SECOND QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #1
APRIL 6, 2024
“THE WAR BEHIND ALL WARS”

 

This quarter we are embarking on a study of the Great Controversy theme.  We will be considering the reasons, outcomes, and solutions to the war which began in heaven (Rev. 12:7,8) and spread to the earth (Rev. 12:9, Gen. 3). Through more than 6000 years of biblical history the conflict between good and evil has been chronicled in story and prophecy. The pages of the Bible leave for us amazing insights to the war behind all wars.

God is love (1 John 4:8,16), and the great controversy’s beginning and continuance, the defeat and ultimate eradication of evil, can all be traced back to His love. God’s love, however, did not cause the controversy, but rather His love allowed its beginning and continuance in ways that only self-sacrificing love can.  This war is a war between love and non-love and the final end will occur because of the undefeatable overtures of love which God has poured out.

This week's lesson begins with this memory verse: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer” (Rev. 12:7,8, NKJV).

In these two verses are summarized an incredibly painful conflict and processes that could take volumes to communicate. Lucifer, the so-called dragon, was created perfect in all of his ways (Ezek. 28:15). He was one of the covering angels closest to God (Ezek. 28:14). Righteousness and love were the pulse of his heart (Ezek. 28:14, last part, Isaiah 33:14,15). Until one day, the Bible says, “iniquity was found” in him (Ezek. 28:15).

Lucifer, who spent much of his time in the very presence of God, began to question things. His questions became disaffection and his disaffection became rebellion. The Bible says that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty (Ezek. 28:12). He started to contemplate himself and reconsider his position. Consideration and thought of others (love) was being replaced by consideration and thought of himself.

“For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation; On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:13,14).

We are not told how much time passed between Lucifer's falling away from love and his being cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:9). But if we consider how long God has allowed sin to play out on this earth and also that enough time passed to allow one third of the angelic population to be won by Lucifer's efforts (Rev.12:4,7), it is reasonable to see that God bore long with Lucifer and his angel followers before they were cast out. “In great mercy, according to His divine character, God bore long with Lucifer.” --Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 39 (Please read the entire chapter: Why Was Sin Permitted). 

The Greek word for “war” that is found in our memory verse is the word from which we derive our English word, politics.  Thus, most likely this was primarily a war of words and ideas rather than guns and munitions.  And the fact that one third of the angels left with Lucifer tells us that God employed the weapon of freedom in this conflict and restricted His words to truth and His manner to love, while Lucifer resorted to political tactics, lies, half-truths and distortions with which we are all so familiar  in our world today.

What have we observed so far?  God created Lucifer perfect in all his ways.  Lucifer started to consider himself more than others and departed from love.  He convinces many others to do the same.  And in the face of this God bore long, extended mercy, and acted only within the bounds of truth and love. Consider this statement: “The history of the great conflict between good and evil from the time it first began in heaven to the final overthrow of rebellion and the total eradication of sin is also a demonstration of Gods unchanging love” --Ellen G. White, Patriarch and Prophets, p. 33.

The clearest picture of the Father’s love from our perspective is Christ. His condescension and incarnation to become one with us, every kind word, every tender touch, every person healed, every forgiving glance, every insult not returned, and every refusal to lash back at hatred all are an expression of God’s love. And above all of this Calvary brings the greatest clarity to us, revealing that in the end He loved us more than He loved Himself.  He would rather relinquish His own life than have us lose ours.

Therefore, we can know that from Lucifer’s and the fallen angel’s vantage point in heaven before they were cast out that every mercy extended, every moment of conversation shared, every explanation given and every rejection, insult and lie not responded to was like Calvary in the sense that God at every step put all those involved before Himself while bearing the pain of loss and rejection of the ones He loved more than life itself.  And this was especially true as He tried to “find a place” for Lucifer.  He tried to find a way to redeem him and find any way possible for him to stay. Despite every corner of heaven being searched, every entreaty given and every plea made, no place could be found.  And finally, at last every Calvary like effort of God must have been refused by Lucifer and company, making their choices final. The Bible refers to the fallen angels as not keeping or guarding their own domain but leaving their own abode or dwelling place (Jude 1:6).  The picture here is that they left as a result of their free and volitional choices. And this is what all of the lost will ultimately do when they refuse all the similar efforts God has extended to them. So even in casting Lucifer out, love reigned -- giving Lucifer and the rest the freedom and ability to have the desire of their heart in the end.  Love will never force or coerce in heaven.

