Abundant Life in Christ, October 18

Christ in My Life I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10. All created beings live by the will and power of God. They are recipients of the life of the Son of God. However able and talented, however large their capacities, they are replenished with life from the source of all life. He is the spring, the fountain, of life. Only He who alone hath immortality, dwelling in light and life, could say, “I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again.” ... Christ was invested with the right to give immortality. The life which He had laid down in humanity, He again took up and gave to humanity. “I am come,” He says, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” ... All who are one with Christ through faith in Him gain an experience which is life unto eternal life.... “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Christ became one with humanity, that humanity might become one in Spirit and life with Him. By virtue of this union in obedience to the Word of God, His life becomes their life. He says to the penitent, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” Death is looked upon by Christ as sleep—silence, darkness, sleep. He speaks of it as if it were of little moment. “Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me,” He says, “shall never die.” ... And to the believing one, death is but a small matter. With him to die is but to sleep.56The Youth's Instructor, August 4, 1898. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His church, and glorify it with Christ, as His bride, above all principalities, above all powers, above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the heavenly courts, the world above. The victory of the sleeping saints will be glorious on the morning of the resurrection.57The Youth's Instructor, August 11, 1898.