Monday: The Origin of the Controversy on Earth
Daily Lesson for Monday 24th of February 2025
Parallel to the question in the parable—about why there is bad seed in the field if the owner planted only good seed—is another question: if God created the world entirely good, how did evil arise here?
Read Genesis 1:31. What do God’s words reveal about the state of creation when God finished creating, and why is this answer important?
Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com
According to Genesis 1:31, when God finished creating the world, it was “very good.” In Genesis 1:1-31, there is no hint of evil in God’s creation of this planet. How, then, did evil come into the human experience?
Read Genesis 3:1-7. What does this tell us about how evil got here on earth? What light does this shed on the nature of the cosmic conflict? (See also Revelation 12:7-9.)
In this narrative, we see lies about God’s character raised by the serpent, identified as the devil himself (that “serpent of old” [NKJV]) in Revelation 12:7-9. The serpent first uses a question to cast doubt on God’s command, nearly reversing what God had commanded in his question. Then, the serpent directly challenges what God had said, saying to Eve, “ ‘You will not surely die’ ” (Genesis 3:4, NKJV).
Someone, either the serpent or God, lied to Eve, who now has a choice to make about whether she will believe what God told her or what the serpent did.
Here and elsewhere in Scripture, the nature of this conflict is primarily over what and whom to believe, which is itself integrally related to love. And that is because your beliefs about someone, the kind of person that he or she is, and whether he or she can be trusted, deeply impact whether you will love and trust that person and, in this case, listen to what that person tells you.
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Read Genesis 3:15. God’s statement to the serpent that the Seed of the woman, referring to the Messiah, would crush the serpent’s head is often identified as the first gospel (protoevangelium) in Scripture. How does this both reinforce the reality of the conflict and yet provide hope for us in the midst of it? |
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I am by nature curious. I like to try out ideas and experiment with things. I blew a big hole in the side of a lead/acid car battery terminal once. I knew about electricity and batteries but did not know that such a battery could provide 50-60amps through a bit of copper wire, leaving a burn stripe across my fingers and a big hole in the terminal that I thought my father would not notice. He did and I learned that fathers take a dim view of science experiments done in ignorance.
Another time I was curious about the taste of Durian fruit. It was very nice - like a beautiful fruity custard. That evening we had to pick up Carmel from the Bangkok Airport and drive for 3 hours back to Mission College. She knew what I had eaten and I did not have to tell her.
It is easy to dismiss the story of the fall as just curiosity that got Eve into trouble, but the story is quite transparent about what happened:
I suspect that the Bible only gives minimal detail about this temptation. We often spend a lot of time talking about serpents and fruit, but the real anti-hero in this story is self.
The Bible repeats the same idea many times. Lucifer in heaven, Cain, The Ante-diluvians, the Tower of Babel, Lot's wife, King Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, Judas, Ananias and Saphira. The root of all sin is in the importance we attach to self. Satan is real but he has a willing collaborator in self.
Once self takes control, it is like eating the Durian fruit - everyone knows.
It was said to me a good 25 years ago. Pastor Douglas Ludwig said, ”Royce all sin is failure to trust God!” It took me quite some time to really rationalize and study through that, but I realize he was right…Royce.
When one makes a casual scan through the Bible, it seems apparent that generally, mankind does not trust what God says. It seems that mankind has got “mistrust syndrome”, the spirit of unbelief or doubt. This is clearly captured right from Adam and Eve (Genesis 3: 1- 7). How come Adam and Eve placed their trust in a stranger (the serpent)? This incident raises questions about the nature of man, free will, and the dynamic relationship between God and mankind. In this quarter's lessons, it has been rightly stated that "There Are Many Things We Do Not Know" (Lesson 7, Monday). The “Great Controversy” is simply a symptom of a problem (evil). Today’s discussion is centred on how evil was propagated in the hearts of mankind but not its origin.
