Friday: Further Thought – The Cosmic Conflict
Daily Lesson for Friday 28th of February 2025
Read Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy — Ellen G. White Writings
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it is to defend it. . . . Had he [Satan] been immediately blotted from existence, they [the inhabitants of heaven and of other worlds] would have served God from fear rather than from love. The influence of the deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. Evil must be permitted to come to maturity. For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages Satan must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of His law might forever be placed beyond all question.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, Pages 492, 493, 499.
Discussion Questions
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If you are the sort of person who likes catechistic answers to all our deep spiritual questions you should never read Scott Adam's little book, "God's Debris: A thought Experiment". It is wildly challenging and raises many more questions than answers. It is a very complex book but one of it's core themes is that God blew himself up and what we see and experience is God trying to put himself back together.
Now, I don't believe that - and Scott Adams comments that any resemblance in the book to his own beliefs is an accident. However, when I encountered this idea it rattled by brain enough to think more deeply about the battle between Good and Evil
A "What If ..."
What if God created a beautiful and well-ordered universe and Lucifer blew it up. And what if what we see now is the aftermath of the battle. I mean not just here on earth, but the whole visible universe. Satan spoiled the whole lot! Galaxies crashing into one another; stars turning into supernova; asteroids coming close to earth; barren uninhabitable planets. It gives a sense of how big the sin/rebellion problem is.
Revelation 21 suggests that the sin problem is that big.
Why make a new heaven? Is it because Satan has left his stain there too? God promises to make everything new.
There are two major themes in the Bible.
We may not know the extent of the battle but we can be sure of our participation in the restoration if we put our trust in Jesus.
The origin of Lucifer’s sin is mysterious because it arose in a perfect being who had no external cause to rebel. Sin, by nature, is irrational and unjustifiable—explaining its emergence does not mean excusing it. Lucifer’s pride and self-exaltation led to his fall, but God allowed his rebellion to mature rather than eradicating him instantly. This was necessary for the universe to fully grasp the nature of evil and contrast it with God’s love and justice.
The great controversy is not a battle of power but of character. If it were only about might, God could have destroyed Satan immediately. However, the conflict is about trust, love, and truth versus deception and selfishness. God seeks willing obedience, not forced submission. By permitting evil to unfold, He ensures that all intelligent beings see its true consequences and make an informed choice to follow Him.
In our own lives, we face echoes of this cosmic battle—temptations to pride, self-centeredness, and rebellion against God’s will. Every decision reflects whose side we stand on. By choosing humility, faithfulness, and love, we testify to God’s righteousness and resist the deception that led to Lucifer’s downfall. Our response to daily moral choices shows whether we align with God's kingdom or the rebellion of the adversary.
As Christians, we should respond to the conflict between good and evil by living out our faith through love, obedience to God's commandments, and demonstrating Christ-like character. This includes showing kindness, standing for truth, resisting temptation, and spreading the gospel. Our actions, decisions, and words should reflect God's principles, revealing that we are on His side.
I have read and recited this text multiple times: 'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea' (Revelation 21:1). I know that God will move His throne to the earth made new, but I never considered that the place where He dwells (heaven) will actually be made new as well!
As William Shakespeare apropriately wrote in his play, "As You Like It", "all the world's a stage." It is most certainly as if we are all playing characters, acting out scenes as we live out the days of our lives. Some days we play the villain, others the hero, some days the good guy, and others the bad. Day by day in the choices we are free to make, and even the thoughts we are free to entertain or dismiss, we reveal on which side of this cosmic conflict we are aligning ourselves. In the multitude of choices we have been blessed to be able to make we are agreeing that one party or the other is the hero or the villain. Yet both sides are actively lobbying for our allegiance, and actively persuading us to cast our "vote" with them. While one side encourages us to freely choose based upon principles of love and freedom, the other side though still unable to force our freedom of choice uses compulsion, addiction, and temporary pleasure to entrap us.
