When the Jews, in deadly opposition to the Son of God, spoke of Abraham as their father, the Lord pointed out to them that, had they been Abraham's children, they would have done the works of Abraham (John 8:33-39). They were Abraham's seed by natural generation, but they were not the children of Abraham as the father of the faithful, for their attitude to God and to His Son manifested that they belonged to another generation.
There was no hatred in Abraham's heart towards the Son of God, for the Lord could say, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (verse 56). The same faith that enabled Abraham to look "for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God," and that gave him the desire for "a better country, that is, an heavenly" (Heb. 11:10, 16), gave him the vision to see the day of Christ. Faith for Abraham, as for the saints of God in every dispensation, "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1).
What the Lord speaks of as "My day" in John 8, the Apostle Paul speaks of as "the day of Jesus Christ" in Philippians 1:6, and in this verse we read that "He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." From this Scripture we learn that God, in His sovereignty and love, is working His own good work in the hearts of His saints to bring them out with Christ in the day of His glory. The different conditions of life, and the varied circumstances in which God's people are found, are contributing to form in the saints what God will display of Christ, and with Christ, when Jesus is displayed before the eyes of the universe. Every one in that vast company will be the fruit of the work of Jesus, who died for us upon the cross, and the fruit of Him who, in His grace, began and completed His good work in us.
The prayer of Paul in this same chapter shows us another aspect of this great day, for the Apostle writes, "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Phil. 1:9-11).
In the prayer we have brought before us how the fruits of righteousness are produced in the saints for the day of display, the day of Christ. There is not only the sovereign working of God in the saints, but also that which God works through the exercises of His own. Love, divine knowledge and spiritual judgment produce in God's people the precious fruits of righteousness, the features of Christ, which are for the Father's pleasure and glory now, and for His praise and glory in the day when Christ "shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe … in that day" (2 Thess. 1:10).
What the Lord calls "My day," He also speaks of as the day of the Son of Man in Luke 17:24. In relation to divine judgment that day is called the day of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and in 2 Peter 3:10, and is the day of our Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 1:8 and the day of the Lord Jesus in 1 Corinthians 5:5 and 2 Corinthians 1:14. It is also spoken of as Christ's day in Philippians 2:16, and Paul refers to it as that day in 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Timothy 1:12, 18; and 2 Timothy 4:8. It was a well-known day to Paul, and he desired it to be a well-known day to Timothy and to all the saints, a day to be looked forward to, when Christ would have His true place publicly before the whole universe of God.
"Man's day" (1 Cor. 4:3 N.T.) is still running its course, and in it he has manifested what he is in all his wickedness and rebellion against God, but soon it will be Christ's day. Christ will have His day, for God has decreed it, and in it there will be the display of Christ, both personally and in His saints. The vast universe in that day will see what Christ is, and also the fruit of His work in those who are glorified with Him. When the day of Christ, the millennial day, is over, there will be "the day of God," "the day of eternity" (2 Peter 3:12, 18), and for evermore there will be the display of what God is, and of all that He has accomplished according to His eternal counsels, in a scene where He has made "all things new" (Rev. 21:5).