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It Is Written

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2024: The Great Controversy

Mark Finley

Eric Flickinger

01 The War Behind All Wars

Welcome to Sabbath School brought to you by It Is Written.

We're glad that you could join us for a brand new study where for the next 13 episodes, we are going to be diving into 1 of the most significant and important subjects in all of Christianity.

And why is it important to you and to me living today?

We're going to be finding out in the very, very near future.

We're glad that you are with us, but before we begin, let's start with prayer.

Father, we want to thank you for being with us today.

And as we delve into this very significant subject, we ask that you would guide our study of your word and through it, may we understand better who you are and what your plan is for us and for the rest of your children as we look forward to that great day when Jesus returns.

And we are grateful during the course of this entire series of studies to have with us Pastor Mark Finley.

He is an international author, speaker, evangelist, and former speaker director of this ministry, It Is Written.

You know, it's so exciting to participate with It is Written.

I spent 14 of the most precious years of my life at It is Written.

We look back at very fond memories of our time there And we're just excited to be with you anytime we can work together with It Is Written.

It's always a blessing to have you here on our programs.

We're looking at The Great Controversy, a very significant subject, an intensely and immensely significant subject.

What is the Great Controversy and why are we going to be spending 13 episodes looking at this very important subject?

Well, the Great controversy is the theme that really ties the entire Bible together.

When you think of this great controversy or conflict between good and evil, we think first about God creating angelic beings with the freedom of choice.

And then 1 of those angels rebelling against God.

And so this great controversy starts in heaven.

It is then transferred to earth as Adam and Eve disobey God.

And down through the Old Testament history, we see this conflict between good and evil, between the forces of right and the forces of wrong.

Jesus comes and the controversy intensifies, particularly at the cross, where Satan does everything he can to destroy Jesus.

But Jesus, our sin bearer, bears the guilt and shame of the sins of the world.

And then is marvelously resurrected after his death on the cross and serves in heaven as our great high priest, giving us strength in the great controversy between good and evil.

We look down through the Middle Ages where truth was compromised and on to end time where God will restore that truth and the ultimate coming of Jesus and the restoration of a new heavens and a new earth.

So the great controversy goes from the rebellion in heaven, Eden lost, down through the centuries, to Eden regained with the new heavens and a new earth.

So it is that overarching theme of all of Scripture.

So this overarching theme of all of scripture that we're going to be delving into.

This is something that you've been studying for a long time, and we see the world that we're in right now and the challenges that we're facing.

How long ago did God impress you that this subject was something worth diving into?

How did we end up with it in our hands today?

And why do you think it really is important for people living today, all around the world, to grasp this important subject?

Well, when I went into ministry, I began to sense the importance of this Great Controversy theme.

And I've been in ministry 57 years, and so I've been preaching on the Great Controversy theme.

In 2024 and 2025, Seventh-day Adventists have a massive project of distributing the book, The Great Controversy by Ellen White.

There'll be millions and millions distributed.

There will be hard copies in the full edition.

And I was asked to prepare the Sabbath school lessons based on the book Great Controversy, but anchored in scripture.

Every lesson has its foundation in scripture.

But something unique that we've done with this quarter's lessons is we have listed the chapters from Great Controversy that that biblical lesson is based on.

I've written now this is my fifth Sabbath school quarterly.

The general conference president, Theodore Wilson called me and he said, Mark, I've got an assignment, but it's an interesting 1.

He said, well, the timeline is quite short.

Because usually we have 2 years, 2 and a half years to write the lessons.

And he said, Mark, we got about 3 months, but we need a series on the great controversy.

Well, you know, it takes about 15 hours a lesson, about 200 hours to write it.

I didn't have that time just sitting around, but when my dear friend, Elder Wilson, asks me something like that, and I put everything else aside basically and wrote the series on the Great Controversy in about 3 months of time.

And so I'm just so thankful for that privilege because it is such a vital, vital scene, particularly for those of us that are living in the last days at end time, because prophecies are being fulfilled all around us that we find outlined in the Great Controversy.

So very significant subject for us today.

I want to drop into the first lesson in this quarter's study guide.

Why did you choose that title to launch us into this 13-study journey on the Great Controversy?

When you think about it, what really is behind every war, from the battle that took place in heaven to all of the Old Testament struggles between Israel and the Amalekites and the Jebusites and so forth.