Love did not force or coerce on any of God’s created worlds either. The first pair of our world were given freedom to say yes or no to God. And while God had provided everything for their good, He also allowed objections to His word to be heard if it was their desire to hear them. And while ample warning and caution were given to avoid the political platform of the enemy of souls, access was not blocked entirely.

The outcome of this garden affair with the enemy is all history now and the misery and woe that followed are all too familiar to us. But with the first willing departure from God came the promise of a return that would be made possible by an infinite sacrifice of God Himself to gain us back and restore us to Himself (Gen. 3:15).

From as far back as eternity past, before creation itself, a counsel of peace where Father and Son committed to a plan should mankind fall to the lies of the dragon.  The plan would involve the pre-incarnate Christ leaving His position and place of prerogative to become one with humanity (Phil. 2:5-8).  He would be born as a human child and grow up in the world like every child of Adam.  He would be tempted in all points like as we are yet would never fall (Heb. 4:15).  He would face all the temptations of the enemy and through them all prevail by faith in His Father's words, promises, and care.  And He would ultimately yield up His own life on behalf of Adam and all his descendants.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

 “As the divine sufferer hung upon the cross, angels gathered about Him, and as they looked upon Him, and heard His cry, they asked, with intense emotion, ‘Will not the Lord Jehovah save Him?’…Then were the words spoken: ‘The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent. Father and Son are pledged to fulfill the terms of the everlasting covenant. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’  Christ was not alone in making His great sacrifice.  It was the fulfillment of the covenant made between Him and His Father before the foundation of the world was laid.  With clasped hands they had entered into the solemn pledge that Christ would become the surety for the human race if they were overcome by Satan sophistries." -- Ellen G. White, The Faith I Live By, p. 76.

Despite our unfaithfulness, His faithful love would persist until there was no more for Him to give for “He loved then to the end” (John 13:1). Love would prevail and, in the end, prove that God is true, selflessness does exist, and love alone is the operating principle of life.

“Unselfishness, the principle of God’s kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates; its very existence he denies.  From the beginning of the great controversy, he has endeavored to prove God’s principles of action to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God.”  To disprove Satan’s claim is the work of Christ and of all who bear His name” -- Ellen G. White, Education, p.154.

God will have a people that will disprove Satan’s claims and live with the complete self abandonment of Jesus by His faith alone. And in the end the redeemed will be able to look back at the entire history and experience and know that the universe will be secure and the invading element of sin and selfishness will never rise again.  Eternity future will be as it was always intended. “One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.”  --Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 678.

 

~Kelly Kinsley

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The Two Sides in the Great Controversy: Self-Sacrifice or Self-Defense.

Self-preservation is the first law of nature. But self-sacrifice is the first law of grace.

In order [for] self-preservation, self-defense is essential. In order [for] self-sacrifice, self-surrender is essential.

In self-defense, the only thing that can be employed is force. In self-surrender, the only thing that can be employed is love.

In self-preservation, by self-defense, thru the employment of force, force meets force, and this means only war. In self-sacrifice, by self-surrender, thru love, force is met by love, and this means only peace.

Self-preservation, then, means only war; while self-sacrifice means only peace.

But war means only death. Self-preservation, then, meaning only war, means only death; while self-sacrifice, meaning only peace, means only life.

Self-preservation being the first law of nature, nature then means only death; while self-sacrifice being the first law of grace, grace means only life.

But death only is the wages of sin; nature, then, meaning only death, it is so only because nature means sin; while life, being only the reward of righteousness; grace, meaning only life, it is so only because grace means righteousness.

Sin and righteousness, nature and grace, are directly opposite and antagonistic elements. They occupy realms absolutely distinct. Nature, self-preservation, self-defense, force, war, and death, occupy only the realm of sin; grace, self-sacrifice, self-surrender, love, peace, and life occupy only the realm of righteousness.

The realm of sin is the realm of Satan. The realm of grace is the realm of God. All the power of the domain of grace is devoted to saving men from the dominion of sin. This in order that, “as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, thru righteousness, unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”

On which side do you stand in this great controversy?

 

--Alonzo T. Jones, Signs of the Times, May 22, 1901, p. 2.