the great controversy -war

7/29/2019 The Great Controversy -War

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Easy Reading Edition September 29October 5

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READ FOR THIS WEEKS LESSON: Genesis 3:15; Revelation 12:117;Isaiah 14:421; Ezekiel 28:1219; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 1:2028; John16: 2.MEMORY VERSE: I [God] will put hatred between you [Satan] and thewoman [church]. Your children and her children will be enemies. Her son[Jesus] will crush your head. And you will crush his heel (Genesis 3:15,NIrV).

KEY (IMPORTANT) THOUGHT: The great controversy (war) theme is found

throughout all basic Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. It helps to hold themtogether.

NECESSITY [NEED] IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION IS AN OLD, WISESAYING. Here, the word mother means the source, the beginning, or thefoundation This saying means that a need, or necessity, for something is whatmakes people do something For example, the need for cleaner air makespeople search for energy sources other than fossil fuels

Just as with physical inventions, a belief system also needs to be explainedby a basis (foundation) or a principle (important rule) This is why Seventh-day

Adventists have developed a list of 28 fundamental beliefs These beliefs owetheir beginning to the great controversy Each of the 28 fundamentals dealswith a special part of this controversy This week we will study the beliefs againstthe background of the theme of the great controversy We will look at some ofthe key points with this theme in mind

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SABBATHSEPTEMBER 29

The Great Controversy (War):

The Foundation (Beginning)


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Lesson 1 THE GREAT CONTROVERSY (WAR): THE FOUNDATION (BEGINNING)

THE CONTROVERSY

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AND ITSPLAYERS (Revelation 12:17)

All throughout human history, peo-ple have sensed that humankind isin some kind of battle It is a warbetween opposing armies The poetT S Eliot wrote, In all of my years,one thing does not change / No mat-ter how you try to cover it up, thisthing does not change / It is the con-tinuing struggle between Good andEvilAdapted from T S Eliot, TheComplete Poems and Plays (NewYork, San Diego, London: HarcourtBrace and Company, 1952), page 98That understanding is very commonBut people have very different ideasabout why we are having this warWho is involved? What is importantabout the war? And how is it goingto end? As Seventh-day Adventists,however, we have a special under-standing about the part of this war thatis taking place in heaven This under-standing comes from the Bible, whichgives us a clear picture of the greatcontroversy [war] between Christ andSatan

Study Genesis 3:15 and Reve-lation 12:117. Who are the key(important) players in the contro-versy? Symbols (word-pictures)are sometimes used to describethe players. But why do we believethat the powers in the war are real?What would happen to our wholebelief system if we were to make

excuses for the great controversybetween Christ and Satan and our

part in it?

It is not unusual for people to usewords such as the devil, angels, oreven Godwhen they mean somethingvery different from the real meaning ofthose words For example, there aresome who use the word Godin booksor in conversation But they have nointerest in whether or not God reallylives

No matter what symbols are used todescribe devils and good angels, theBible teaches that devils and angelsare involved in a real war That is howwe as Seventh-day Adventists under-stand them Most of the doctrinesstudied this quarter will not makesense if we do not accept that theseplayers in the controversy are realThis often makes our beliefs differentfrom the popular way of thinking

In fact, during the last two hundredyears, many worldly thinkers havetried to remove God from humanthought With the success of science,more and more people in the worldwish to use science to solve issues(problems) Angels and demons donot fit well into the scientific way ofthinking So the modern world is wit-nessing a slow death of belief in Godand in things of heaven

How strongly is your societyinfluenced by science and worldlythinking? How much have you beeninfluenced by it? We must guardagainst what parts of this worldview?

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1 controversywar between Christ and Satan


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LUCIFERS

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FALL (1 Timothy 3:6)

The Bible does not clearly tell us theissues (problems) that are involvedin the controversy between God andSatan But we can get some informa-tion about this controversy from someverses, such as Isaiah 14:421 andEzekiel 28:1219 In their original set-tings, these verses speak of the pagan(idol-worshiping) kings of Tyre andBabylon But, when read carefully, theverses give details that go beyondthese Near Eastern kings in Bibletimes These verses are really about thebeginning, position, and fall of Satan

PIX #1

In 1 Timothy 3:6 Paul warnsagainst making a new believer achurch officer. He explains thatsuch an act might cause the per-son to become proud and fallunder the same judgment as thedevil (NIV). How does Pauls warn-ing in 1 Timothy 3:6 help us to under-

stand Isaiah 14:421 and Ezekiel28:1219? In what way do these

three groups of verses to-gether help us to understandsome issues in the controversy?