When you look at the origin of war, they usually come because of selfishness, the pride of nations, the desire of would-be world rulers to rule, to control.

And so the war behind all wars is that war that began in heaven when Lucifer rebelled against the government of God.

And he did so filled with pride, filled with arrogance, filled with this desire to dominate.

So the basic philosophy of war is domination.

The war behind all wars, the great controversy between good and evil, is Satan's attempt to dominate and to take the rightful ruler of the throne, Jesus Christ, off the throne.

So Satan's desire is to dominate, evil's desire is to dominate, has been since, well, the beginning of rebellion and that selfishness.

You know, 1 of The big questions that a lot of people have today is if God is supposedly so good and so powerful and so Wonderful and so loving if he's so good.

And and How are we going to be answering that question as we go through this quarter's lesson?

Well, Pastor Eric, you know, you and I do a lot of evangelism, and that's 1 of the questions we get very often in evangelism.

If God is so good, why is the world so bad?

Why does the loving God allow so much suffering in our world?

When God created angelic beings and God created Cherubim and Serabim and all of his creation, he gave to them freedom of choice.

Now let's suppose that God did not give his beings freedom of choice.

If you take away freedom of choice, you take away the opportunity to love.

And if you cannot love, you cannot have fulfillment or true happiness.

When you give the freedom of choice, you run the risk of beings making the wrong choice.

But God respects the freedom of choice because that's what makes a human being, the ability to choose.

That is what allowed heavenly beings to be higher than simply mere robots or Ottomans, mere puppets.

So the reason there's so much suffering in the world is that in the power of choice comes the ability to make the wrong choice.

And when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they opened a door that God wanted forever shut, the door of sickness, suffering, heartache, and evil.

When Lucifer rebelled in heaven, he opened a door that God wanted forever shut.

02 The Central Issue: Love or Selfishness?

We are looking this week at the great controversy and looking at our second installment, our second episode, this 1 on the central issue, love or selfishness.

A fascinating subject and we're going to dive into some of the greatest questions that people have about God and about Christianity in this week's lesson.

But before we begin, let's start with prayer.

Father we thank you for being with us again as we take a look at this significant subject of the great controversy.

And this week as we take a look at love or selfishness, help us to understand better the character of love that you have so that we can better understand your plans for us.

We are grateful once again also to have back the author of this quarter's study guide, and that is Pastor Mark Finley.

He is an international author, speaker, and evangelist, and much-loved friend here at It Is Written.

Always enjoy working with you to share God's word.

Absolutely, and that is what we are doing this quarter, a significant subject.

And this week in lesson number 2 the central issue love or selfishness.

Now you begin this week's lesson by taking a look at the destruction of Jerusalem and thousands of people were were slaughtered in the destruction of Jerusalem.

It's kind of a, it's an interesting way to start a week that talks about love.

Help us to understand that a little bit more.

Well, you know, a lot of people ask the question, if God is love, why is there so much suffering in our world?

We talked a little bit about that in lesson number 1, but when you look at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, God had borne long with his people for millenniums, sending prophets, sending messages of appeal, sending messages of love.

He sent his own son, Jesus Christ, who ultimately was crucified.

So the destruction of Jerusalem shows that God himself is a loving God making appeals for generations and centuries.

And then in addition to that, the lesson on Monday for a on Sunday, for example, a brokenhearted Savior.

That lesson reveals that Jesus weeps over the destruction of Jerusalem.

And there's a wonderful Bible passage in.

Matthew Chapter 23 verse 37 and 38, but I think comes to the very heart of the answer to your question.

You can almost hear the pathos in Jesus' voice here.

You almost can hear the love in his tones and you could almost see the tears rolling down his cheeks when he says, Matthew 23, 37, 38, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the 1 who kills the prophets and stones those that are sent to you.

How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under wings, but you were not willing.

See, your house has left you desolate, for I say to you, you'll see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." You know, Jesus says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, my love for you is endless, limitless.

I've sent messages of rebuke and messages of repentance to you.

You saw him when he touched the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf and you saw his miracles, but you would not.

Here we find a God that has done everything he could to save Jerusalem.

And you know, actually the destruction of Jerusalem is a symbol.

It's a symbolic portrayal, although it really happened, of course, but it's a symbol of destruction of the world at end time.

And this same God is appealing to humanity today to accept his love and grace and be saved from the destruction that's to come.

