The Flesh is the Greatest Destroyer of the Christian Life: God hates it and will Exterminate it

The greatest destroyer of the Christian life is the flesh, typified by Amalek, who was warlike, the leading enemy in frustrating us from going on with the Lord; the Lord wants us to fully deal with the flesh and have no compromise with the flesh. Amen!

This week in our Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Samuel we come to a very serious matter, a sobering topic, War with the Amalekites.

If we read 1 Sam. 15 we see a record of Saul’s disobedience in his conquest of the Amalekites.

God told Saul to go and conquer the Amalekites and utterly destroy them, for they were the first to come and fight against the people of Israel as they were journeying toward the good land.

Amalek is a type of our flesh, the totality of our fallen human being, which frustrates and hinders our growth in life, always being ready to fight and cause us to fall.

In our going on with the Lord for our experience and enjoyment of Christ as the all-inclusive land, we need to know the flesh and deal with the flesh. In order for us to possess and inherit the good land for the kingdom of God, we need to utterly deal with the flesh.

Saul was charged by God to have war with the Amalekites and utterly destroy them; he, however, destroyed everything that was despised and worthless but spared what was good of the cattle, animals, etc, including the king, Agag.

This exposed Saul to the uttermost, for in not fully obeying what God told him to do, he rebelled against God, and he was given up by God and also by Samuel. Wow.

Up until now, we could have said that Saul didn’t do this or that, and the things he did or did not do were minor; when he disobeyed God in this matter, God gave him up.

This is an important lesson for us to learn; it is a very serious matter.

We need to exercise not only our spirit to take the word of God in but also exercise a sober mind to understand what is in God’s mind, what does He want to do, and why and how He wants to destroy the flesh, even blot out its name from under the heaven.

We need to see Jehovah’s hatred toward the flesh, which He hates to the uttermost. Jehovah declared that He will have war with the flesh from generation to generation.

So we need to see what the flesh is, how can we deal with the flesh, and what is the consequence of us not obeying God’s word to deal with the flesh in an absolute way.

May the Lord have mercy on us and enlighten us concerning the matter of the flesh, as typified by Amalek, and may we cooperate with the Lord in our experience to deal with the flesh in an absolute way so that we may enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land together with all of God’s people.

Though Saul had a Victory over Amalek, his Disobedience to God exposed him and consequently, God gave him up

First Samuel 15 is a record of Saul’s disobedience in his conquest of the Amalekites. Saul was anointed to be king back in 1 Sam. 9, just a few chapters before.

Since then, he went to have conquest over two enemies: the Ammonites and the Philistines.

Now, this is the third conquest that he was brought to; God charged him to fight against the Amalekites. However, in this third conquest, Saul was utterly exposed.

He did win his first two conquests, and even the third one against the Amalekites he did win, but this third conquest exposed to the uttermost who he was, what he really was.

On one hand, he defeated the enemy and had a clear victory over Amalek; on the other hand, there was something within him that was being exposed in this conquest with the Amalekites that was very evil.

Saul did have a victory over Amalek, but he was disobedient to Jehovah’s word. He conquered the enemy, yet he was altogether disobedient to God (1 Sam. 15:7-9).

We may think we have a victory and God has put the enemy under our feet, and we may feel we have done well in our service to God, so we are safe and OK.

However, here we see the case of Saul serving God, making a conquest, and defeating the enemies, yet being altogether disobedient to God.

In not destroying everything that God told him to destroy, Saul was absolutely and thoroughly exposed, and then he was given up by God and also by Samuel (vv. 14-26).

If we read this chapter, we may think that Saul didn’t do anything wrong but rather, he obeyed God and destroyed the Amalekites; sure, he left some of the best things to live, so that the people would enjoy these cattle and animals, but he did destroy the rest.

But he did not obey Jehovah fully; he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and he spared the best of the flocks – the sheep, the oxen, etc – under the cloak of making a sacrifice unto Jehovah.

Jehovah clearly instructed Saul through Samuel that he had to utterly destroy everything related to the Amalekites, but Saul spared the life of the king and also that of the choice animals.

And then, after winning the victory, he went to Carmel to set up a monument for himself. Wow!

He celebrated his victory, being proud of himself to the extent that he set up a monument for himself.

Then, when Samuel was sent by God to confront Saul, Saul argued and reasoned with Samuel, saying that he did what Jehovah commanded him by defeating the Amalekites, and he spared Agag.

And he said that the people wanted to save all the best of the animals so that they can sacrifice to Jehovah.

Samuel was very strong toward him saying that Jehovah would not accept his sacrifice; He wants his obedience.

Saul then admitted that he sinned, asked for forgiveness, and asked Samuel to honour him before the elders and the people and go with him to worship Jehovah, Samuel’s God. Wow!

Jehovah was not Saul’s God, it was Samuel’s God. Saul was fully exposed.

He disobeyed God, he argued, he reasoned, and he did not realize that what he did was wrong.

In the matter of the flesh, we all have to realize how subtle it is; many times the flesh is so good that we justify ourselves. We may even reason with others, asking,

What’s wrong with what I am doing? People are being helped. People are saved by my preaching. Even some churches are being raised up. Wouldn’t God be pleased with what I did? Oh, Lord!

This is a most serious lesson, for it touches not just some aspect of what God is, but it touches God’s throne, His administration.

