Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” Jesus said unto them, “Verily, Verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was born I am.”
What day of the Lord was it that Abraham saw and was glad? It must have been the day when he was told, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell thee of.”
Abraham believed the promise of God that through Isaac all the nations of the earth would be blessed. He also knew if he killed Isaac, the only way that promise could be fulfilled was for God to raise him from the dead. In Hebrews eleven we are told, “He accounted God able to raise him up from the dead from whence he received him again in a figure.” His faith in God was so great that he raised the knife to slay Isaac. A voice from Heaven cried out just in time, “Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand on the lad.” Abraham saw a ram caught in the thicket; a substitute was provided and Abraham was glad.
He was glad because he saw the day when another substitute would be provided, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Abraham looked forward almost two thousand years and saw the day of the Lord and was glad, and we look back two thousand years as we observe the Lord’s Supper and are glad. According to the Apostle John, the Lord Jesus appeared on the day of the resurrection when the doors were shut, and showed them his hands and his side. Then John said, “The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.”
But there is another day of the Lord in scripture. Paul refers to the day of the Lord that cometh like a thief in the night. Peter said that we as Christians should earnestly look for and desire the coming of the day of God. So, if we are faithful when the Lord returns, we shall see the day of the Lord and be glad.