Lehi says that Jacob has beheld Jehovah’s glory. Later, Nephi says that both Nephi and Jacob have seen the Redeemer (2 Nephi 11:3). Although it is possible that this Jacob had seen the Savior by the time that Lehi spoke, it may not have yet happened. To behold the glory of God may not have required that Jacob had seen a vision of God. Regardless, it was clearly an important, especially a spiritually important, experience.
The point of this introduction is not to emphasize the privilege of experiencing God, but to emphasize the blessing of Jehovah’s redemption. Jacob is blessed, and all humankind will be blessed because the way has been prepared for their redemption since the fall of man.
Lehi’s statement that salvation is free should be understood as a synonym for God’s grace. The fall created issues for the eternal life of God’s children, and so a solution to those issues was established even before it was needed. As the implications of the fall are upon all humankind, so too is this solution for the benefit of all mankind.