What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘Abraham rejoiced to see my day’ (John 8:56)?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘God’s Power for Salvation’ (2005).

Well, it is marvellous to get an easy question, or at least, rather, a question that can be answered easily. The answer to that is, 'I don't know'. I can make all sorts of guesses. I would be interested to hear if you have found anything. Our Lord is saying, 'Your father, Abraham, rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.'

And they said, 'You are not fifty years old yet, and you talk of seeing Abraham?'

Well, that isn't what he said. He said, 'Abraham saw me. He rejoiced to see my day. He was glad to see my day'. And, 'before Abraham was, I am' (see John 8:39–59).

Our Lord is asserting that he is Jehovah and eternal—everlasting. What does he mean when he said, 'Abraham rejoiced to see my day'? Well, who knows? Our Lord says so—will we believe it?

The New Testament, in Hebrews for instance, says that Abraham 'looked for the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God' (Hebrews 11:10). That is the great, eternal city. He knew of that, and he looked forward to it. I don't think it is beyond possibility that when he thought about the great promises made to him and his seed, and when he saw how the very covenant said that he and his seed would not inhabit the inheritance for the next four hundred years (Genesis 15:13), he must therefore begin to think: 'Well, who is this seed that shall inherit?' It seems to me to be not beyond possibility that God gave him to understand, just like the promise to Eve that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15), that this referred to the Messiah who was eventually coming. And he looked forward to that.

It is said of Moses that he bore 'the reproach of Christ'—the Messiah (Hebrews 11:26).

You say, 'How is that possible?'

Well, Moses would have known, of course, of God's promise to Abraham that God would one day deliver the nation; there was this coming seed; and that the future therefore lay with Israel and not with Egypt. And he left Egypt because he had respect for 'the recompense of the reward' (Hebrews 11:26) and took his place with Israel because he believed that, according to God's promise, the blessing of the whole earth depended on Abraham's seed—ultimately, of course, on Christ.

So I think John 8:56 may mean in general that Abraham likewise was given to understand that the seed would one day be the great 'seed of the woman', what we call the Messiah. He looked forward to that day, and by faith he saw it and was glad. He saw it as a reality that should be.