Although there is an enemy at work whom Christ Himself refers to as the (usurping) “ruler of this world,” the true king of the universe is Jesus Christ. Jesus wins the victory for us, and in Him we can have victory, even in the midst of hardship and suffering. Indeed, the work of Christ counters the enemy at every turn. We have seen that Scripture describes the devil as: The deceiver of the whole world from the beginning ( Rev. 12:9, Matt. 4:3, John 8:44, 2 Cor. 11:3, 1 John 3:8 ); The slanderer...
Mar 09, 2025•12 min•Season 7Ep. 2329
Read for This Week’s Study John 18:37, Rom. 3:23–26, Rom. 5:8, Isa. 5:1–4, Matt. 21:33–39, Isa. 53:4, Rom. 3:1–4 . Memory Text: Some years ago, an insightful children’s story was printed in Guide magazine. The story focuses on a boy named Denis, an orphan living as a foster child with a family in medieval times. Denis passionately hates the king of his land because, when his parents were sick, the king’s soldiers carried him away, and he never saw them again. Only later did he learn that the kin...
Mar 08, 2025•8 min•Season 7Ep. 2328
Read Ellen G. White, “The Power of Satan,” pp. 341–347, in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1. “Fallen man is Satan’s lawful captive. The mission of Christ was to rescue him from the power of his great adversary. Man is naturally inclined to follow Satan’s suggestions, and he cannot successfully resist so terrible a foe unless Christ, the mighty Conqueror, dwells in him, guiding his desires, and giving him strength. God alone can limit the power of Satan. He is going to and fro in the earth, and...
Mar 07, 2025•12 min•Season 7Ep. 2327
The cosmic conflict is primarily a dispute over God’s character, caused by the devil’s slanderous allegations against God’s goodness, justice, and government. It is a kind of cosmic covenant lawsuit. Such a conflict cannot be settled by sheer power but, instead, requires demonstration. If serious allegations are brought against a person in power, the best (and maybe only) way to defeat the allegations would be to allow for a free, fair, and open investigation. If the allegations threaten the ent...
Mar 06, 2025•16 min•Season 7Ep. 2326
We have seen in previous lessons that, within the cosmic conflict, Satan and his cohorts are temporarily granted significant jurisdiction in this world, limited according to some kind of rules of engagement. These rules of engagement limit not only the actions of the enemy—the devil and his cohorts—but they also limit God’s action to eliminate or mitigate the evil that (temporarily) falls within the jurisdiction of the enemy. Because the Lord will never break His promises, to the extent He has a...
Mar 05, 2025•13 min•Season 7Ep. 2325
In the book of Job, we are given some fascinating insights into the reality of the great controversy. Read Job 1:1–12 and Job 2:1–7 . What principles of the great controversy do we see unveiled here? Many significant details can be gleaned from these verses. First, there appears to be some kind of heavenly council scene, not merely a dialogue between God and Satan; other celestial beings are involved. Second, there is some existing dispute, signaled by the fact that God asks whether Satan has co...
Mar 03, 2025•15 min•Season 7Ep. 2324
The overarching perspective of celestial rulers in the cosmic conflict is encapsulated in the book of Revelation, where the devil is depicted as “the great dragon” who opposes God and “deceives the whole world” ( Rev. 12:9, NKJV ). Read Revelation 13:1–8 . What does this reveal about the extent of the dragon’s jurisdiction? The dragon (Satan) not only wars against God ( Rev. 12:7–9 ) and His servants (for example, Rev. 12:1–6 ), but he is depicted as the ruler behind the earthly kingdoms who per...
Mar 03, 2025•14 min•Season 7Ep. 2323
As we have seen, the false “gods” of the nations were demons in disguise. And elsewhere we see evidence that demonic celestial rulers are sometimes behind earthly rulers. Even angelic agents sent by God can be opposed by the forces of the enemy. Read Daniel 10:1–14 , with special attention to verses 12, 13. What do these verses teach that is relevant to the cosmic conflict? What do you make of the angel sent by God being “withstood” for twenty-one days? How could it be that an angel sent by God ...
Mar 02, 2025•17 min•Season 7Ep. 2322
Read for This Week’s Study Dan. 10:1–14, Rev. 13:1–8, Job 1:1–12, Job 2:1–7, John 12:31, John 14:30, Mark 6:5, Mark 9:29 . Memory Text: A powerful narrative that reveals the nature of the cosmic conflict can be found in 1 Kings 18:19–40 , Elijah on Mount Carmel, where the Lord exposes the so-called “gods of the nations.” Yet, there is more behind the scenes about these “gods” than that they are mere figments of pagan imagination. Behind the “gods” that the nations surrounding Israel thought they...
