Learning from John 10 – Jesus Gives Us Abundant Life

John 10:10 – “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

God’s plan for his people is for them to have abundant life. He challenges us to give Him the opportunity for this by putting Him first, before everything else in our lives. God does not ask us to ignore or neglect our families, or jobs, or personal needs. He only asks that we put Him first, and then attend to these other things. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 6:33 – “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well.”

Abundant life includes two types of “abundance.”   There is material abundance and spiritual abundance. The second type is much more important, but many churches unfortunately focus on material abundance instead.

It is interesting that most of the reference to “abundance” or “abundant” in Scriptures refer to water – rainfall, streams, and wells for drinking water. This is a prophetic symbol of the Holy Spirit and revelation. “They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” (Psalm 36:8). Jesus said we would have a fountain or spring of living water within us, overflowing to others (see John 7:38-39). God indeed wants to bless our work, our health, our families, and so on. Everyone can understand this. Yet He also wants us to abound with spiritual gifts, inner peace, and spiritual fruit. These blessings far transcend any material blessings or wealth that we could every have. Jesus was referring to spiritual abundance when he said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it have it to the full” (John 10:10 – older versions say, “have life more abundantly.”)

God wants us to have both, and we receive this abundant life when we put Him first in our lives. We must stop procrastinating with the things of the Lord. We call this a syndrome because it grows worse and worse. Blessings that come from faith grow greater and greater. Twice in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (Matthew 13:12; Matthew 25:29). This refers to our spiritual abundance, the abundant life in the Spirit. As humans, we like to see equality and fairness in the distribution of wealth. This is our material side. Spiritually, however, God does not distribute the spiritual assets equally. Those who are seeking Him more receive deeper spiritual blessings.

What types of material abundance does God provide to His people?   The world has a certain idea of wealth, and many people associate material abundance with worldly luxury. Yet in the Scripture, God’s promises of abundance were to bless them with children, to make their flocks and herds reproduce in large numbers, and to help their crops produce well (Deuternomy 28:11; see also the passage above, where God promises to protect again pests and crop failure). All of these are associated with productivity and ongoing sustainability – very practical and pragmatic – not with excessive consumption (the world’s idea of “abundance”).

There is, therefore, even a “spiritual” way to think about material abundance. The world thinks of sensual indulgence, luxury, and excess. We think of productivity, sustainability, and stability for the lives of God’s servants. Of course, we also know that even these verses point to a deeper, prophetic meaning about our spiritual abundance – spiritual “children” speak of new souls coming to Christ through our prayers and evangelistic efforts. Crops of grain speak of the Revealed Word (Jeremiah 23:28; Luke8:11), and the “vine” speaks of Jesus and the spiritual life we have through His Blood (John 15:1-5; Matthew 26:28).

The Lord calls all of us priests in Christ because we are consecrated to serve Him (see 1 Peter 2:5-9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10; 20:6). In a prophetic passage pointing toward the New Covenant under which we are His priests, He promises, “I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:14). Finally, when we live the abundant life, it brings glory and honor to His name. “Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.” (Jeremiah 33:9).

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