In the eyes of God, we all have become serpents. Like the ancient Israelites who became serpents and needed a brass serpent to be lifted up as their substitute, we also needed Christ to die on the cross as our substitute. On the cross Christ was not only the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (1:29), but He was also in the form of the serpent that He might deal with our serpentine nature and destroy the old serpent. When Christ was lifted up on the cross, the serpentine nature within fallen man was dealt with.

When God poured His Spirit upon Christ and endued Him with the Spirit, God did not pour the Spirit upon Him individually. He poured it upon Him as the Head of the Body. God's anointing is on the Head.

When we were saved, we had a sense of the sweetness of Christ.

Deep within, we realized how enjoyable Christ is. Then...many of us were distracted and led away from the enjoyment of Christ. We turned from the inner sense of the sweetness of Christ to religious duty. This brought us into darkness again, and the inward shining ceased.

Many things in our environment of daily living are also shadows of Christ. For example, the food we eat is a shadow, not the real food. The real food is Christ. Christ is also the

real drink. The clothing we wear to cover us, to beautify us, and to keep us warm is also a shadow of Christ. Christ is the One who truly covers our nakedness, who keeps us warm, and who imparts beauty to us

In eternity past God existed alone. Then, in time, He created all things. At a certain point in history, this creating God, the Creator of all, became a man. This crucial step is called incarnation. By means of incarnation, God put on man with all of creation, for man is the head of creation. The Lord Jesus, God incarnate, lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. When He was crucified, all creation was crucified with Him. This means that not only did Christ go to the cross, but the very man God had put on Himself with the entire creation went to the cross with Him.

Concerning the new man, our mind needs to be renewed unto such a full knowledge according to the Christ who is the expression of the invisible God. Our mind needs to be renewed to such an extent that we have a clear view of Christ as the image of God.

THE DISTRIBUTING OF THE FATHER'S RICHES.

At the time of Paul, many rich families had stewards whose responsibility was to distribute food and other necessities to members of the household. Our Father has a great family, a divine household. Because our Father has such vast riches, there is the need in His household for many stewards to dispense these riches to His children. This dispensing is the stewardship. Hence, a stewardship is a dispensation...

PEACEMAKERS BEING CALLED THE SONS OF GOD

If we are peacemakers, we shall be called the sons of God. The sons of the Devil make trouble, but the sons of God make peace. As the Son of God, the Lord Jesus made peace with God and man. (the Sign of the Cross) Now, as the sons of God, we must follow Him to make peace. Then we shall be called the sons of

God.

A dove is gentle, and its eyes can see only one thing at a time. Hence, it signifies gentleness and singleness in sight and purpose. By the Spirit of God descending upon Him as the dove, the Lord Jesus ministered in gentleness and singleness, focusing solely on the will of God.

THE LOVE OF MONEY...A ROOT OF ALL EVILS.

The thing that touches us the most is money. Hence, we must first learn righteousness in the way we deal with money. We cannot spend other people's money, much less can we steal money from others. We cannot turn other people's money into our own by improper means. Turning what is not ours into

something that is ours through any improper means or in any subconscious way is unrighteousness.