6. Subtleties of the Self-Life
CHAPTER 6
Subtleties of the Self-Life
Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”
Agag came to him confidently, thinking,
“Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
But Samuel said,
“As your sword has made women childless,
so will your mother be childless among
women.”
And Samuel put Agag to death before LORD
at Gilgal. (1 Samuel 15:32-33)
We have already referred to Samuel 15 as an illustration of Saul’s character. But we can see other subtleties of the self-life in the picture of Agag. Both Saul’s and Agag’s lives reach the same lesson—offer the same warning—of the peril of a self-centered life. But they reach it in different ways, and the story of Agag is worthy of our prayerful and heart-searching consideration.
Agag’s Race
Agag belonged to the race of Amalek and the family of Esau, who represent through their entire genealogy the life of the flesh. From the beginning of the human race, God has drawn the line of demarcation between two races—the fleshly man and the spiritual man. Just outside the gate of Eden the division began. The family of Seth called themselves by the name of the Lord, while the race of Cain went off and built their city of culture and pride and became the pioneers of worldliness and wickedness.
The separation, though, soon began to disappear, and by the time of Noah the two races had mingled and intermarried. The result was progeny so degenerate and depraved that God turned with loathing from the whole race and pronounced the awful sentence, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth” (Genesis 6:7).
After the flood God chose a separate family, the line of Abraham, and again endeavored to keep His chosen people separate. Down that family tree we see off-shoots separating from the central trunk and going out into the world. The first of these was Ishmael, a type of the spirit of bondage and sin. The next of these was Esau, the progenitor of a whole race who inherited the earthly spirit of their father—Isaac’s son who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat and afterward married the daughters of Canaan, becoming as corrupt and polluted as they were. In the same line were the descendants of Lot’s unnatural daughters, the Moabites and the Ammorites.
Above all this, the race of Esau and subsequently the Amalekites were the representatives of the spirit of the flesh and the world. This was the reason why God told Israel that they must be destroyed. We find that when the Israelites left Egypt and started on their journey to the Land of Promise, Amalek was the first to attack them. It is not difficult to see in this the foreshadowing of the fact that the first adversary we have to contend with when we leave our sinful past is the carnal nature in our own hearts. It soon asserts itself and tries to force us back into that former life. This is what Agag represents, and this is what each of us has found to be real in the experience of the Christian life.
Ruler
The name of Agag is significant. It means ruler and it represents the spirit of self-will, self-assertion and self-dependence. It’s prototype is Lucifer, the prince of light and glory, who, being lifted up with pride and refusing to be controlled, turned from an angel to a fiend and has become the desperate leader of the rebellious hosts of hell.
We see it too in the Fall: “[Y]ou will be like God” (Genesis 3:5)—the desire for supremacy. We see it in the spirit of human ambition, in the despot, in the world conqueror, in high society and in politics. All belong to the same family—the race of Amalek and the house of Agag. Their cry is like the prodigal’s “give me my share of the estate” (Luke 15:12) and let me be free from parental control to do as I please.
This spirit is found in every human heart. It may be disguised in many insidious forms and it may call itself by illustrious names and ape the highest ambitions and the noblest pretensions, but it is Agag and Satan every time. The thing in you that wants to rule and to have its own way is wrong in its nature. The first thing you need in order to be of any use anywhere is to be thoroughly broken, completely subjected and utterly crucified in the core and center of your will. Then you will accept discipline and learn to yield and obey so that God can use you as a flexible and perfectly adjusted instrument. Henceforth you will only do what God wills and choose only what God chooses.
This is the real battleground of human salvation; this is the Waterloo of every soul, this is the test question of every redeemed life. This was the point where Saul lost his kingdom and Agag lost his life and where eternal destinies are lost or won as we learn the lesson or refuse to be led in triumph by our conquering Lord.
Let us not miss the warning. Let us remember forever that no man can rule others until he himself is absolutely led of God, that no man can conquer foes until he first is conquered, that no man can lead in triumph the hosts of evil or the hearts of men until he himself is led in triumph as the willing captive of the Savior’s love and the Master’s will.
Complete Extermination
God has determined that the race of Amalek and the house of Agag should be utterly exterminated. They were not to be spared but to be destroyed. It was a case of no compromise. There was nothing good in them.
This is God’s decree against the flesh in us. It cannot be cleansed, improved, cultivated or educated into ideals and principles. It must be exterminated.
What is the flesh? Is it the bad principle in man? Is it some outward or inward evil that can be cut away like a tumor?
[T]he sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. (Romans 8:7-9)
Every man who does not have the Spirit of God is in the flesh. And everything outside the Spirit of God is flesh. Therefore, the flesh is not simply the sinful part of human nature but the whole of human nature. It is the Adam race, the natural man. It is the whole creature and the whole thing is corrupted and polluted. The tree is so crooked that it cannot be straightened without cutting it in two. The tumor is so interwoven with the flesh that you cannot cut it out without killing the man.
There is no remedy, no hope. The old life must be laid down and the new creation, wholly born of heaven and baptized with the Spirit of God, must take its place as a resurrected life, as a new creation, as an experience so supernatural and divine that its possessor can truly say, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Do not try to sanctify the flesh or to reconstruct the kingdom of heaven out of the kingdom of hell. It is not evolution; it is creation. It is not morals or manners; it is a miracle of grace and power. Take no risks with the old man. He will fail you every time. You may think your trained hawk is a dove, but in an unsuspecting moment its beak will be buried in your flesh. Your little wolf may have all the manners of a lamb, but in an evil hour it will destroy all your lambs and perhaps rend you limb from limb.