At least three issues are raised in theverses named above: pride, self-gov-ernment, and independence The OldTestament shows Satan as a created,dependent person who wants to be self-governing and independent But inde-pendence is always independence fromsomething or somebody First John 3:8says that the devil has sinned fromthe beginning (NKJV) First John 3:4defines sin as lawbreaking This verseshows that Satans sin is his desire tobe freed from the control of God and Hislaws So, by refusing to obey Gods law,Satan shows that he wants to live undera different set of rules This rebellion(lawbreaking) might also cause peopleto think that the system of laws in heavenis not perfect and that something isreally wrong with it But Gods law isa perfect example of Gods character(who God is) A fault in the law wouldmean a fault in Gods character SoSatans rebellion was really a rebellionagainst God Himself

Pride, self-government, indepen-dencewhat do these words makeyou think of? In what ways are wein danger of falling into the traps ofpride, self-government, and inde-pendence? Under the right condi-tions, what is wrong with any ofthese ideas?

Gods law is a perfect example of His

character.

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2 LuciferSatans name before he was cast out of heaven Lucifer was the covering cherub [angel](Ezekiel 28:16) before his fall


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PIX #2

GODS WEAPON (Genesis 3:15)In what way is the great contro-

versy described in Genesis 3:15?

The language of Genesis 3:15gives us a hint of Gods rules of warin this battle We can know that thewar between the serpent (Satan) andthe woman had just begun And itwould continue to be fought betweenthe followers or seed of the womanand the followers or seed of theserpent Later on, the war would endin a life-and-death struggle betweenSatan and the womans male child,Jesus of Nazareth Gods weaponof choice was Jesus, who wouldcome to fight for the woman Hewould suffer bruises, but finallystrike a deadly blow to the serpentThe weapon of choice was an act ofsacrifice by Jesus It was an act ofselfless love

How do the following verses

help us to understand some ofthe issues in the great contro-

versy? How is the plan of salva-tion an important part of the con-troversy?

Compare Genesis 4:4 with He-

brews 11:4 Compare Genesis 12:3,22:18 with Galatians 3:16 CompareExodus 25:9 with Hebrews 8:2 Com-pare Isaiah 53:6 with Romans 5:8Read Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:1620; and Hebrews 8:1, 2

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SATANS FIGHT(Romans 1:2028)

If you read yesterdays daily studycarefully, you would have seen howGod showed Himself and His truthduring the great controversy Godworked through (1) Bible leaders oflong ago and the Israelite sanctuary(house of God) services, (2) throughChrists cleansing sacrifice, (3) throughthe church, and (4) through Christs

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Satans rebellion was really a rebellionagainst God Himself.

Jesus was Gods weapon of choice tofight Satan.

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own work as High Priest in heavenBut Satan works tirelessly (with-

out tiring) to try to destroy the Lordsplans So much of the great contro-versy has been, and still is, foughtover these very issues

For example, the system of sacri-fice in Israels sanctuary service wasdesigned by God to remind people ofGod as Creator and to keep the hopeof salvation alive

How did Satan try to destroy thetruth about the plan of salvation,as shown in the system of sacri-fices? Read Romans 1:2028 andDeuteronomy 32:17, 18.

Of course, Christs coming as Man,His ministry on earth, and His deathon the cross were the important partsof how God chose to defeat Satan inthe great controversy The death ofChrist prevented Satan from beingsuccessful even though Satan hadworked tirelessly against Christ

What do Matthew 2:118; Mat-thew 4:111; Matthew 16:2123;and Matthew 27:3942 tell us aboutthe ways in which Satan workedagainst Jesus?

After His death and return to life,Christ established His church onearth to preach to lost people aboutthe good news of salvation From thebeginning of the church, Satan hasworked hard to weaken and destroyit The following verses show someof Satans tactics (tricks and moves)against the church Read Acts 5:17, 18;

Acts 7:5460; 2 Thessalonians 2:14;1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Peter 2:1; and

Revelation 12:1317Meanwhile, the book of Hebrewstells of a real sanctuary (house ofGod) in heaven that Christ enteredafter He went there (Hebrews 4:1416; Hebrews 9:24) Jesus is workingthere even now as High Priest for thesake of lost people (Hebrews 7:27) InDaniel 8:1114, we can see Satansactions against Christs priestly minis-try (work) in the heavenly sanctuarySatan still is trying hard to destroythat ministry

It is one thing to read 1 Peter 5:8,

9 and really understand its warn-ing. But it is another thing to reallylive out that warning in our dailylives. How do we fight against thedevil? How often during a singleday do you think of Satans workagainst you?