God has created us as free moral agents. This he did at great risk, yet true love would have it no other way.
Not only are we actors in the grand drama, we are and will be jurors in deciding which party is the guilty party.
Do we live our lives totally for God’s glory in all that we do? Do we amuse or entertain ourselves with things that feed our lower sinful nature, or our higher, more noble nature? Do the things that break God’s heart break ours, or do we pass time in them, calling it recreation? Is it recreation or desecration?
So much freedom of thought and expression we have been granted by our Creator. Day by day in every way may we work out our own salvation with the assistance of heavenly beings, instead of working out our own destruction with the assistance of fallen beings.
Indeed all the world is a stage. Other human beings, as well as both unfallen and fallen heavenly beings are observing our actions, and even our attitudes. May we choose God, and choose love today and every day until the curtain of our lives comes down. At last may we know that all along the way God's way was the right way all along. There is both a macrocosm, as well as a microcosm of the "Great Controversy" playing out not only in the universe, but also in our own personal lives. The choice is ours to make.
We are only "dancing" on this globe for a short time. "Dance" as if you are dancing for the King of Kings, because you are. We want to hear the applause of heaven, not earth.
Indeed, life is part of the Great Controversy between God and Satan. Lord, help me every day to recognize that my choices and actions are being observed not only by other people but also by heavenly beings. Help me.to choose to follow You and live out Your love, trusting that Your way is the right way, both in my life and in the grander scheme of the universe. As this cosmic conflict plays out, I know that the choices I make matter, and I want to remain faithful to You until the end, knowing that Your truth will ultimately prevail. Amen.
God's patient, by Love and Grace governed use of time, provided heaven's host the ways necessary to restore what Lucifer’s defection disrupted. When God’s Love encountered evil, time was needed to heal the breach of trust. Lucifer's rebellion corrupted heaven’s “powers, principalities, thrones, and dominions” - Col. 1:16. He misused the Spirit’s Light — given to him by God to uphold God’s governance — to empower himself above the Throne of God.
Lucifer’s choice not only diminished our awareness of God’s Spirit of Love living within us to guide us, it also harmed our physical health. In fact, the health and harmony of the whole universe itself. Powers meant to support what was Good and Perfect in God's Creation were used by his adversary to promote his own agenda.
I see the creative influence inherent in God’s Spirit to generate and uphold that which is Good and Perfect in Life, stronger than all that comes against it, to be the greatest of all mysteries. Forces meant for good were used to destroy His order - His Way. But He proves against all odds that His Way is the only Way which can create, sustain, and promote Life.
Lucifer’s misuse of God's divine Light serves as a warning: empowerment rightly used must always glorify God - the Giver of all Life and Light.
In what ways do I experience the conflict. Sin still abounds in this world, I have formulated by the power given above a relationship daily with Christ. He gives me power over sin. In the vastness of this conflict, I do believe since I know His eye is on the sparrow, He has His best interest in me being redeemed. The Bible backs me up.
1 Corinthians 4:20.
Psalm 107:2
Lamentations 3:58.
Psalm 77:15.
Isaiah 1:27.
Luke 1:68.
Matthew 10:29-31.
One of my favorite quote's
The parable of the merchantman seeking goodly pearls has a double significance: it applies not only to men as seeking the kingdom of heaven, but to Christ as seeking His lost inheritance. Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price. In man, defiled and ruined by sin, He saw the possibilities of redemption. Hearts that have been the battleground of the conflict with Satan, and that have been rescued by the power of love, are more precious to the Redeemer than are those who have never fallen. God looked upon humanity, not as vile and worthless; He looked upon it in Christ, saw it as it might become through redeeming love. He collected all the riches of the universe, and laid them down in order to buy the pearl. And Jesus, having found it, resets it in His own diadem. "For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land." Zechariah 9:16. "They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels." Malachi 3:17. Christ Object Lessons page 118.2
I-DDOGFO. I - Daily Depend On God For Obedience
I-FROG. I - Fully Rely On God