When Abraham Saw Christ
Notes
Transcript
Text:
Text:
Read John 8:51-59
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
PRAY
Focusing on v. 56
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
What Did Jesus Mean by “My Day”?
What Did Jesus Mean by “My Day”?
John and Jesus often use the expression “my hour” / “his hour” to refer to the events at the end of Jesus’s life — his betrayal, death on the cross, burial, resurrection, and ascension.
“My Day” probably refers to all of Jesus’s life and ministry — everything that he is and everything that he did in his short life.
In other words, Abraham was looking forward to everything that Christ would be and do — he was looking forward to Christ himself.
What did Abraham “see”?
What did Abraham “see”?
Did Abraham see Jesus with his eyes or experience him with his physical senses?
Abraham’s “seeing” was with eyes of faith more than with his physical senses.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
Abraham Trusted in Christ
Abraham Trusted in Christ
Christ was the object of Abraham’s faith, just as he is the object of our faith. Abraham trusted in Christ.
This is what Jesus means when he says that Abraham “saw” him. Jesus is not referring to physical sight but to spiritual sight. And spiritual sight is faith.
Faith is spiritual sight. To see Christ is to trust him. To trust him is to see him. (Abraham did not see Christ’s day with physical eyes but spiritual eyes; we also trust Christ not by seeing him with physical eyes but with the eyes of faith.)
What Happened When Abraham Saw Christ?
What Happened When Abraham Saw Christ?
(What was Abraham’s response to seeing Christ?)
JOY!
JOY!
Joy is one of the fruits of faith. True faith will always produce joy.
Abraham’s rejoicing and being glad at seeing Christ is evidence that he trusted in Christ.
You don’t rejoice at something you don’t trust (like a piece of good news from a source you don’t trust)
Abraham’s joy demonstrated his trust in Christ.
Joy is a fruit of faith: Psalm 33:21
For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
Two Words for Joy
Two Words for Joy
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
“Rejoiced” = jumping up and down for joy, extremely happy, ecstatic
“Was glad” = regular word for rejoicing, like in Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Implications of this verse:
Salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Jesus is saying that Abraham was trusting in him. Abraham did not get saved by obeying God any more than we do. He was saved by faith in Christ as a free gift of God.
We read in Hebrews 11:24-26 of how Moses was looking forward to Christ and trusting in him.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
Jesus himself says in John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If there is another way that people are saved, then Jesus is a liar and not a Savior.
Paul tells us in Romans 3:25 that the atoning death of Christ on the cross was necessary not only to cover the sins of those who come after Christ, but also the sins of those who were before him.
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
He says that the sacrifice of Christ justifies God’s passing over former sins within the Old Testament, like the sins of Abraham.
This also implies that Old Testament saints were looking forward to the sacrifice of Christ as the basis for God’s forgiveness and justification of them, even though they knew less about him than we do now that we have the full revelation of God.
Every true believer of all time has been saved the same way — by faith in Christ as a gracious gift of God.
This was true for Abraham, it was true for Moses, for Job, for David, for Adam and Eve, and for every true believer of all time. Before Christ, they looked forward to his coming and how he would deal with sin. Throughout the Old Testament it was progressively revealed what the Messiah would be like and what he would do. We now have the full revelation of Scripture and can look back at who he is and what he did and receive it by faith, just as they looked forward and received it by faith.
Adam and Eve were saved by faith in Christ
Adam and Eve were saved by faith in Christ
Many people ask, “Will we see Adam and Eve in heaven?”
I think the answer is yes, and I think the Scripture reveals to us that they were saved the same we are as well.
After Adam and Eve fell into sin, they tried to hide from God and cover themselves and their shame. But God in his grace came looking for them, and in a moment when all they expected was the sentence of death, they got a promise of life:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is understood to be the first promise of the gospel, as God says he will raise up a “seed” or offspring of the woman who will crush the serpent and do away with evil forever.
We learn from the New Testament that the ultimate fulfillment of this promise is Jesus Christ himself, who dealt the death blow to Satan by his victory over death at the cross, and will one day do away with the devil completely.
(Interestingly here in John 8 we’ve already seen Jesus refer to the Jews as offspring of the devil, or in other words “seed of the serpent”, as a fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 as well).
Did Adam and Eve trust the promise of a coming Redeemer? I think so.
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Eve means “living” or “life-giver”; Adam named her this in response to God’s promise, trusting that God would bring forth the seed of the woman who would defeat death and give life.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
Cain (Hebrew Kayin) means “gotten” or “acquired”. It seems that Eve is saying that God has already fulfilled the promise of giving her a seed to destroy the serpent and his seed. (She was wrong about Cain, but still showed faith).
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”
Seth means “appointed”, and is called the offspring or “seed” of the woman, again another evidence that Eve trusted God’s promise to redeem them.
What’s more, it seems from the text that Adam and Eve learned or understood the need for a blood sacrifice to take away their sin, and that this would have to be the work of God.
And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
The Bible doesn’t say it explicitly, but it seems reasonable to conclude that God had to kill and animal to make these skin coverings for Adam and Eve. The kind of covering that Adam and Eve tried to make for themselves was not sufficient — God had to cover them, and it had to happen by the shedding of blood.
Whatever Adam and Eve understood from this, it seems that they passed this knowledge on to their sons Cain and Abel, because we see Abel offering a blood sacrifice to God in Genesis 4:4
and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,
Now again, the Bible says that God was pleased with Abel’s offering because of his faith, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to also conclude that God was pleased with Abel’s offering because it was a blood sacrifice.
When we put all these things together, it seems that Adam and Eve were saved in the same way that we are — by grace, through faith, in Christ alone.
Certainly they did not have all the information that we have now — but they had enough to trust in him and in his atoning sacrifice, and it certainly appears that they did so.
Just like Abraham did.
And Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and Joshua, and David, and Isaiah, and every other true believer in the Old Testament time period.
John 12:41 Isaiah saw the glory of Christ and spoke of him
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
Salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Faith is Spiritual Sight
Faith is Spiritual Sight
Faith is spiritual sight. To see Christ is to trust him. To trust him is to see him. (Abraham did not see Christ’s day with physical eyes but spiritual eyes; we also trust Christ not by seeing him with physical eyes but with the eyes of faith.)
We must pray for God to open our eyes to the spiritual reality that we cannot see.
Faith in Christ results in joy in Christ.
Faith in Christ results in joy in Christ.
For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
Faith in Christ frees us from the fear of death.
Faith in Christ frees us from the fear of death.
Abraham had “died”, but he was more alive than any of the people Jesus was talking to, because he had trusted in Christ.
Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.