THE FUTURE END(Joshua 24:15)

But suppose you dont [donot] want to serve him [the Lord].Then choose for yourselves rightnow whom you will serve. Youcan choose the gods your peopleserved east of the Euphrates River.Or you can choose the gods theAmorites serve. After all, you areliving in their land. But as for meand my family, we will serve theLord (Joshua 24:15, NIrV). How

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does Joshua 24:15 describe themost basic issue in the great contro-

versy?

Bible prophecy (special messagesfrom God) helps us to understand theclosing scenes of the war between Godand Satan For a period of 1,260 years(Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; Revelation11:2; Revelation 12:14; Revelation13:5), Satan continuously attackedGods people In the last challenge,

described in Revelation 12 and 13,Satan will use two earthly powersto do his work: a leopard-like beast(Revelation 13:110) and a two-hornedbeast (Revelation 13:1117) And bothbeasts will use all the tactics (tricks andmoves) of Satan that were discussed inyesterdays daily study

Revelation 14 describes the planthat God will use to bring this strug-gle to an end. What does Revelation14:613 tell us about the ways inwhich some of the issues (prob-lems) in the great controversy aregoing to be made clear?

From Gods viewpoint, a clearannouncement of the three angelsmessages is necessary before the warcan come to a close This is becausepeople need to be well informed inorder to make up their minds about theissues

In the final battle, there will be peoplewho stand loyal to God In Revelation14 they are symbolized (shown) bythe number 144,000 (verse 3) Thenumber may symbolize a great many

people from all the nations of the earth(Revelation 7:4) But they remain obe-

dient to the commandments of Godin a time of great trouble They arevery faithful to the worship of theirCreator God They receive acceptancefrom God and are victorious with HimMeanwhile, the lost are destroyed inthe last harvest (Revelation 14:1420)The point is that one day this great con-troversy will be over

One thing about the great con-troversy: everyone must choosea sideGods or Satans. You areeither on one side or on the other.Anyone can claim to be on theLords side. (Read John 16:2.) Buthow do you know, for sure, that youreally are on the Lords side? Bringyour answer to class on Sabbath.

PIX #4

ADDITIONAL STUDY: Read Frank BHolbrook, The Great Controversy,pages 9691008, in Raoul Dederen(editor), Handbook of Seventh-dayAdventist Theology

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Satan uses two earthly powers to do his

work: a leopard-like beast and a two-horned beast.


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The Bible explains itself Verse isto be compared with verse The stu-

dent should learn to understand theword as a whole and also understandthe relationship of its parts The stu-dent should study (1) the Bibles maintheme, (2) Gods original purpose forthe world, (3) the rise of the greatcontroversy, and (4) the work of sal-vation He or she should understandthat two armies [Christs and Satans]are fighting to win the war He orshe should learn of the work of botharmies through the records of his-tory and prophecy to the great endThe student should understand howthis controversy enters into everypart of human experience The stu-dent should understand how in everyact of life he or she shows loyaltyto the one or the other of the twoenemies The student also shouldrealize which side he or she will findhimself or herself on at the end of thiswarAdapted from Ellen G White,Education, page 190

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

In the passage quoted in Fridaysadditional study from the bookEducation, Ellen G White writes thatthe great controversy enters into

every part of human life How true hasthis been in your own life? Has your

understanding of the theme of the greatcontroversy been a source of (place togo for) strength or frustration for you inthe world of sin and suffering?

Some write and discuss abouta delay in the second coming ofChrist With so much injustice andsuffering in the world, it seems thatevery additional day of life on earthis one too many Ask class membersto share how the theme of the greatcontroversy helps them to cope with(deal with) this delay

How can we be sure about whatwill happen at the end of the warbetween good and evil? What givesyou hope that evil will be overcomein the end? What reasons do we havefor believing that? How, for example,does the prophecy of Daniel 2 help togive us hope for the final victory?

In class, go over your responsesto the last question on Thursday Theanswer is very true because of ourunderstanding of just who the attack-ers will be in the last days How, then,can we be sure we will be on the rightside?

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the great controversy -war

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