Mar 01, 2025•13 min•Season 7Ep. 2321
Read Ellen G. White, “The Origin of Evil,” pp. 492–504, in The Great Controversy. “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 immediate...
Feb 28, 2025•7 min•Season 7Ep. 2320
We have seen some passages that teach a cosmic conflict between God and Satan. But how is such a conflict even possible? How could anyone oppose the omnipotent God? If the cosmic conflict were over sheer power, it would have been over before it started. It must be of a different kind. Indeed, Scripture reveals that the conflict is a dispute over God’s character—a conflict over slanderous allegations raised by the devil against God, that (among other things) He is not fully good and loving. Such ...
Feb 27, 2025•8 min•Season 7Ep. 2319
Satan’s quest to usurp God’s throne is also revealed in the temptation narratives found in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 . In the striking encounter between Jesus and the tempter, much is revealed about the nature of the conflict. Here we see the reality of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, but played out in stark and graphic terms. Read Matthew 4:1–11 . How is the reality of the great controversy between Christ and Satan revealed here? The Spirit had “led” Jesus into the wilderness for the...
Feb 26, 2025•10 min•Season 7Ep. 2318
Genesis 1–3 alone shows that evil existed before the fall of Adam and Eve. Even if evil was not a concrete reality in Eden, conceptually, “evil” has already appeared, in the name of “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” ( Gen. 2:9, 17 ). Then the serpent accuses God of lying when, in fact, he, the serpent, is the one lying. The existence of the serpent ( Rev. 12:9 ), along with his lying, shows the reality of evil there. Thus, even in Eden before the Fall, the presence of evil is manifest...
Feb 25, 2025•15 min•Season 7Ep. 2317
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? According to Genesis 1:31 , when God finished creating the world, it was “very good.” In Genesis 1 , there is no hint of evil in God’s creation of this planet. ...
Feb 24, 2025•14 min•Season 7Ep. 2316
Read Matthew 13:24–27. How does the parable help us understand evil in our world? Jesus tells the story of a landowner who sows only good seeds in his field. However, tares spring up among the wheat. Upon seeing this, the servants of the owner ask him, “ ‘ “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” ’ ” (Matt. 13:27, NKJV). This is similar to the question often asked today concerning the problem of evil: If God created the world entirely good, why is there evil i...
Feb 23, 2025•12 min•Season 7Ep. 2315
Read for This Week’s Study Matt. 13:24–27; Gen. 1:31; Ezek. 28:12–19; Isa. 14:12–15; Matt. 4:1–11; John 8:44, 45 . Memory Text: Central to biblical theology is the great controversy between Christ and Satan. Although the idea of a cosmic conflict between God and celestial creatures who have fallen and rebelled against God is a prominent motif of Scripture ( Matt. 13:24–30, 37–39; Rev. 12:7–10 ) and also is prevalent in much of Christian tradition, many Christians have rejected or neglected the w...
Feb 22, 2025•7 min•Season 7Ep. 2314
Read Ellen G. White, “ ‘God With Us,’ ” pp. 19–26, in The Desire of Ages. “The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of ‘the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.’ Rom. 16:25 , R. V. It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power...
Feb 21, 2025•5 min•Season 7Ep. 2313
If everything occurred according to God’s ideal will, there would never have been evil but only the perfect bliss of love and harmony. Eventually, the universe will be restored to this perfect, ideal will of God. In the meantime, God is working out His will in a way that takes into account the free decisions of His creatures. Imagine a baking competition in which all participants are required to use some particular set of ingredients, but they can add any other ingredients they want in order to ...
Feb 20, 2025•6 min•Season 7Ep. 2312
Read Ephesians 1:9–11 . What is this text saying about predestination? Are some people predestined to be saved and others to be lost? The Greek term translated “predestination” here and elsewhere in Scripture (prohorizo) does not itself teach that God causally determines history. Rather, the Greek term simply means “to decide beforehand.” Of course, one can decide something beforehand unilaterally, or one can decide something beforehand in a way that takes into account the free decisions of othe...
Feb 19, 2025•13 min•Season 7Ep. 2311
That God is all-powerful does not mean that He can do the logically impossible. Accordingly, God cannot causally determine that someone freely love Him. If freely doing something means to do something without being determined to do it, then by definition it is impossible to make someone freely do something. In short, as we have seen, and must re-emphasize—God cannot force anyone to love Him, for the moment it’s forced, it is no longer love. Read Matthew 22:37 and Deuteronomy 6:4, 5 . What do the...
