Jesus came to give us life. He died and rose again to give us life -- often called eternal life in the Scriptures. "I have come that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). "And this is the witness, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (I John 5:11-12).
What kind of life did Jesus come to give us? Peter puts it this way: "as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature . . ." (II Peter 1:3-4). The kind of life Jesus gave us is to share with Him His divine nature -- His union with the Father.
Let's look at some examples from the Scriptures as to what this means. Jesus said in John 5:19, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing." Jesus could always see the Father; in spirit, He could see the moving and working and speaking of God. And He died and rose again so that we could have this same kind of life -- a spiritual life, that knows and communes with God continuously. It is a life that sees God clearly in the Holy Spirt -- that sees the flow and working and revealing of God. In verse 30 of the same chapter, Jesus says, "I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge." Jesus heard the Father clearly. He gave us a life that hears God clearly! (By the way, this is why Jesus told us, "Judge not" [Matt. 7:1]. He did not judge anything by the sight of His eyes, nor by the hearing of His ears [Is. 11:3-4], but He only judged with what He perceived in the Spirit that God was judging. He said, "Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment" [John 7:24].)
The truth is that God is a very active being, constantly working, and performing marvels. He is a tremendously glorious being at every moment and in every place. The problem is that most people do not have eyes to see Him with, or ears to hear Him with. But Christians do. Those that have been born again, and are alive in Christ, have eyes to see with and ears to hear with -- spiritual capacities with which to perceive and sense what God is doing, and what is really happening around them. People in the flesh only see half of what is going on around them -- only the physical. But the people of God see spiritual things too, with spiritual senses.
Some Christians would perhaps say that they don't see God like that. Well, in the physical realm, babies have eyes with which to see, and ears with which to hear, but they have not yet matured in their new life to be able to understand what they are seeing and hearing. But with good food, the love of parents (especially the parents holding them and talking with them), they will quite naturally grow to understand that which their eyes are seeing and their ears are hearing. So it is with the children of God; with good spiritual food of the revealed, life-giving Word, and with fellowshipping with God and experiencing God, they will come to perceive Him better and better.
When Peter, a believer named Ananias who laid hands on Paul, and Paul each heard God speak to them, as recorded, for example, in Acts 9:10-16, 10:19-20, and II Cor. 12:9, it was not something unusual or extraordinary. It is the normal Christian life.
The Scriptures also speak of the other senses as well, such as tasting the Word of God, and smelling. Yet, this life is more than just hearing and seeing -- it is being able to comprehend with the divine mind (I Cor. 1:16, Rom. 8:6), to have compassion and depth of heart with the divine heart and feelings (Phil. 1:8), to be able to work with the divine hand (Acts 11:21, Luke 11:20, John 14:12), and to walk (conduct ourselves) in the divine Spirit (Gal 5:16,18).
Furthermore, this life is a righteous life. It is a life that knows God, loves God, obeys God. It is a life that knows how to walk with God. It is a life that has the faith of Christ, the love of God, and the hope of the Holy Spirit. This is the essence of what is meant by Hebrews 10:9, "Then He said, 'Lo, I came to do your will, Oh God.' He takes away the first, that He may establish the second." The "first" thing is the law (verse 8), and the "second" is the doing of the will of God. Jesus brought in the doing of the will of God by His sacrifice!
Furthermore, this life is a perfect life. Verse 14 of that same chapter says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." This life is perfect in the same way that a human baby's life is perfect (in the physical sense) -- it is completely human. A healthy baby is not part human and part animal, and becoming more and more human. He is rather completely human -- he only needs to grow up into the life that is his. So it is with us, having been born of the Spirit. We are growing up in that divine nature. We will end up at "the fullness of Christ," (Eph. 4:13-16) -- just like Jesus. He will be, because of this wonderful life He caused us to be born into, "the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). And the Spirit of the Lord says that we should not think of this as some remote and far off thing -- it is exactly what He is NOW working to raise us up into. He has even said to me, "this is exactly what I intend to do," the implication being to anticipate coming up into the fullness before long.
This is why there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1,2). The one who has a perfect life is condemned neither by God or by his own conscience. Jesus is our life (Col. 3:4), so we have a perfect life.
In conclusion, Jesus described eternal life this way: "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent" (John 17:3). It is a life that perceives, knows, and experiences God. Now that is LIFE! Anything short of this is to be "dead in your trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). This eternal life moves and operates in the realms of God, which is why we are said to be in heaven now (Eph. 2:6, Col. 3:1-4, Phil. 3:20). That verse in Philipians is accurately translated in King James: "for our conversation is in heaven." Conversation in archaic King James English means conduct, way of life, behavior. And this is exactly what the Greek means: our everyday walking and moving and living is in the heavens! We are moving in the realms of God, walking in the divine Spirit. Thank you Jesus for the gift of eternal life!