Abraham saw my day

Book of Genesis 17:3-9. 

When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him: 

"My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations. 

No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. 

I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you. 

I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 

I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God." 

God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages. 

Psalms 105(104):4-5.6-7.8-9. 

Look to the LORD in his strength; 

seek to serve him constantly. 

Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, 

his portents, and the judgments he has uttered. 

You descendants of Abraham, his servants, 

sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! 

He, the LORD, is our God; 

throughout the earth his judgments prevail. 

He remembers forever his covenant 

which he made binding for a thousand generations. 

Which he entered into with Abraham 

and by his oath to Isaac. 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8:51-59. 

Jesus said to the Jews: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death." 

(So) the Jews said to him, "Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.' 

Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?"

Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, 'He is our God.' 

You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. 

Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.

So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?" 

Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM."

So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

"Abraham saw my day"

Let us consider the reward Abraham wished to have from the Lord. He did not ask for wealth like a miser, nor a long life like someone who fears death, nor power, but he asked for an inheritance worthy of his work. “What good will your gifts be, he said, I keep on being childless” (Gn 15:2)… Hagar gave birth to a son, Ishmael, but God said to him: “That one shall not be your heir but one of your own issue” (Gn 15:4). What other one is he talking about? He is not referring to Ishmael but to holy Isaac… In Isaac, the legitimate son, we can see the truly legitimate son, our Lord Jesus Christ who, at the beginning of Saint Matthew’s gospel, is called son of Abraham (Mt 1:1). He showed himself to be a true son of Abraham when he made his ancestor’s posterity shine out; it was thanks to him that Abraham looked at the heavens and could see his posterity shine like the stars (Gn 15:5). The apostle Paul says: “Star differs from star in brightness; so also is the resurrection of the dead” (1Cor 15:41-42). When he associated with his resurrection those whom death guarded in the earth, Christ gave them a share in the kingdom of heaven. 

Affiliation with Abraham is passed on exclusively through the inheritance of faith, which prepares us for heaven, draws us close to the angels, raises us to the stars. “ ‘Just so, God said, shall your descendants be,’ and Abraham believed in the Lord” (Gn 15:6). He believed Christ would be his heir through his incarnation. To make this known to you, the Lord said: “Abraham saw my day and was glad”. God considered him as just because he did not ask for any explanations but unhesitatingly believed. It is right that faith should go before explanation; if not, we would seem to be asking the Lord our God for them as from a man. How unseemly it would be to believe other people when they bear witness to another and not to believe God when he speaks about himself! So let us imitate Abraham so as to inherit the world through the justification of faith, which made him inherit the earth.