John 10:10 The thief comes 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.
The Lord has been speaking to us about a realm of His life beyond what we have known. It is not that we don’t have His life in us at all, but He is making a higher realm of His life available to us. It is a realm we haven’t experienced yet, but because of our advancement in the Kingdom of God we now have the opportunity. The Greek word in the Scriptures for His “life” is zoe. The Zoe-Realm or Life-Realm is His divine life. Jesus said His coming was so that we might have life and that we might have it abundantly. He wasn’t saying that His coming was to make us live longer or to make our present life better, but He was making His life available for us.
We have come to this Zoe-Realm. I say it is a realm because it is more than a level. We speak often of moving from one level to another level in the realm of Spirit, but what we are facing here is not just another level. It is a realm of many levels. When we enter this Zoe-Realm we will find higher levels of His life.
There is a simultaneous action of the Lord as we make advancement into His life. As we enter into His life, He also is entering into our life. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you… James 4:7. This is a wonderful principle. You can’t draw closer to Him without Him also drawing closer to you. If it were possible to put a measurement on it, you could say, “Alright, I’m going to draw a mile closer to God.” Then, He would draw a mile closer to you and you are two miles closer. Whatever spiritual advancement you make toward God, He doubles it.
We are going to look at a few verses in the Gospel of John where the Greek word zoe is found. It is also found in many other places in the New Testament, but we will limit ourselves to John’s Gospel. Before we do, I want to remind you that this Zoe-Realm is not something of the future. It is a realm available for us to enter at the present time.
John 1:4-5 In Him was life
(zoe); and the life (zoe) was the light of men.
5 And the light shine in
darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The verb “shine” is present tense continuous. The divine life of God emanates out from Him, shining out toward man. It didn’t begin today, last year, or a millennium ago. It is a characteristic of God that His life is continuously shining forth from Him. Hear what Paul has to say about it. If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them…For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels… (II Corinthians 4:3,4,6,7). The darkness of our flesh nature cannot comprehend it. It is with our spirit that we appropriate and absorb His life.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That everlasting life is “everlasting Zoe-Life.” The phrase “whosoever believeth in Him” does not give the full meaning of the Greek. For many the Lord is way up in the heavens somewhere apart from them, so they say, “I believe in Him.” That is not the understanding of the Greek. The Greek reads, “Whosoever believeth into Him.” The Greek word is eis, and it means “to move from the exterior to the interior.” You can believe in Him when His life is separate from you, but when you believe into Him you have entered His life. Keep in mind that entering into His life is progressive. It is not something you do one time and it is done. There is level after level in the “Zoe-Realm.”
John 3:36a He that believes on (eis = into) the Son hath everlasting life…
If your believing and your faith are not taking you into His life, then your believing and faith need to rise to a higher plane.
John 3:36 He that believeth on (“into”) the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
This is not speaking of Christians and non-Christians; it is speaking of two different kinds of Christians. It is speaking of those who “believe into Him” and those who only “believe in Him.” You might ask, “Why does the wrath of God abide on those Christians who “believe in Him”? The opportunity is given to all Christians to “believe into Him.” The responsibility is ours to choose to enter into the “Zoe-Realm” of His life. Jesus Christ didn’t shed His blood on the cross just so we could be forgiven of our sins and go to heaven. He shed His blood that we might enter into His life, that “He might be the Firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). A person not only rejects Christ by not receiving forgiveness for his sin, but he rejects Christ by not entering into His life.
The Lord has a purpose for our entering “into” His life beyond our salvation. It is only when we enter “into” His life that His life can flow through us to others, which brings us to the next verse.
John 4:14 But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be (“shall become”) in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
He wants us to become, collectively, a well of living water, but it doesn’t happen if we do not drink the water of His life. Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believes on (“into”) Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:37-38. You enter into His life by drinking the living water of His life, and having done so you also become a channel for the water of His life to flow through to others. If you do not enter into His life, you not only miss the benefits of the “Zoe-Realm” but you also have blocked a channel by which His life could flow to others.
I’m going to leave the rest of the study up to you. Get you a good Interlinear Greek-English New Testament and study the passages of Scripture where the Greek word zoe is found, particularly in John’s Gospel, and pay close attention to the prepositions.
Copyright © 2003 by Henry DuBose