Message 47
Scripture Reading: Exo. 17:9-16; 1 Sam. 15:1-33; Rom. 8:7-8, 13; Gal. 5:17, 24
Chapters one through seventeen of Exodus form a complete section. In this section we have a full picture of God’s salvation, a picture that includes both the dealing with the world and the dealing with the flesh. God’s chosen people were in bondage in Egypt, which signifies the world. Then God came in to deal with the world, to accomplish redemption, and to deliver His people from the world. Afterward, they enjoyed the supply of the heavenly manna and the living water. Then, in Exodus 17, God dealt with Amalek, that is, with the flesh.
If we have a bird’s-eye view of the first seventeen chapters of Exodus, we shall see a picture of God’s salvation which begins with the dealing with the world and concludes with the dealing with the flesh. This picture enables us to realize that, as God’s chosen people, we once were under the tyranny of the world. But after we were redeemed, saved, and delivered, we began to enjoy the divine provision of manna and living water. One day, however, we had to face a very subjective enemy — the flesh. This enemy seeks to trouble us, to occupy us, and even to destroy us.
The next section of the book, chapters eighteen through forty, is a long section related to the kingdom. This indicates that after we have been delivered out of the world, have enjoyed the divine provision, and have dealt with the flesh, we shall be in the kingdom. What good news this is! Perhaps you have never realized that these chapters are related to the kingdom. Your only realization may have been that these chapters cover the building up of the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. It is crucial to realize, however, that apart from the kingdom there is no possibility for God’s house to come into existence. Only when we defeat the enemy, overcome the world, and deal thoroughly with the flesh shall we be in the kingdom. In the kingdom it is possible for us to build up the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. The principle is the same with the building of the temple. After David fought the battle against the enemies and gained the victory, Solomon enjoyed the kingdom. In this enjoyment the temple was built. In the second section of Exodus, chapters eighteen through forty, we see that God’s redeemed people were in the enjoyment of the kingdom. Having been delivered from the world and having dealt with the flesh, they were able to build the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place.
According to the New Testament, the Devil, the world, and the flesh are called the enemies of God (Matt. 13:25, 39; Rom. 8:7-8; James 4:4). In Exodus Satan is signified by Pharaoh, the world is signified by Egypt, and the flesh is signified by Amalek. After these three enemies have been dealt with, the kingdom of God comes in.
In the Old Testament no enemy is dealt with more thoroughly than Amalek, because Amalek is a type of the flesh, which is the last enemy against God’s kingdom. The flesh is what keeps the church from being built up adequately. As long as the flesh remains a problem, the kingdom cannot come. The kingdom comes in only after the flesh has been dealt with. For the sake of the church life, we need to deal with our flesh. If the flesh is not dealt with, there can be no kingdom of God. Then without the kingship of Christ, His headship, there is no way for the Body to be built up. This is the reason that, during the past nineteen hundred years, there has been very little building of the church. The confusions and divisions among Christians today are primarily due to the flesh, to Amalek. Among Christians Amalek is prevailing. Because of this, we do not have the kingdom of God in a practical way. Without the kingdom, it is impossible to have the building. Among the vast majority of Christians, it is not possible even to speak about the building of the church.
We thank the Lord that by His mercy and grace we in His recovery have learned something of the importance of dealing with the flesh. Although the flesh remains a problem, we dare not let our flesh be unrestrained. We simply do not have the boldness to stay in the flesh. However, many Christians are extremely bold to be in the flesh. How strong is Amalek today! Because Amalek prevails, there is no kingdom and no building.
In his writings Paul thoroughly deals with the flesh. He uses certain expressions to show that the flesh is enmity against God. For example, in Romans 8:7 he says that “the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.” The flesh is ugly for the simple reason that it is not subject to the law of God. From God’s point of view, the flesh is lawless. Lawlessness prevails among many Christians today. The flesh is lawless in its inability to be subject to God.
In 8:8 Paul goes on to say, “And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” The flesh is not subject to the law of God, it cannot be subject to the law of God, and it cannot please God. Therefore, in the eyes of God there is no place for the flesh. It must be terminated.
The flesh denotes the totality of the fallen old man. Hence, the flesh does not refer simply to part of our being, but to our entire fallen being. According to Romans 6:6, the old man has been crucified with Christ. Because the old man is hopeless, God put it on the cross and crucified it with Christ. As we shall see, we need to cooperate with God in what He has done by crucifying the flesh (Gal. 5:24). The destiny of the flesh is to be put to death. No matter how the flesh may appear to us, in God’s eyes it is rebellious and despicable. For this reason, God has decided to blot out the name of Amalek.
