The three basic factors in experiencing the divine life are Christ, the Spirit, and the cross. These three factors may be very common in our understanding, but we need to have a deeper realization concerning each of them.
Christ is the object, the very substance, of our experience of the divine life. Anything that is apart from Christ—regardless of how good or scriptural it may be—is not the real experience of the divine life. The real experience of the divine life must be based upon Christ. Christ must be the factor, the base, the object of our experience of the divine life. Christ as the object of our experience of life has many aspects.
To experience the divine life is to experience Christ the divine Person. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. Colossians 2:9 says, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are items of the divine fullness. This fullness is threefold. The Father is rich, the Son is unlimited, and the Spirit is without measure. Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead, the fullness of the threefold divine Person.
Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is both divine and human. The New Testament clearly reveals that in resurrection Jesus is still a man. In Matthew 24:30, the Lord Jesus said that He would come back as the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven with power and glory. At His coming back, the Lord Jesus will still be a man. Today in the heavens Christ is still a man. Hymn #132 in Hymns says:
Lo! in heaven Jesus sitting,
Christ the Lord is there enthroned;
As the man by God exalted,
With God's glory He is crowned.
In Acts 7 Stephen saw the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God (vv. 55-56). As the Son of Man, He is both divine and human. If He were only divine, He would be omnipotent, but He could not sympathize with us. As a man He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).