Contending with the Flesh

Rob Salvato works through Exodus 17:8-16 in this Sunday message, identifying the battle with Amalek — descendants of Esau, who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew — as a picture of the believer's ongoing war with the flesh: before salvation there is no conflict because there is no spiritual nature, but the moment you're born again, Paul's Romans 7 reality kicks in ("the things I want to do I don't, and the very thing I hate I do") and the flesh fights dirty, using distraction and busyness the way Amalek used guerrilla tactics — attacking from the rear, targeting the defenseless, breaking your focus. Three principles for gaining ground emerge from the text: first, victory requires action and dependence simultaneously — Joshua fighting in the valley, Moses praying on the mountain — with the warning that "the flesh gains ground when prayer declines"; second, victory requires support, because Moses couldn't hold his arms up alone and neither can we, the Christian life not being a lone-ranger game; and third, victory is always from the Lord, sealed by the altar name Jehovah Nissi and a striking parallel the message closes on — Moses on a hill with outstretched arms between two men, and 2,000 years later Jesus on a hill with outstretched arms between two men, both standing in the gap, both pointing to a victory accomplished not by human strength.