This means that we all, that is, the Body, experience Christ till we are full of the elements and constitution of Christ; thus, we grow and are full of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This, of course, is a corporate experience of Christ in full.
Our experience of Christ can transform us until we are like Him. This begins with our experience of Christ being revealed in us and goes on until our body is redeemed (Rom. 8:23). The more we experience Him, the more we are changed, until even our body is changed in form to the likeness of His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). By that time, we will be completely conformed to His image (Rom. 8:29) and we shall be “like Him” (1 John 3:2). We shall then experience Him in a full way.
All that pertains to the life within us and the sanctified living out from us should be our experience of Christ. Because Christ is our life, He is also our sanctification (Col. 3:4; 1 Cor. 1:30). Any experience which pertains to our inward life ought to be Christ living within us; moreover, our outward sanctified living should be Christ living out through us. All our experience of life should be the experience of Christ. Not only should such great experiences of life as dying with Christ, being resurrected with Him, and ascending with Him be our experience, but even the small experiences of life in our daily living should all be the experience of Christ. Whether it be deliverance from sin or overcoming the world, the living out of sanctification and spirituality, or the living out of love and humility, all should be the experience of Christ. Even the little forbearance and patience we have toward others should be the experience of Christ.
To experience Christ is to let Christ live both within us and out from us. To experience Christ is to take Christ as life and thus to live by Christ. To experience Christ means that all our living and actions are Christ Himself living out and acting out from us. To experience Christ is to experience the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10)—this is the experience of Him as life; therefore, such an experience is also the experience of life.
In John 14, after the Lord Jesus tells us that He is life (v. 6), He shows us not only that He and God are one, that He is in God, God is in Him, and His being life means that God is life (vv. 7-11); not only that the Holy Spirit and He are also one, that the Holy Spirit entering into us and abiding with us is Christ living in us to be our life (vv. 16-19); but also that He as the Holy Spirit entering into us and living in us means that both He and God as the Spirit enter into us and abide with us as our life (vv. 20-23). Simply speaking, after the Lord said that He is life, He shows us three things: (1) God is in Him as life, (2) He is the Holy Spirit as life, and (3) the Triune God enters into us as life. Thus, when we experience life, not only do we experience God, not only do we experience Christ, but we also experience the Holy Spirit. Actually, the Holy Spirit is both God and Christ as life being experienced by us, or God in Christ as life being experienced by us.
As Christ is the embodiment of God, so the Holy Spirit is the embodiment of Christ. God as life is in Christ, and Christ as life is the Holy Spirit. We experience God in Christ, and we experience Christ as the Holy Spirit. Thus, as the experience of life is the experience of God and Christ, so also is it the experience of the Holy Spirit.
God is life, Christ is God coming as life, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God in Christ as life, or the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). It is this Spirit of life, the Holy Spirit, that causes us to experience all the content of God in Christ as life. It is this Holy Spirit of life who causes us to experience the indwelling of Christ, and it is this Holy Spirit of life who causes us to experience the resurrection power of God in Christ (Rom. 8:9-11). It is this Holy Spirit of life who leads us to put to death the evil deeds of the body, and it is this Holy Spirit of life who prays in us (Rom. 8:13, 26). All our experiences of life, whether deep or shallow, are produced by the Holy Spirit; therefore, they are all experiences of this Holy Spirit of life.
Romans 8:9-11 shows us not only that it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to experience the indwelling of Christ and the resurrection power of God, but also that it is the Holy Spirit abiding in us who causes us to experience that life is Christ, and it is God abiding in us who causes us to experience life. Thus, the life of God in Christ is experienced by us through the Holy Spirit. Hence, in order to experience this life, we must experience the Holy Spirit; and when we experience this life, we experience the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the experience of life is the experience of the Triune God, or the experience of God in Christ and Christ as the Holy Spirit to be our life. The Holy Spirit working in us, leading us to experience Christ and to experience God in Christ—this is the experience of life. When, in the Holy Spirit, we pass through God and Christ and allow God and Christ to pass through us, this is the experience of life. Only such experience of the Holy Spirit, Christ, and God, is the experience of life. All that is otherwise cannot be counted as the experience of life. You can say that it is zeal, religious living, or self-improvement, but you cannot say that it is the experience of life. To experience life is to experience God, to experience Christ, and to experience the Holy Spirit. This is not something of our own doing or attempt at improvement; rather it is the issue of God moving in us, Christ living out through us, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit in us. May we pursue after this.