very un...

56._Your father Abraham. _He grants to them, in words only, what he formerly took from them, that _Abraham is their father _But he shows how idle is the objection drawn from the name of _Abraham _“He had no other object,” says he, “during his whole life, than to see my kingdom flourish. He longed for me when I was absent, you despise me when I am present.” What Christ here asserts concerning Abraham alone, applies to all the saints. But this doctrine has greater weight in the person of Abraham, because he is the father of the whole Church. Whoever then desires to be reckoned in the number of the godly, let him rejoice, as he ought to do, in the presence of Christ, for which Abraham ardently longed. _Exulted to see my day. _The word _exult _expresses a vehement zeal (248) and ardent affection. We must now supply the contrast. Though the knowledge of Christ was still so obscure, Abraha

54-59 Christ and all that are his, depend upon God for honour. Men may be able to dispute about God, yet may not know him. Such as know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ, are put together, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. All who rightly know anything of Christ, earnestly desire to know more of him. Those who discern the dawn of the light of the Sun of Righteousness, wish to see his rising. "Before Abraham was, I AM." This speaks Abraham a creature, and our Lord the Creator; well, therefore, might he make himself greater than Abraham. I AM, is the name of God, Exodus 3:14; it speaks his self-existence; he is the First and the Last, ever the same, Revelation 1:8. Thus he was not only before Abraham, but before all worlds,...

Verse John 8:56. _ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY_] Or, _he earnestly_ _desired to see my day_; ηγαλλιασατο, from αγαν, _very much_, and αλλομαι, _I leap _- his soul leaped forward in earnest hope and strong expectation that he might see the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The metaphor appears to be taken from a person who, desiring to see a long-expected friend who is _coming, runs_ _forward_, now and then _jumping up_ to see if he can discover him. There is a saying very like this in _Sohar Numer_ fol. 61: "Abraham rejoiced because he could know, and perceive, and cleave to the _Divine_ NAME." The Divine name is יהוה _Yehovah_; and by this they simply mean God himself. _AND HE SAW IT_] Not only in the first promise, Genesis 3:15, for

YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM - The testimony of Abraham is adduced by Jesus because the Jews considered it to be a signal honor to be his descendants, John 8:39. As they regarded the sayings and deeds of Abraham as especially illustrious and worthy of their imitation, so they were bound, in consistency, to listen to what he had said of the Messiah. REJOICED - This word includes the notion of desire as well as rejoicing. It denotes that act when, compelled with strong desire for an object, we leap forward toward its attainment with joy; and it expresses: 1.The fact that this was an object that filled the heart of Abraham with joy; and, 2.That he earnestly desired to see it. We have n

EXPOSITION Verses 7:53-8:11 (8) _The pericope adulterae. _(A)_ Excursus on the genuineness of _John 7:53-43__John 7:53-43. It is our duty to examine the various grounds on which this passage has been almost universally concluded to have formed no portion of the original Fourth Gospel; and then the internal grounds on which it has been rejected, and some of the speculations as to its origin and value. Doubts have beset the authenticity of the passage from the fourth and fifth centuries in the Eastern Church, both on external and internal grounds. The authority and practice of Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome gave it a secure resting place till the criticism of Erasmus re-awakened doubt. Calvin expressed a more favourable opinion con

YOUR FATHER ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY,.... Or "he was desirous to see my day", as the Syriac and Arabic versions rightly render the word; or "very desirous", as the Persic version: and indeed, this was what many kings and prophets, and righteous men, were desirous of, even of seeing the Messiah and his day: we often read of ימות המשיח, "the days of the Messiah": and the Jews, in their Talmud y, dispute much about them, how long they will be; one says forty years, another seventy, another three ages: it is the opinion of some, that they shall be according to the number of the days of the year, three hundred and sixty five years; some say seven thousand years, and others as many as have been from the beginning of the world; and others, as many as from Noah; but we know the day of Christ better, and how long he was here on earth; and whose whole time here is called his day; this Abraha...

John 8:28. _Then said Jesus unto them;_ That is, to the Jews who were questioning and opposing him,- John 8:28. _When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things._ Blessed be God, there were many, after the crucifixion of Christ, who did. believe in him! Yet, alas! in others, the blindness of heart continued, and they would not see the Messiah in him who was crucified. We, who believe in the uplifted Saviour, can see the Father in the Son; and to us, faith has become a most blessed thing; and we know that he does nothing of himself, and that, as the Father has taught him, so he speaks....

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The Woman Taken in Adultery. (John 8:1 .)_ 2. The Light of the World. (John 8:12 .) 3. His Testimony Concerning Himself and the Father. (John 8:13 .) 4. His Solemn Declarations. (John 8:21 .) 5. Before Abraham Was, I Am. (John 8:48 .) The first verse belongs to the preceding chapter. The officers returned without Him, bearing their testimony that “never man spake like this man.” Nicodemus ventured his timid defense. Then every man went to his own house while the Lord went to the Mount of Olives. The story of the woman

CONTROVERSY WITH THE JEWS WHO BELIEVED. Many are convinced by this appeal. The following section summarises the teaching by which Jesus tried to bring the more favourably disposed of the Jewish party to a fuller faith. If they will make Christ's teaching a real part of their lives, they will gain the truth which sets men free. They take offence. If they have had to submit to foreign power, they have never been reduced to slavery. Sin is slavery, Jesus replies, and the slave has no secure place in the house as the son has. The author adds that true freedom is the gift of the Son. Jesus admits their physical descent from Abraham (John 8:37). But their conduct does not correspond to their parentage. They do not dissociate themselves from their party's policy of trying to get rid of one whose teaching is unacceptable. He follows His Father's example. Let them follow the example of theirs. Th...