John 8:56

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

John 8:56 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
English Standard Version (ESV)
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."
New Living Translation (NLT)
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.”
The Message Bible (MSG)
56 Abraham - your 'father' - with jubilant faith looked down the corridors of history and saw my day coming. He saw it and cheered."
American Standard Version (ASV)
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
56 Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming. He saw it and was happy."
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day; he saw it and rejoiced."
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
56 "Your father Abraham was filled with joy at the thought of seeing my day. He saw it and was glad."

John 8:56 Meaning and Commentary

John 8:56

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 (xyvmh twmy) , "the days of the Messiah": and the Jews, in their Talmud F25, 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 Abraham had a very great desire to see:

and he saw [it] and was glad;
he saw it with an eye of faith, he saw it in the promise, that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed; and when it was promised him he should have a son, which was the beginning of the fulfilment of the other, he laughed, and therefore his son was called Isaac, to which some reference is here made; he saw him in the birth of his son Isaac and rejoiced, and therefore called his name Isaac, that is, "laughter": he saw also Christ and his day, his sufferings, death, and resurrection from the dead, in a figure; in the binding of Isaac, in the sacrifice of the ram, and in the receiving of Isaac, as from the dead; and he not only saw the Messiah in his type Melchizedek, and who some think was the Son of God himself, but he saw the second person, the promised Messiah, in an human form, ( Genesis 18:2 ) ; and all this was matter of joy and gladness to him. This brings to mind what the Jews say at the rejoicing at the law, when the book of the law is brought out F26

``Abraham rejoiced with the rejoicing of the law, he that cometh shall come, the branch with the joy of the law; Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, rejoiced with the joy of the law; he that cometh shall come, the branch with the joy of the law.''


FOOTNOTES:

F25 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1.
F26 Seder Tephillot, fol. 309. 1. Ed. Basil.

John 8:56 In-Context

54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.
55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Cross References 2

  • 1. ver 37,39; Genesis 18:18
  • 2. S Matthew 13:17; Hebrews 11:13
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