Feb 18, 2025•14 min•Season 7Ep. 2310
Throughout Scripture, God’s amazing power is made manifest. The Bible includes countless narratives of His exercising His power and working miracles. And yet, despite this, many things happen that God does not want to happen. Read Revelation 11:17, Jeremiah 32:17–20, Luke 1:37, and Matthew 19:26 . Consider also Hebrews 1:3 . What do these passages teach about God’s power? These texts and others teach that God is all-powerful and that He sustains the world by His power. Indeed, Revelation repeate...
Feb 17, 2025•13 min•Season 7Ep. 2309
“God is sovereign,” the youth pastor taught his middle school group. “That means He controls everything that happens.” One puzzled middle schooler replied, “So God was in control when my dog died? Why would God kill my dog?” Trying to answer this question, the youth pastor replied: “That’s a tough one. But sometimes God lets us go through hard times so that we’re prepared for even more difficult things in the future. I remember how hard it was when my dog died. But going through that helped me d...
Feb 16, 2025•12 min•Season 7Ep. 2308
Read for This Week’s Study Luke 13:34; Jer. 32:17–20; Heb. 1:3; Deut. 6:4, 5; Eph. 1:9–11; John 16:33 . Memory Text: Providence is the term used to describe God’s action in the world. How we think about God’s providence makes a huge difference in how we relate to God, how we relate to others, and how we think about the problem of evil. Christians hold various understandings of divine providence. Some believe that God exercises His power in a way that determines all events to happen just as they ...
Feb 15, 2025•7 min•Season 7Ep. 2307
Read Ellen G. White, “Why Was Sin Permitted?” pp. 33–43, in Patriarchs and Prophets. “Even when he was cast out of heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence. The inhabitants of heaven and of the worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice of God in the destruction of Satan. Had h...
Feb 14, 2025•13 min•Season 7Ep. 2306
God has granted creatures free will because it is necessary for love; misuse of this free will is the cause of evil. Again, many questions remain. God allows evil (for a time), while passionately despising it, because to exclude its possibility would exclude love, and to destroy it prematurely would damage the trust necessary for love. “The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive pow...
Feb 13, 2025•15 min•Season 7Ep. 2305
However much we don’t understand of God’s ways and thoughts, Scripture does reveal some things that help to address the problem of evil. One avenue for addressing the logical problem of evil is known as the freewill defense. The freewill defense is the view that evil is the result of the misuse of creaturely free will. God, then, is not to blame for evil, because evil is the result of creatures misusing the free will that God has given us for good reasons. Why, however, would God give such free ...
Feb 12, 2025•14 min•Season 7Ep. 2304
God proclaims in Isaiah 55:8, 9 , “ ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’ ” (NKJV). God’s thoughts are far higher than ours. We cannot even imagine the complexities of God’s plan for history. Given this, why should we expect to be in a position to know just what God’s reasons are for what He does or does not do in various situations...
Feb 11, 2025•18 min•Season 7Ep. 2303
The end of history will come with the triumph of love over evil. But, in the meantime, many troubling questions remain. How can we think and talk about the problem of evil in a way that might be helpful? Read Job 38:1–12 . How does God’s answer to Job shed light on the problem of evil? How much do we know and not know about what might be going on behind the scenes? In the narrative, Job had suffered much and had voiced many questions himself about why so much evil and suffering had befallen him....
Feb 10, 2025•15 min•Season 7Ep. 2302
The problem of evil is voiced not only in contemporary contexts but also in Scripture itself. Read Job 30:26, Jeremiah 12:1, Jeremiah 13:22, Malachi 2:17, and Psalm 10:1 . How do these texts bring the problem of evil to the forefront of human experience? These texts raise many questions that are still with us today. Why does it seem as though the wicked prosper and those who do evil benefit from their evil, perhaps not always but still often enough? Why do the righteous suffer so much? Where is...
Feb 09, 2025•16 min•Season 7Ep. 2301
Read for This Week’s Study Job 30:26; Matt. 27:46; Job 38:1–12; Psalm 73; Gen. 2:16, 17; Rev. 21:3, 4 . Memory Text: Perhaps the greatest problem facing Christianity is the problem of evil—how to reconcile the fact that God is perfectly good and loving, with the fact of evil in this world. In brief terms, if God is all-good and all-powerful, why is there evil, and so much of it, too? This is not merely an academic problem but something that deeply troubles many people and that keeps some from co...
Feb 08, 2025•8 min•Season 7Ep. 2300
