2. • According to Revelation 12:7–9, the Great Controversy began
in heaven with a war between Michael (Christ) and the great
red dragon, which in verse 9 is identified as Satan.
• He, we are told, “was cast to the earth, and his angels were
cast out with him” (vs. 9). Ellen G. White in vision saw that
the original expulsion of Satan from heaven took place before
the creation of Adam and Eve. “When Adam and Eve were
placed in the beautiful garden, Satan was laying plans to
destroy them.”2 He succeeded in leading Adam and Eve
astray, and ever since, the Great Controversy has been
carried on here on earth.
3. In Genesis 3:15 God promised to put enmity between the
woman and the serpent and their respective seeds, and the
history of the world bears witness to this fact. Abel was the first
victim of this enmity (Gen. 4:8), then came the great flood
(Genesis 6–9) which left only eight people on this Earth.
Nevertheless, their descendants too yielded to Satan’s
temptations, and the history of Israel is replete of examples of
the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The worship of
the golden calf at Sinai (Exodus 32), the rebellion at Kadesh
Barnea (Numbers 13, 14), and the repeated rejection of God
during the period of the judges and the kings of Israel and
Judah illustrate Satan’s strategy of leading astray as many
people as possible.
4. If there is one Bible book that exemplifies the Great
Controversy more than any other, it is the Book of
Job. In this book, Satan is shown as the cause of
humanity’s troubles, yet at the same time, it also
reveals that there are limits imposed on Satan’s
ability to afflict those who are loyal to God. Through
Job’s friends, Satan accuses Job falsely, thereby
manifesting his role as “‘the accuser of our
brethren’” (Rev. 12:10). In the end, however, God
vindicates Job, just as He vindicates His saints in the
pre-Advent judgment.
5. In Revelation 12:1–5, the woman,
symbolizing the people of God, brings
forth the child (Christ) “who was to rule
all nations with a rod of iron” (vs. 5). The
great red dragon (Satan) tries to destroy
the Christ child, but He is “caught up to
God and His throne” (vs. 5).
6. These five verses describe in terse language the climax
of the great controversy. Soon after Christ’s birth, Satan
attempted to kill Him by means of Herod’s massacre of
the children of Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16), but Jesus was
led to safety in Egypt. After Jesus’ baptism, Satan
tempted Him in the wilderness to lead Him into sin and
thereby destroy the plan of redemption, but Jesus
resisted all his temptations (Matthew 4). Then, as Jesus
was visiting Nazareth, Satan incited His own people to
kill him, but Jesus “passing through the midst of them, .
. . went His way” (Luke 4:30). Finally, when Jesus was
nailed to the cross, Satan thought he had achieved his
goal, but in dying on the Cross, Jesus fulfilled the plan
of redemption and achieved the decisive victory over
Satan (John 19:30).
7. All heaven,” wrote Ellen G. White, “triumphed in the
Saviour’s victory. Satan was defeated, and knew that his
kingdom was lost.”3 But beyond the redemption of
humanity, the death of Christ had also revelatory
significance. “Not until the death of Christ was the
character of Satan clearly revealed to the angels or to
the unfallen worlds. The archapostate had so clothed
himself with deception that even holy beings had not
understood his principles. They had not clearly seen the
nature of his rebellion.”4 But when they saw Jesus
hanging on the Cross, they understood the true meaning
of what Satan had done.
8. Thus, the death of Christ not only achieved the salvation of
humanity, it also revealed the true characters of God and
Satan. While the decisive phase of the plan of redemption
was completed at Calvary, the Great Controversy did not
end there. Paul explained in Ephesians 6:11–18 that the
Christian has to fight not against flesh and blood but
“against the rulers of the darkness of this age” (vs. 12). He
himself attributed hindrances to his travel plans to Satan (1
Thess. 2:18), and in 1 Corinthians 4:9, he observed that in
this controversy between God and Satan, he and the
apostles “have been made a spectacle to the world, both to
angels and to men.”
9. The outcome of the Great Controversy is not
in doubt. Scripture repeatedly tells us that
Christ’s coming at the end of time will bring to
an end evil and wickedness on this earth (2
Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:11–21; 20:7–10). Then God
will re-create this earth as a place where
“‘there shall be no more death, nor sorrow,
nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for
the former things have passed away’” (Rev.
21:4).
10. The great controversy theme not
only explains why humankind is
lost and in need of a Savior, it also
provides a coherent explanation
for all other events in history.