God also determined to have war with Amalek from generation to generation. In many places in the Old Testament we see that God’s people fought against Amalek. We see this in Judges 3:13-15; 5:14; 6:3; 7:12-14; 1 Samuel 15:2-9, 32-33; 27:8; 30:1-17; 2 Samuel 8:12; 1 Chronicles 4:42-43. We see the war with Amalek even in the book of Esther (3:1-6; 9:7-10), where we are told that Haman was an Agagite, a descendant of Agag, the king of Amalek who was cut in pieces by Samuel (1 Sam. 15:33). Although Agag was slain, certain of his descendants survived. Haman was a late descendant of Agag. God hates the flesh signified by Haman. According to the book of Esther, the flesh works in a hidden way to undermine God’s people and even to kill them. Today Haman, the flesh, tries to work in the church. Haman’s plot to annihilate the children of Israel was eventually exposed and thwarted. Esther was exercised to deal with Haman, the hidden flesh. Through her help, Haman was put to death. Thus we see that the book of Esther is a story of God’s war with Amalek, the continuation of the warfare with Amalek from generation to generation.
We come now to the important matter of how to fight against Amalek. In the first place, we fight by praying with the interceding Christ (Exo. 17:11). Moses lifting up his hand on the mountaintop typifies the interceding Christ in the heavens. We are told in 17:12 that when Moses’ hands were heavy, “Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.” What is the significance of this? We have pointed out that Moses here is a type of Christ interceding for us in the heavens. But we cannot say that Christ’s hands are heavy, can we? Surely Christ does not need anyone to stay up His hands. There is no Aaron or Hur in the heavens helping Christ with His intercession. It seems, then, that the type is not altogether fitting. However, since the Bible was inspired by God, there must be something here related to our spiritual experience.
If we consider these verses in the light of our experience, we shall understand that to deal with the flesh we not only need Christ’s intercession for us in the heavens, but we ourselves also need to pray. Some Christian teachers emphasize the objective work of Christ in the heavens. They point out that Christ is in the heavens now interceding for us. Others devote a great deal of attention to the importance of fasting and praying. If one is troubled by the flesh in a certain aspect, they would advise him to fast and pray. For our experience we need both the objective aspect and the subjective aspect. As we have pointed out, Moses praying on the mountaintop typifies Christ interceding for us in the heavens. But the fact that Moses needed Aaron and Hur to stay up his hands signifies our need to pray. While Christ is praying in the heavens, we must pray here on earth. When we pray, we are one with Moses on the mountaintop. But when we put the flesh to death, we are one with Joshua fighting in the valley.
Although the interceding Christ does not need anyone to support His hands, we need our praying hands to be stayed up. It is easy for them to become heavy. We know that to deal with the flesh we need to pray. But often our hands become heavy. Thus, we need the help of Aaron and Hur.
Aaron, the high priest, signifies the priesthood, and Hur, who was of the tribe of Judah, signifies the kingship. The grandson of Hur, Bezaleel, was given the ability to work on the fixtures for the tabernacle (31:2-5). As we shall see when we consider the later chapters of Exodus, the tabernacle, God’s building, was constructed by the priesthood and the kingship. Our prayer needs to be sustained by the priesthood and the kingship. Sometimes our praying hands become heavy not because we lack the desire to pray, but because we are lacking in incentive and encouragement. This means that we may be in need of Aaron and Hur, in need of the priesthood and the kingship.
The priesthood is related to the Holy of Holies. In our experience, the Holy of Holies is always related to our spirit. Hence, to be heavy in prayer indicates a problem or shortage in our spirit. For some reason, our spirit is not keen, active, or positive with the Lord. This causes our prayer to become heavy. Our experience confirms this. At such times of heaviness, we should not deal with our prayer by trying to pray more. Instead, we should deal with our spirit. In our spirit there is the shortage of the priesthood. We need Aaron, the high priest, to strengthen our spirit.
Another reason for heaviness in prayer is rebellion against the kingship. If you say that you are not rebellious, then I would inquire about the matter of disobedience. Can you say that you are never disobedient toward the Lord? For example, a sister may sense a restraining of the Lord keeping her from going to a department store, but she may disobey this restraint and go anyway. In the course of a single day we may disobey the Lord many times. We go against the authority, the kingship, within us. Therefore, due to the shortage of the kingship, we easily become heavy in prayer.