How can we learn to escape “mistrust syndrome”, the spirit of unbelief or doubt? What is unbelief or doubt? This is a state of refusing or rejecting the truth even in the face of clear evidence. For instance, the Pharisees refused/rejected Jesus even though He performed numerous miracles in their midst (Matthew 12:24). Unbelief and doubt if not contained, often lead to disobedience (James 1:14-15). Disobedience is a sin. Adam and Eve disobeyed God because of their unbelief. Jesus knew the danger of unbelief/doubt and He addressed it. When He was faced with temptation in the wilderness, He responded by saying, “It is written…..” (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus used scripture to fortify His faith. Likewise, when faced with unbelief or doubt, let us turn to scripture which is God’s foundational truth. Having faith in God, the spirit of unbelief will disappear (Ephesians 6:16). Another sure way to escape the spirit of unbelief is through prayer. The father of a demon-possessed son (Mark 9:24), made a cry to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!" When we cry to Jesus even with imperfect faith, He will help us from unbelief. We also need to surround ourselves with believing friends, particularly in fellowship. This will encourage and strengthen us.
As stated in the previous lesson, "There Are Many Things We Do Not Know" (Lesson 7, Monday). It is important to remind ourselves that matters that are not clearly expressed, belong to God (Deuteronomy 29:29,1 Corinthians 13:12). Secondly, the Bible is a divine revelation, and our finite mind cannot fully comprehend the mysteries of God (Isaiah 55:8-9). Therefore, the human effort to understand the origin of the great controversy is inadequate without faith. God is calling us to live by faith and not by knowing the answers to all questions (2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 11:8). In conclusion, it is essential to focus on what is critical to our salvation (2 Timothy 3:16-17). What is not revealed is not important for our spiritual growth and salvation. Dwelling on unclear matters leads to speculation and endless debates.
“Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God” - 1 Timothy 1:4 (NLT).
Genesis 3:15 states:
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."
This verse marks the first prophecy of redemption, revealing the cosmic battle between good and evil. The "Seed" refers to Christ, who would ultimately defeat Satan, though suffering in the process (His crucifixion). The reality of conflict is clear—humanity is caught in a spiritual war, facing temptation and sin. Yet, the promise of Christ’s victory provides hope. Though we struggle, the outcome is assured: Christ has triumphed, securing our salvation and ultimate restoration.
With regards to Rev 12:7-9, when was the devil cast down to earth, before Adam and Eve or after they'd been created and are already in the garden?
If Adam and Eve were already there I'm pondering on why God would throw away the devil to earth where his lovely creatures are? Or throw him to the perfect earth to be marred by him
In human terms we are ofte very conscious of time and the temporal relationship between events. That is quite natural as we only get a few decades of life usually and are very conscious of how quickly time passes. Consider this: before the fall time was unimportant as God's created beings were intended to live forever - or as I prefer to say timelessly. If we consider the fall as the begining of when time started to be of concern, then it is probably useful to think of events as just happening without trying to put a time frame around them. Is that a possible way of thinking about it?
I would like to present that God had a plan in place just in case man (and woman) were tempted by the serpent and made the wrong choice even though they were warned ahead of time that the wrong choice meant that they would die. The plan of salvation for fallen man was just that: a plan. Jesus would come to this earth to seek and save that which was lost! He was tempted by Satan just like every person on the planet has been. Praise the Lord! He did not sin. He was tempted in ALL POINTS like as we are! Yet without sin!
Thank God that the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts when we make the wrong choices and that forgiveness and cleansing from sin is ours for the asking. We are also promised that affliction (sin) will not happen in heaven again nor in the earth made new.
Adam and Eve were create after not before and nothing was hidden from them
This reminds me of how easily we give in to lies and temptation!!! Gods love for His creation is so beautiful & intense that we cant even fathom how deep His love goes!!! Sending Jesus is only one aspect of His love for us, and we don't even appreciate this act of God's love!!!
