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The main purpose of the record of Genesis is not to show the fall but to show how much God's grace can do for fallen people:
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God showed Noah the true situation of the corrupt age in which he lived—Gen. 6:3, 5, 11, 13; Matt. 24:37-39; 2 Tim. 3:1-3:
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Man eventually fell to such an extent that he wholly became flesh (Gen. 6:3); the strongest and most evil enemy of God is our flesh; it is thoroughly and absolutely hated by God.
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In the Old Testament Amalek typifies the flesh, which is the totality of the fallen old man; the fighting between Amalek and Israel depicts the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit within the believers—Exo. 17:8-16; Gal. 5:16-17:
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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.
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The flesh cannot be changed or improved; thus, we need to be mindful of the fact that the flesh is always with us—Rom. 13:14; Gal. 5:16.
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God hates the flesh in the same manner that He hates Satan, and He wants to destroy the flesh in the same manner that He wants to destroy Satan—Exo. 17:16; Deut. 25:17-19; 1 Sam. 15:2-3.
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We fight against Amalek by the interceding Christ and the fighting Spirit; Moses lifting up his hand on the mountaintop typifies the ascended Christ interceding in the heavens; Joshua fighting against Amalek typifies the indwelling Spirit fighting against the flesh—Exo. 17:9, 11, 13; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; Gal. 5:17.
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In the battle against Amalek, we need to cooperate with the Lord by praying in order to be one with the interceding Christ (Rom. 8:34) and by putting the flesh to death in order to be one with the fighting Spirit (Luke 18:1; 1 Thes. 5:17; Rom. 8:13; Gal. 5:16-17, 24); God has decided to war against the flesh continually until He utterly blots out the memory of it from under heaven (Exo. 17:14).
Morning Nourishment
Gal. 5:16-17 But I say, Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these oppose each other that you would not do the things that you desire.We need to realize that the falls portrayed in the book of Genesis are the background of a very positive picture which shows what God has done with the fallen human race. The main purpose of the record of Genesis is not to show the fall but to show how much God’s grace can do for fallen people. In the first fall, man did not exercise his spirit. In the second fall, he overexercised his soul… In the third fall, man abused the fallen body and became flesh [Gen. 6:3] .
The Bible reveals that the strongest and most evil enemy of God is our flesh …The flesh is thoroughly and absolutely hated by God. God will not tolerate it. In a sense, God may tolerate our mistakes and transgressions, but He will never tolerate the flesh. Anything that issues out of our flesh is an insult to Him. At the time of the third fall, the entire human race became flesh. Thus, God stepped in and told His servant Noah that He was going to destroy that whole generation. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 373, 369)
Today’s Reading
The fighting between Amalek and Israel [in Exodus 17] depicts the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit within the believers (Gal. 5:17…). (Exo. 17:8, footnote 1)Moses lifting up his hand on the mountaintop typifies the ascended Christ interceding in the heavens (Rom. 8:34b…), and Joshua typifies Christ as the indwelling Spirit fighting against the flesh … Amalek was defeated by Israel through the supply of the manna (Exo. 16) and the living water (17:1-6) and by the lifting up of Moses’ hands and the fighting of Joshua. Likewise, we are victorious over the flesh by eating and drinking Christ as our life supply and by praying with the interceding Christ and putting the flesh to death with Christ as the fighting Spirit (Rom. 8:13…). (Exo. 17:11, footnote 1)
As the one praying on the mountaintop, Moses typifies Christ, but as the one whose hands became heavy, Moses represents us. This signifies that while Christ is praying in the heavens, we too need to pray on earth (1 Tim. 2:8). Because the flesh never changes or improves, in order to prevail against the flesh, we need to pray without ceasing…, joining ourselves to Christ in His intercession. However, often our praying hands become heavy…The stone, a solid base for our prayer life, refers to our realization that in ourselves we are weak and that in order to sustain our prayer, we need Christ to be our support (cf. John 15:5b). Aaron, the high priest (Exo. 28:1…), signifies the priesthood, and Hur, who was of the tribe of Judah (31:2), signifies the kingship (Gen. 49:10). The priesthood is related to the Holy of Holies, which in our experience is always related to our spirit (Heb. 10:19…). Hence, to sustain our prayer and to thus defeat the flesh, we need the priesthood to strengthen our spirit. We also need to be obedient to the Lord under His authority, the kingship. Furthermore, Hur is related to the building of the tabernacle (Exo. 31:2-5), and the direction of Exodus is toward this goal. This indicates that we need to take the building of the church as the goal of our prayer. (Exo. 17:12, footnote 1)
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… 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. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 549)
Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 46-48; Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 42