Our prayer also becomes heavy when we do not care for the building up of the tabernacle. Hur is related to the building. In fact, the direction of the book of Exodus is toward the building of the tabernacle. We have pointed out that Bezaleel, the grandson of Hur, was granted the gift by God to become skilled in working on various aspects of the tabernacle. This indicates that our prayer needs to be with a view to the building of the church. What God is doing today is toward this goal. If our prayer life does not have in view the building of the church, our prayer will not last very long. But if we have the priesthood and the kingship and care for the building up of the tabernacle, the church, our prayer life will not become heavy. Rather, it will be supported by the priesthood and the kingship, and it will have the building of the church in view. Then we shall be able to fight against the flesh, Amalek, by means of our prayer.
In our prayer we should be one with Christ in the heavens. We need to join Christ and be one with Him in His intercession. We should make His prayer our prayer, His intercession our instant prayer. Supported by the priesthood and the kingship, that is, stirred up in our spirit and subdued under God’s authority, we need to pray with Him on the throne in the heavens. Furthermore, the direction of our prayer must be toward the goal of the building of God’s house. If we have these factors — the priesthood, the kingship, and God’s building in view — I do not believe our prayer can be stopped. The picture of Aaron and Hur holding up Moses’ hands is a portrait of the union in prayer between Christ and us. When Christ intercedes, we pray. We join with Him in His intercession. This is the proper way for us to pray in dealing with the flesh.
Dealing with the flesh is not a shallow matter, for our entire fallen being is the flesh. In a sense, the flesh is just we ourselves. To deal with the flesh is much more difficult than to deal with the world or with sin. In order to deal with the totality of our fallen being, we need much prayer in union with the intercession of the heavenly Christ. To pray in this way, we must be identified with Christ and one with Him. As He prays in the heavens, we pray together with Him. If we would pray in this way, we need to be stirred in our spirit by the priesthood and subdued by the kingship. We also need to care for God’s building. Then we shall have the necessary support to sustain our prayer life.
In 17:12 we are told that Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under Moses, and he sat on it. This indicates that our prayer life must have a solid base. When I was young, I learned to pray, but my prayer did not have a solid base. This is also true of many Christians today. They have learned to pray, but they lack a solid base for their prayer life. I do not believe that, according to the context of Exodus 17, the strong base for our prayer life is Christ directly. Instead, I believe that the stone used as the strong base refers to our realization that in ourselves we are not able to sustain a prayer life. It is the recognition of the fact that we need support. In our natural life we, like Moses, are not able to persevere in prayer. We simply cannot continue our prayer all day long. Thus, we need to realize our weakness. This realization gives us the strong base we need for our prayer life.
When you are about to pray, you need to realize that in yourself you are not able to pray. Every praying person can testify that it is not possible to have a prayer life without a strong base. We need something solid to uphold our life of prayer. Whenever you pray, tell the Lord, “Lord, I am not able to continue in prayer. I need a solid base for my prayer, and I take You as such a base.”
We are told that Moses prayed until sunset. We may have a good time of prayer early in the morning, but we usually cannot continue until noon, much less until the end of the day. Are you able to keep yourself in the spirit of prayer from early morning until noon? Probably few among us are able to do this. Moses was able to pray until sunset because he had a rock, a solid base, to sit on, and because he had Aaron and Hur supporting him. Be encouraged to tell the Lord, “Lord, I am not able to pray without ceasing. It is easy for me to lose my temper or to gossip. But I cannot pray continually. Lord, I can pray for a short time, but I can’t pray all day long.” If you say this to the Lord, you will find that you are sitting on a rock. You will then have a solid base for your prayer life.
I am burdened to share this point because I realize that one of the biggest problems we face is that of our prayer life. If we want our prayer life to be preserved, we need to take care of four matters: the solid base, the priesthood, the kingship, and the building of the tabernacle. Then our prayer life will be upheld.
Verse 11 says, “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” This indicates that whenever our prayer life becomes heavy, our flesh will prevail. We know this from our experience. Only a proper prayer life can defeat our flesh. Do not think that because you have been saved a long time and have had certain spiritual experiences, your flesh can no longer become prevailing. It is a fact that if our prayer ceases, our flesh will spontaneously show itself to be the same as that of unbelievers. No matter how rich our spiritual experience may be, this experience will not cause our flesh to improve. Our flesh will not even be influenced by it. The flesh cannot be influenced, changed, or improved, even after you have been a Christian for many decades. If your prayer ceases, your flesh will be the same today as it was before you were saved. Because the flesh does not change or improve, we need to pray without ceasing.
