Know Your Enemy

 

Know Your Enemy

 

If you do not know your enemy, how will you ever hope to defeat him?  This is one of the biggest problems facing Christians we have no understanding of the enemy of our soul.  By using the life of Esau the older brother of Jacob, who despised his birthright and gave it to his brother Jacob for a bowl of stew, we will be able to have a better understanding of our flesh and how the Enemy works in our life. 

 

Why was the birthright that Esau despised of such importance?   Major Ian Thomas in “The Saving Life of Christ has the following to say on this subject; “The birthright was this – the promise that God had given to Abraham that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, note, as Paul points out in Galatians 3, “…. Seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.”  That is to say, the birthright involved the birth of Christ – the Seed of Abraham in particular, through the seed of Abraham in general, the One who would redeem man from his lost condition, and restore him to his true relationship to God, - making him dependent once more upon the One whose presence is life, and who alone can enable man to behave as man, as God intended man to be “In Esau the spirit of Satan was incarnate. “What do I need of a birthright restoring me to dependence upon God?  I am independent, and I am self-sufficient, and I will be what I am, by virtue of what I am!”  (Page 99)

 

Out of Esau came many nations, one of them was the Amalekites who lived in the desert, south of Canaan around Kadesh.   They came from Eliphaz (Esau’s eldest boy) and were distant cousins to the Israelites.  Amalek makes a good representative of the flesh, and we find in Exodus 17, “Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim.”  In Amalek is a picture of the flesh, seeking at all costs to stop the journey of God’s redeemed people, and keep them from the Land of Promise, and that is the spirit of your enemy.  “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”  (Galatians 5:17)  Quoting from “The Saving Life of Christ” “The flesh contest every attempt of the Spirit of God to lead you on into spiritual maturity.  Standing across your pathway from the very outset of your Christian life is Amalek!”

 

On page 101 Major states, “It is the devil’s business to prevent your translation “from the power of darkness . . . into the kingdom of God’s dear Son” and Amalek imbued with the spirit of Satan, is unrelenting in his opposition to the prosperity of the kingdom of God.”  In the book of Deuteronomy 25:17, 18, “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God.”  On page 102 Major states, “That is when Amalek hits you!  It is when you are faint and weary.  It is when you are one of the hindmost.  When you are dragging your feet.  When you are spiritually low, and the sun is hidden and the skies are dark.  When you have withdrawn yourself from the conflict because you feel the pace is too much for you.  When you think you are alone – but you are not alone, for Amalek will be there!”

 

“God says that there is something that you do not have the right to remember because it is something which God forgets.  God says, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).  It is not that God pretends that you have not sinned.  He does not ignore your guilt.  He says, “I will remember your sins,” but in the light of the shed blood of His dear Son, having remembered your sins – every one of them – He says, “I will remember your sins no more.”  On page 103,  “Sin should and must be confessed to God, and restitution made where the Spirit of God demands it, but “the blood of Jesus Christ (God’s) Son cleanses us from all sin,” and “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

“If, however, you do not have the right to remember what God forgets, - you do not have the right to forget what God remembers, - and God remembers Amalek!  Amalek is the dirty well!  Amalek is the poisoned root!  Amalek is “ . . . the mystery of lawlessness – that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority”

 

Amalek is the voice that you hear and it sounds like your voice, it always does one of two things; it attacks your person with thoughts like, “You are a loser and you have always been a loser,” or You deserve better than you are getting.  These are the words of the spirit of Amalek; they are not the words of the Holy Spirit of God.  God desires dependence never independence, God desires fellowship never isolation.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice