John 10:10 (Amplified) says that, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
Something in this scripture has always eluded and left me wondering what was really going on. We now know that Jesus was talking about the new birth and the born again experience. Most of us, even after being born again, don't seem to understand what Jesus was really saying.
I'm sure that all of those present at the time of this discourse, were astonished at what Jesus said. All of those listening probably thought they were "alive" already and yet Jesus was saying that He came that they should have life. I can almost hear them saying among themselves, "Does He think we are dead?" And, they probably whispered, "Are we not walking and talking and breathing?" and "Do we not have life within ourselves?"
When Jesus said this to the crowd, He was actually the only true living Man among them. He was actually, at that time, the only truly living Man on the entire planet. Romans 5:12 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men (no one being able to stop it or to escape its power) because all men sinned."
This scripture isn't just speaking of natural death that occurs in the body, because we Christians still die in the body (until the resurrection). He was speaking about a spiritual death which is separation from God that happened because of the fall of Adam.
Because we lack understanding of spiritual death, we still don't understand the terms of it. We still have an eternal spirit, but because of Adam, it was cut off from God - Who is life. Man functioned only in the natural or carnal life, but without God's life being in us anymore. When Jesus said that, "He came that we might have life and have it to the full," He was speaking of our being made one with God again through His sacrifice and the new birth.
The full and abundant life Jesus was speaking about, was God's life Itself that would live in us again. This life would be all that Adam had, all that Jesus had and all that God Himself has. This is more life than we could ever use. This is eternal life through the Holy Spirit of God Himself. This life of God is now open to us again and it's everything God had planned for man from the beginning. We would no longer be limited to just the natural man and the arm of the flesh, but now the blessings of heaven would flow through us like it did in the Garden of Eden.
When a woman gets pregnant, a child is alive in her womb, but that child's world is limited to total darkness and confinement. Once the child is born, it is no less alive, but a vast life has opened to it that it never knew existed. It's more abundant life and a great new world than the child knew in the womb. Jesus declared that the believer would now have life "to the full." We were taken from spiritual death into life with God again. Colossians 2:10 (Amplified) says, "And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life (in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-and reach full spiritual stature) and He is the head of all rule and authority (of every angelic principality and power)."
In spiritual death or separation from God in the spirit, we could only strive walking in obedience of laws and rules that would help us from total destruction. Ephesians 2:1-2 (Amplified) says, "And you (He made alive) when you were dead (slain) by (your) trespasses and sins In which at one time you walked (habitually) You were following the course and fashion of this world (were under the sway of the tendency of this present age) following the prince of the power of the air. (You were obedient to and under the control of) the (demon) spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience (the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God)."
Once we were set free from death and entered into life through Jesus, we must learn how to live. We have once again placed ourselves under laws and creeds and have continued in the same age old confines of our death walk. Although life was restored to us , we still walk in the realm of the dead. All of this life that Jesus has now given us, has been greatly lost to the believer.
We were now to have "life to the full," but much like a newborn, we became overwhelmed with so much life. We used religion to bring it down to terms we could understand and lost the liberty and power of unity with out Father. Paul wrote to the Church in Rome about understanding the vastness of this new life. Thus, he says in Romans 10:2 (Amplified), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age) fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs) but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude)."
If we do not renew our minds with the truth of the new birth, then we will continue in the same customs and traditions we held when we were dead to God. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified) that, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the Life-giver) the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) the Words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
If we renew our minds like Paul instructed, then we can begin understand the life that has been given to us. Now, we can finally begin to understand what Jesus was speaking about in John 8:31-32 (Amplified) saying, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them) you are truly My disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
It is only by continuing and abiding in Jesus and allowing His Word to abide in us, that we will ever know the truth and be free from the death that kept us bondage to the world. In the Church today, we are abiding in Him through the new birth, but His Word isn't abiding in us. And, because of this, we have never known the truth that makes us truly free. We still live under the flesh (that has no benefit) and have never really learned how to live. The reason for these teachings is to teach the Body of Christ how to live and walk into this abundant life with God that opens up a whole new life with His Spirit.
Many things taught to these last days Church, have been about this abundant life. Mostly, though, the carnally minded Christians have dismissed these teachings. Many teachings about prosperity or the authority of the believer to claim things in faith and grace, have been dismissed as "Name it and claim it" or "Blab it and grab it" tactics.
All these things are part of this life that is once again ours by the new birth. Because we refuse to believe what God's Word says and because we choose to live as being dead to the Words of the Spirit, we still operate in the flesh instead of the Spirit. We're like the newborn baby who is frightened by the vastness of the world that has opened up to him. Newborn still seek the closeness and the familiar things of the womb. You wrap them tightly in a blanket and they feel the familiar confines of their previous life in the womb.
Like a newborn, we turn to the familiar ways we were in before being born again. Remember, Jesus said that, "If we will abide in Him and His Words abide in us, then we will know the truth and that truth will set us free." The only way to have life to the fullest like in John 10:10, is to know the truth about this new life by His Word. This new life is the very life God gave when He made man in His Image and likeness.
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