Perhaps we might think that we can be out of this conflict between evil and good. The truth is we can't. We are very much at the center of this conflict. It is up to us to choose which side we take.
Whose report will you believe? Our fore parents chose to believe the report of satan.
We have them as examples, may we chose the correct report in our lives as this has eternal consequences!!!!
The story of the fall of mankind serves as a reminder that sin has consequences, indeed, tragic ones. Yet in the midst of the tragedy is the promise of a Redeemer. God wasn't caught by surprise but had a plan ready to be enacted if/when the need arose.
Adam and Eve probably hid not just because they realized they were naked, but because they probably thought that God was coming to execute them. How naive of them to try to hide from God. Of course we don't play such foolish games with God, or do we?
The same goes for us today when we fall for the schemes of the devil. There remains a Redeemer to reverse the curse and bring "beauty for ashes." When we fall we must not run and hide, but run to and cry out to Jesus. "I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear these burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus will help me, Jesus alone."
One consolation of the conflict is that we are near the end of the conflict. Maybe the end will not be in some of our life times, yet there is a posibility it may. How much ever time we have left, let us realize that we need to stay connected with the True Vine on a daily basis. Now what does this connection do for us? It is the only way we can bear fruit. So what is the fruit we bear? Good question.
I believe the fruit we bear is righteousness. Contrary to our human nature, because we are connected to the True Vine and stay connected by daily fellowship with Christ we bear fruit without work. So the solution to bearing fruit without delibert effort is to be ready for Jesus to come. Again staying connected to the True Vine is where we put our trust in everlasting life.
John 15:1-8
John 15:9-10
John 15:18-19
Basicly all of John 15.
Now, was the loss of connection to the Son of God the starting of the conflict in heaven and then on this earth? I believe so!
In Genesis 3:3, we read where Eve told the serpent that God said that the day they eat of the tree.....they will die. The question I have is, "since Adam and Eve had not sinned before and had not seen death, how could they have had a concept of death?" If they did not have a clear concept of death, did they fully understand what they were about to do by eating the friut?
I think even if they didn't know what it was to die, they knew not to eat of the fruit, Because God had told them not to.
Doubting our Creator’s goodness opens the heart to rely on one’s own unenlightened mind when making choices. This was true in Eden, and it remains true today. If we believe and trust that God is inherently and perfectly good, there would be no need to lean on our own understanding — choosing self-reliance over God-reliance.
The war that began in heaven has now come to earth, waged to win the heart of man - Prov. 4:23. Scripture urges us to trust in the Lord rather than our own limited understanding - Prov.3:5. What does it mean to trust God with all our heart and not judge His Truth through human reasoning?
Does it not mean to love Him fully, wholeheartedly, and unconditionally? And if we so love Him, does that love not prevent doubt? When we doubt Him, do we truly love Him?
Doubt implies 'accusation' — questioning His truthfulness and integrity. The longer one hesitates to trust God, the more he settles into a position of indecision by attempting to ‘straddle the fence’ – attempting to balance the values representing this world and those representing the kingdom of heaven.
This cannot last indefinitely; eventually, one must choose. Either the conscience becomes seared, leading to the rejection of the Savior in favor of deception, or trust through faith takes root, and one steps off the fence to embrace Life in God's kingdom. There is no middle ground — our life is either in God through Jesus Christ, or, with time passing, it becomes a vapor - not existing at all. Eph.2:1; John 1:4; 1 John 5:10-12.
I don't know who made the comment that "God has Satan on a long leash with a choker collar." I tried to find it but was unsuccessful. I chuckled to myself because I have often thought that myself. I have more recently thought that God needs to take up some of that "leash" as it seems that Satan has been given too much freedom to torment and tempt mankind in these last days. I know that he has great wrath because he knows that his time is short.
God respects individuals choices due to his love, for his love does not force, its upon us as human being to make the right choices by the help of the Holy spirit...Anderson