May we learn the important lesson in 1 Sam. 15 and tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, shine on us and expose anything of the flesh in our being. Save us from arguing with the light. Save us from justifying our flesh in its good deeds. Grant us to be those who fully obey You by thoroughly dealing with the flesh, which You hate. Oh Lord, have mercy on us. We do not want to be set aside by You because of our disobedience. We do not want to lose the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ and the kingship because of compromise in dealing with the flesh. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to You. Make us men after Your heart who know Your hatred toward the flesh and are one with You to deal with the flesh in an absolute way, according to You!

Realizing that the Flesh is Warlike, the Greatest Destroyer of the Christian Life, and God hates it and wants to Exterminate it

May the Lord shine on us and cause us to realize that the flesh is warlike, the greatest destroyer of the Christian life, and God hates it and wants to exterminate it.

In typology, the Amalekites signify the flesh, the totality of the fallen human being, the fallen man (Exo. 17:8-16).

Amalek, the flesh, is the leading enemy in frustrating us from going on with the Lord (v. 8; Deut. 25:17-18).

Amalek was actually a descendant of Esau, who was the twin brother of Jacob; they were so close, like Esau and Jacob who were twin brothers.

Amalek and Israel were mutual enemies, for the Amalekites were the very first enemy that came to fight with Israel after they came out of Egypt. This was the first battle.

As God delivered His children out of Egypt with the view to bring them into the good land, out of nowhere Amalek came and started to fight with Israel.

So God would never forget this; He wanted to bring His people to the good land, but here is an enemy who came to frustrate and defeat God’s people.

This is what the flesh does; we want to follow the Lord and go on with Him, but the flesh rises up to destroy us, frustrate us, and hinder us from going on with the Lord.

The name Amalek means “warlike”, indicating that the flesh is warlike, destructive, and disturbing.

Yes, the flesh has many good aspects, but in all its aspects – whether good or ugly – the flesh is warlike, destructive, and disturbing.

The goal of the flesh is to destroy, frustrate, disturb, and stop God from obtaining His purpose with His people. The flesh is out to kill; it is out to destroy.

The greatest destroyer of the Christian life is the flesh (1 Pet. 2:11).

If we look back in the last two thousand years of church history, both in Christianity and among us in the church life, the turmoils that occurred among us in the past years, the main cause was the flesh.

We may think it was this reason or that reason, but ultimately it all comes down to the matter of the flesh.

The flesh has destroyed so many lives, so many dear saints, and so many dear servants of God, even some of those who served God faithfully for decades.

Some have served God for twenty, forty, or fifty years faithfully, but all of a sudden they failed because of their flesh.

A certain thing in the flesh rose up in disagreement, in dissenting, trying to assert themselves; eventually, they went against the way of God and they ended up in misery and destruction.

We see this being played before us again and again.

The flesh is out there to destroy our Christian life and bring in frustration. The flesh is the greatest destroyer of the Christian life.

The flesh is not something to play around with; the flesh is out to destroy, and it will destroy God’s people, both in their Christian life and in their church life.

We need to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. The fact that God has a continual war with Amalek reveals that God hates the flesh and desires to exterminate it (Exo. 17:16; Gal. 5:17).

Amalek is a hand against the throne of God, so God will have war with the flesh from generation to generation.

There is never another instance of a people that Jehovah such a strong word except for Amalek, for He promised to have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Joshua fought the warfare with Amalek and won, but later they still existed, so God told Saul to destroy them.

Gal. 5:17 tells us that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, for these oppose each other that we do not do the things that we desire.

The flesh is still with us, and there’s a perpetual war between the flesh and God. This flesh will never change.

No matter how spiritual we are, how loving we are toward the Lord, and how mature our spiritual life is or what we have attained to, our flesh is the same as it was before we got saved: it has not changed and it will not change.

Our flesh is something very close to us, it is our old man, the first man; the flesh tries to frustrate us and hinder us from fulfilling God’s purpose.

In the book of Esther, Mordecai chose to rather die than bow down to Haman, an Agagite, the descendant of Agag, the Amalekite.

Because Mordecai withstood firmly to the end, he pleased God and also brought deliverance to the Jews.

If we do not give in to the flesh, even unto death, we will please God and become fitting vessels for Him. God and the flesh cannot exist together.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your purpose! We give ourselves to You for Your purpose. We want to be one with You for what You are doing today. Cause us to see how much You hate the flesh. Grant us Your holy hatred toward the flesh. May we see how much the flesh frustrates us from fulfilling God’s purpose. May we realize that the greatest destroyer of the Christian life is the flesh. Oh Lord, shine on us and reveal the flesh to us so that we may hate it even as You do. May we see how warlike, destructive, and disturbing the flesh is. Save us from trusting in ourselves, our love toward You, or the maturity in life we have attained to. May we trust in You and depend on You day by day. Oh Lord, we do not trust in ourselves – our trust is in You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” pp, 371-372, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 5, entitled, War with the Amalekites.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – All I have in Adam is but sin and death, / I in Christ inherit life and righteousness; / When in flesh abiding, Adam I express, / But when in the spirit Christ is manifest. (Hymns #593)
  – Lord, reveal Thyself to me, / That the flesh I’ll fully know; / May Thy grace so work in me, / That in dust I’ll lowly bow. / How I long for victory, / Yet, thru all my life, how weak! / Evil things I cannot leave, / Nor can do the good I seek. (Hymns #412)
  – Remove my covering, Lord, / That I may see Thy light, / And be deceived no more, / But all things see aright. / Oh, may Thy living light, Lord, / Scatter all my night, Lord, / And everything make bright, Lord, / For this I pray to Thee. (Hymns #426)