We have seen that genuine prayer causes us to be identified with the heavenly Christ. The experience of identification with Christ in the heavens takes place through a proper prayer life. Whenever we pray in a genuine way, we enjoy a heavenly union with Christ. This prayer, however, depends on a solid base, on the priesthood, the kingship, and the goal of God’s building.
We also fight against Amalek by putting the flesh to death with the fighting Spirit (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:17, 24). Romans 6:6 says that our old man has been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, in Romans 8:13, we see that we still must by the Spirit put to death the practices of the body. Furthermore, in Galatians 5:24 Paul tells us that those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. If we do not believe that our old man has been crucified with Christ on the cross, we shall not be able to deal with our flesh. Based upon the fact that our old man has already been crucified, we have the boldness and encouragement to put the flesh to death.
According to Romans 8:13, when we put to death the practices of the body, the Spirit works with us. This means that how much the Spirit works depends on how much we are willing to do. If we crucify the flesh, the Spirit immediately works together with us. We all appreciate the work of the Spirit. However, the Spirit does not work unless we work. The Spirit helps those who help themselves. However, it is a fact that even when we endeavor to help ourselves, we are still not able to accomplish anything. We need the Spirit, and the Spirit needs our cooperation. He waits for us to help ourselves. As soon as we do this, He comes in to do everything for us. By the Spirit who dwells in us, we thus put to death the practices of the body.
In principle, the matter is the same in Galatians 5. According to the context of this chapter, the Spirit and the flesh are fighting against each other. However, those who are Christ’s must still crucify the flesh. As the Spirit fights against the flesh, we crucify the flesh. This is accomplished by our cooperation with the work of the Spirit.
On the one hand, we must pray with Christ; on the other hand, we must slay the flesh with the fighting Spirit. Today Christ is both in the heavens and within us as the fighting Spirit. In the heavens He is the interceding Moses, and in us He is the fighting Joshua. We need to be in union with the heavenly Christ in order to cooperate with the indwelling Christ. Then in a very practical way the flesh will be put to death.
If we would fight against Amalek, we must put to death all that is of the flesh, whether good or bad. Actually, nothing of the flesh is good. But to our eyes certain aspects of the flesh seem to be good.
In 1 Samuel 15:3 the Lord charged Saul to “go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” Although Saul utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword, he “spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly” (1 Sam. 15:9). Saul excused this by saying that “the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord” (1 Sam. 15:15). It is difficult to say whether or not Saul was lying. He may have kept the best of the sheep and oxen for his own use, not to sacrifice to the Lord. According to 1 Samuel 15:12 (ASV), Saul set up a monument, perhaps to commemorate his victory over Amalek. This indicates that he did not care for God’s word or intention, but cared for his enjoyment and glory. When Samuel confronted Saul about what he had done, Saul continued to excuse himself by saying that he had obeyed the voice of the Lord, but “the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord” (v. 21). This indicates that the evil flesh was destroyed, whereas the seemingly good aspect of the flesh was allowed to remain.
Often we destroy the evil flesh, but we preserve the choice flesh, the good flesh. We all have certain good points, certain matters in which we think we are better than others. These aspects of the flesh are the “bleating sheep” and “lowing oxen.” Whenever we claim to be better than others, we allow the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen to be heard. Saul claimed to have performed the commandment of the Lord. However, Samuel said, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (v. 14). When Saul claimed that these were kept to be given in sacrifice to the Lord, Samuel replied, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (vv. 22-23). Preachers often speak on these verses. Nevertheless, instead of obedience and hearkening, among today’s Christians there is much bleating of the sheep and lowing of the oxen. If we would deal with our flesh, we must deal with it thoroughly, utterly putting to death all that is good or bad. As long as something is of the flesh, it must be dealt with.
Fighting against Amalek also requires obedience to the Lord’s word (1 Sam. 15:22-23). At the time of Saul, obedience was only to the word in an outward way. Today we must obey the inner anointing. Whenever we disobey the anointing within, the flesh immediately becomes prevailing. But if we always obey the inner anointing, we shall pray with Christ and cooperate with the indwelling Spirit. This will enable us to overcome the flesh and put it to death. This is the way to fight against the flesh.
