Sermon - How to Defeat Your Evil Inclinations: Battling the Amalekites
Of all the enemies of the Children of Israel, the Amalekites are the worst. Several times, the Lord commands the Israelites to utterly destroy them. This is commanded to teach us, by means of correspondences, how we should respond to the worst of the evil inclinations we may discover in ourselves. We are to hold no negotiations, make no deals, and show no mercy. This is the only way to deal with the evil inclinations hidden deep within our will. Anything short of complete separation gives those secret inclinations the ability to arouse all the other inclinations towards evil we have inherited.
The battle against these inclinations is fought with the zeal stirred up in us by angels associated with this fight. These angels arrange the Lord’s truths into a militant order, represented by Joshua and his chosen men. But these truths are effective only when we look to the Lord, only when using the Lord’s Word—represented by the rock, Aaron and Hur—to challenge the false ideas these enemies whisper into our ears. The Lord’s truth, represented by Moses, can then direct the angelic defense of our efforts to live our lives in the ways that lead to heaven.