Compromise with the Flesh
We see next in this account the attempt of man to compromise with the flesh and to disregard God’s decree for complete extermination. Saul spared Agag so that he might use him to build up his triumph before the people. He kept the best of the spoil ostensibly so that he might sacrifice them to the Lord.
He obeyed God’s command to a certain extent. In a sense he defeated Amelek—Saul did all God told him to do as far as it was agreeable to him. But he took his own way when it served his self- interest. His obedience therefore was not really obedience to God but obedience to self. He returned just enough of the flesh to destroy the whole service.
The essence of the disobedience was compromise, and the worst thing about it was that he tried to put the evil to good use. It was an insult in the face of heaven to bring the forbidden thing and offer it to the God he had defied. This is the spirit of modern religious culture: “Don’t go too far. Don’t be extreme. Don’t be puritanical. Go easy. Be liberal. Meet the world halfway. Take the sinner into church because you can make good use of his money. Put that brazen-faced woman up in the choir because she will draw her theatrical set to hear her sing. Go to the theater and the play with your husband to get him to go to church with you on Sunday.”
Nonsense! The devil will always get the best of you in such an unequal context, and instead of being saved the husband will drag the wife to his level. Or the operatic singer, instead of bringing her friends under the influence of religion, will bring the church to the level of her set and turn it into a clubhouse and a concert hall. The saloon keeper’s money will moderate the tone of the preaching so that it will be a comfort to Sodom, and vice and sin will sit unchecked and even count themselves the buttress and pillar of the cause of Christ.
Do you think God will accept such service? Will He who owns the treasures of the universe, He who could create a mountain of gold in a moment, He who could send a thousand angels to sing in His sanctuaries, accept the money or the service so defiled? Will He go begging to the devil’s shrine asking his permission to let go his captives that they may be saved? Absolutely not! Oh, that we had the sword of Samuel to hew in pieces the compromises that are an offense to heaven and a disgrace to the bride of the Lamb!
Indulgence Masked in Humility
Scripture tells us that Agag, after Saul had argued with Samuel about his actions, felt confident that he would not be killed. He came forth, walking delicately, mincing like a silly, coquettish girl, smiling, seeking by his blandishments to disarm opposition, to win favor—looking like an incarnation of gentleness and innocence. Indeed, he was the perfect gentleman! Surely he could not harm a child! Surely no one could dream of doing him harm!
But we can recognize it for what it is—self pleading for its life, pointing out its refinement, its culture, its graces, the good that it is doing and wants to do, its claim upon our consideration and regard. It will decorate our churches with the finest taste; it will sing in our choirs with all the harmonies of classical music; it will bring society to our churches and it will give us a bright and liberal theology. It is full of humanitarian plans for the relief of the suffering and the uplifting of degradation, and it offers us a Pullman palace car prepaid to the gates of heaven.
Surely such a beautiful, gentle creature should not be rudely slain. But despite its disguises and fawnings, the Holy Spirit divulges its true nature—the survival of self and evil.
Alive or Dead?
We see in Agag the flesh fighting death. “Surely” said Agag, “the bitterness of death is past.” Similarly we find plenty of people in pulpits and pews, on platforms and in obscure corners, who would make us believe that they are dead. Yet we are reminded, when we get a good look at them, of corpses walking around in their grave clothes. They are so conscious of their deadness that we know they are alive. They are so proud of their humility that we would rather they were proud than humble. And they are so constantly in their own shadow that they try us by their religious egotism.
Surely people who are really dead do not know it, do not think about it, are unostentatious, unobtrusive, modes, simple, natural, free and, like good water, without taste, color or consciousness. Oh, for this blessed simplicity and this place of self- forgetting rest! Oh, for this fulfillment of the prayer, “Lord, let me die so dead that I will not know it!”
There is nothing so hardening to the heart as to take the place of self-surrender and then live a life of self-indulgence—calling things holy that are not, bringing the heavenly standard down to our own experience. Truly we are to reckon ourselves as dead, but we are not to reckon that we are reckoned dead. We are to reckon on a reality and to insist upon it and take nothing less from God or from ourselves. Oh, that we would dare to call things by their right names and have no counterfeit, even from ourselves!
Self Exposed
Finally, we see self exposed and slain. Agag could not deceive Samuel. The old prophet pierces him through with one glance of the Holy Spirit, and looking at his mincing, fawning figure, we can imagine him saying, “You cannot fool me. You are a murderer and a selfish, cruel tyrant. Your sword has made many a mother childless and many an innocent victim has been crushed beneath your tyranny. Behind all your smiles is a skeleton and a serpent’s sting.” And then with that sharp sword Samuel cut through his blandishments and hewed him to pieces before the Lord.
Sin never stops until it reaches its worst. Here God shows us the extent to which the smallest seed of selfishness can ripen.
Let us ask God to expose it in our hearts. Let us open our being to the sword of Samuel, the sword of the Holy Spirit. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
All that we need to be delivered from self and sin is to be willing to see it, to call it by its right name, to brand it with its true character, to pass sentence of death upon it, to give God the right to slay it and to stand upon the sentence without compromise. There is power enough in the sword of the Spirit, in the blood of Calvary, in the faithfulness, love and grace of God to make us dead indeed to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!