Note 22 at Joh 8:57: Just as with Jesus' statement about death in Joh 8:51 (see note 20 at that verse), the Jews had no perception of the spiritual significance of this statement. They thought that Jesus was speaking of Abraham having seen Jesus during his lifetime, over a thousand years before this. It's possible that Abraham could have seen Christ or some semblance of Him in some of his supernatural encounters with the Lord (Ge 14:18; 15:17; 17:1; 18:2, 22; 22:11, and 15). However, Jesus was specifically referring to Abraham having seen the day when people would be justified by faith in God's grace, as Jesus was proclaiming here (see note 21 at Joh 8:56).