What is Abundant Life?

Knowing someone can take place in two manners. In other words, you can know someone in two ways. The first way is by facts and the second way is by relationship.

For example, I know Michael Jackson as I have seen and heard him on the media. My knowing of Michael Jackson is limited to the facts that I have received through these sources. Hence I know Michael Jackson by facts. And also I know my mother-in-law. I have gained my knowing of my mother-in-law by moving with her over a period of time. In the sense, I know my mother-in-law by relationship I have established with her over the time.

The Bible has used the verb, "know" to indicate knowing someone by having a sexual relationship. Biblically, if a man knew a woman, it meant that they knew each other having a sexual relationship. Look at the below scripture:

(Genesis 4:1)
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

The verb "knew" in the above verse indicates Adam's knowing of Eve by having a sexual relationship. When a man knows a woman by a sexual relationship, both the man and the woman are said to become ONE FLESH.

(Genesis 2:24)
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

As a man becomes one flesh with another woman by having a carnal relationship with her, a man can become one spirit with God by having a spiritual relationship (spirit to spirit relationship) with God. In the sense, when you know (have a relationship with) God in spirit, you and God become one spirit. Look at the below verse.

(1 Corinthians 6:17)
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

For a man to be become one flesh with another woman by knowing her sexually, his relationship needs not necessarily be based on love or intimacy. 

(1 Corinthians 6:16)
What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 
 
However, for a man to become one spirit with God, his relationship needs to be based on INTIMACY. In other words, you need to have the most intimate, personal relationship with God in order that you and God become one spirit.

God sent His only begotten son to the world as a sacrifice in order that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

(John 3:16)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Traditionally, the majority understand that the everlasting life mentioned in the above verse means mere living forever in the kingdom of God. It is true that everlasting live means living forever. Someone can have everlasting life even in hell. But the everlasting life God has given to those who believe in Jesus Christ has much more than living forever in the kingdom of God. In other words, the major part of the everlasting life God has given us through His Son is not mere living forever.

Look at a cake with an icing layer on top of it. If this cake is compared to the everlasting life, the icing layer shows the benefit of living forever. No one would buy a cake just to have the icing part on top of it. However, when the cake is bought as a whole, the icing layer comes with it in order to add some additional taste to the cake, which forms the major part.

What is the cake part of the everlasting life God has given us through Jesus Christ?

Look at the below scripture:

(John 17:3)
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 

Jesus explains the cake part of the everlasting life in the above verse. According to this verse, the everlasting life means knowing the only true God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The knowing in the above verse once again means having the most intimate personal relationship with God and the Son. Thus, the cake part of the everlasting life is knowing God and Jesus Christ by the most intimate personal relationship.

Now if you consider even the icing layer of the everlasting life, we can precisely define the everlasting life as living forever (icing part), having the most intimate personal relationship with God and His Son Jesus Christ, (which is the major part or the cake itself), in the kingdom of God.
Now look at the below scripture.

(John 10:10)
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Jesus Christ explains in the above verse about the icing part and the cake part of the everlasting life separately. Having life means living forever. Having life more abundantly means living forever in the most intimate relationship with God. In other words, the abundant life means living forever in the kingdom of God by having the most intimate relationship with God.

However, I believe Jesus indirectly tells us in the above verse that having mere life is also possible although that is not exactly what Jesus has brought for us. In other words, those who just believe in Jesus Christ without having an intimate personal relationship, just for the sake of living forever in the kingdom of God by escaping hell, can have the icing part of the everlasting life (i.e. mere life and not the abundant life).

Those who know God and Jesus Christ by facts are missing the abundant life. But those who know God and Jesus Christ by the most intimate personal relationship are having life in abundance. They are the people who enjoy the full benefit of the everlasting life (icing part + cake part).

How do you know God and Jesus Christ?
Is your knowing limited to the Sunday Sermon?
Is your knowing limited to the knowledge which you gain in the bible study of your church?
Is your knowing limited to the printed words in the Bible?
If it is so, then you know God and Jesus Christ by facts. You are going to miss the life in abundance. You are just like someone who wants to buy a cake just to have only the thin icing layer on top of it.

Those who know the only true God and His Son Jesus Christ by the most intimate relationship shall have the abundant life. The perfect will of God for every human to have the abundant life by believing in Jesus Christ.

This abundant life is similar exactly to the life, which Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden of Eden with God. Every day, they met with God in the cool hour of the day.  This meeting shows the most intimate relationship between the man and God. They enjoyed this relationship while living forever in this world. But the rest of the animals did not have this encounter with God. Hence they merely enjoyed life without death, but not the abundant life.

Jesus Christ has already offered us the cake without the icing layer. Yes, right now, we can start our intimate, personal relationship with God. Why did Jesus offer the cake part right now?
It is our responsibility to carry this relationship which we establish with God while living on earth, when we are going to meet with Him. God would put the icing layer (living forever in the kingdom of God), on top of the cake (relationship with God while living on earth) if you are found with a cake.  But if you have not built such a relationship with God by the time you meet with Him, you have nothing to offer God, when you are given the icing layer (living forever in the kingdom of God).

Personally, I believe there are two kinds of people in the kingdom of God, namely who just live forever and who live forever in relationship with God. My belief is based on the below passage:

(1 Corinthians 15:38-42)
But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

According to the above passage, we are not going to have identical bodies in the kingdom of God. Our spiritual bodies would be different from each other in glory. This difference is based on the relationship we establish with God while living in this world. Hence, this is a good point to think that those who have more glory in their body are the people who enjoy the abundant life. They are the people who are moving with God more closely.

This thinking is not an imagination. Why? Because even now, this difference is found among the angels in Heaven. Angels are different in glory. According to their glory, their functions are also different.