The Abundant Life John 10:10
The tale of two kingdoms
John 10:10 Jesus starts by talking about the thief first.
- The word thief here in the Greek language is the word Kleptes.
- The word Klepte is where we would get our English word Kleptomaniac.
- Now of course Jesus is referring to the devil or satan here with this term thief or
- The definition of Kleptomania that I just read sounds like the devil, doesn’t it?
- the first activity that Jesus mentions of the devil is stealing. The thief comes only to steal…
- And Jesus uses that same word,
- In the original language there is a play on word here homonyms. “the thief that is thieving.”
- The first use is a noun and then the second use is the verb form.
- Now when we think about this concept of stealing here, we have to think about more than just physical stuff.
- The next activity of the thief that Jesus mentions is to kill.
- It’s the Greek word: thuō
- The meaning of this word is: “to kill, to butcher; to offer sacrifice.”
- Again, we can’t think of this in terms of killing the physical only.
- Then the next activity of the devil that Jesus mentions is to destroy
- It’s the Greek word apollymi
- It means: to destroy, to kill, cause to lose; to die or perish. to destroy utterly;
- Violence and strife are often the associative with this word.
- He is thieving, killing and bringing utter destruction.
- Jesus includes this word to cover all the bases; in case anything wasn’t already covered by stealing and killing.
- Jesus is really driving home the point here with the repetitive words.
- Then Jesus has a huge transition in what he is saying here.
- He now begins to explain the Kingdom of God. You see the tale of two kingdoms.
- The difference between the two kingdom could not be stronger.
- There is also contrast between the stealing, killing, and destroying here and the safety of the pasture and gate mentioned in the previous section in John 10:7 where Jesus says I am the gate.
- Jesus came to give life; in the Greek it’s the word
- Greek has two words for life. Bios is biological, physical life.
- Zoe is a completely different word — it means life in its fullest, deepest, truest sense. Divine life. The kind of life God himself has. Jesus isn’t just talking about living longer — he’s talking about living
- And Jesus didn’t come to be stingy with this life.
- Is says that He came to give it abundantly,
- The word in the original Greek language means: exceeding, going beyond; full, abundant; more than; excessive, in full abundance, exceedingly, vehemently.
- The Greek word here translated as abundantly, is often misread as a promise of wealth or comfort.
- But Jesus is talking about a quality of life, not a quantity of stuff. It’s the deep peace, purpose, and wholeness that comes from being in right relationship with God.
- Pass two: We can use the first part of this verse as a thermometer or litmus test.
- This can be part of the way we gage how well we are doing in the spirit realm. By taking this little test from this verse.
- As we look at the second part of this verse.
- We can also compare our life to what Jesus has promised Exceedingly abundant Life.
- So now what do we do? How do we walk into this kind of abundant life?
First: repent.
Second: this is all about Jesus.
Third: Give thanksgiving and Praise
Fourth: take authority over it.
Fifth: Seize kingdom opportunities
Sixth: Be careful with what you agree with.