You know, this idea that God allows bad things to happen because he doesn't care is popular outside of Christendom and it's often used as an argument against Christianity.

But what we see as we read the Bible is that that's not the case.

It's not that he's heartless, that he's a tyrant.

He does care about his children and he's doing what he can to help them make the right decisions, to make the right choices and head in the right direction.

And even though the destruction of Jerusalem was terrible, was horrible, there was a silver lining, if we can call it that, in that there were some who escaped, some who did not meet destruction.

You know, Jesus gave the morning, and that's another aspect of his love.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 24, verse 15, when he says, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, that's the approach of the Roman armies to surround Jerusalem, spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand, but those were in Judea, flee to the mountains, but him who's on the housetop not come down to take anything, but him who's in the field not go back to get his clothes.

And then he says, pray that your fight be not in the winter on the Sabbath.

In other words, Jesus pointed out that the Roman soldiers would surround the city, But as they were approaching, Jesus said, when you see this, it's a signal that the city is going to be destroyed.

Now, the interesting thing about it is that Sestius, the Roman general in 69 AD came to destroy the city and as he came for some reason he pulled back and didn't destroy it.

The Christians knew that that was a sign that the city would be destroyed.

They fled and we are told that not 1 Christian lost their life in the destruction of Jerusalem.

So again, you see 2 things on God's love.

1, the repeated warnings that he gave to Israel and the Jewish nation that the city would be destroyed and the appeals in his love.

But secondly, he said when you see the Roman armies come, so this was not something exclusively for Christians only, but it was for anybody who wanted to flee, who heard the word of God, and Christians did, and they fled.

So in other words, you see God's love trying to protect his people from the destruction.

So God in Old Testament times, as well as New Testament times, has given warnings, he's given promises of his watch care for people.

What kind of promises are there in the Old Testament that help us to understand that God's presence is there with us, even when we are in times of trial today.

Oh, there's some wonderful promises that I think 1 of my favorite, Eric, is Isaiah 41, verse 10.

In Isaiah 41, 10, It is a very, very precious promise.

In other words, don't be confused, for I am your God.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Then of course you take a Psalm like Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear that the earth be removed and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea.

So you have these wonderful promises in the Bible, Psalm 91, a thousand will fall at your side, 10000 at your right hand, but it will not come nigh you.

For he'll give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways.

So you have these promises that as we're faithful to God, he is there with us in the trials, the difficulties, the challenges of life.

Now, some people misunderstand that to mean that if God is there with you, that he will automatically preserve your life or keep you from getting sick or miraculously heal you if you happen to become ill.

But we read the New Testament story of the New Testament church.

They went through trials, they went through persecution, they experienced death, yet the church grew rapidly.

How did that happen with that kind of persecution?

As Christians, we are not playthings of the devil.

So the devil doesn't have free access to us to do whatever he wants to do.

If God, because of natural causes, allows suffering, it can accomplish the purpose of deeper faith, deeper trust, deeper dependence upon him.

And so it's not that a Christian will never get sick.

It's not a Christian that will never have deformities.

It's not that a Christian will never die in a car accident.

It is rather in the controversy between good and evil, God allows natural processes to work out, but he promises, Matthew 28 verse 20, Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the Earth.

Hebrews 13, I'll never leave you, I'll forsake you.

So God is there with us in every challenge of life to strengthen us.

But those challenges in the context of suffering, being in a very real world, those challenges deepen our faith and they can draw us closer to Him.

Now that's a pretty deep subject and perhaps a subject that somebody might want to dig more deeply into.

We've touched it, we've scratched the surface as it were, but it's an important 1.

There is a companion book to this quarter's Sabbath school lesson that's called The War Between Good and Evil.

It's a supplement, a companion to what we're studying in this quarter's lesson.

03 Light Shines in the Darkness

We are taking a journey through an incredible subject, the Great Controversy.

And this week, we are looking at Lesson Number 3, Light Shines in the Darkness, a very important bit of history for Christianity.

Father, we want to thank you for blessing us with an opportunity to study this incredible theme.

And as we look at this subject this week, We ask that you would open our hearts and our minds to a significant element of the history of Christianity that can give us hope for today and tomorrow.

Well, as we take a look at this week's lesson, we will have with us once again the author of this quarter's Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, Pastor Mark Finley.

He is an international speaker, evangelist, author.

Pastor Mark, we're glad to have you back again.

It's always great to work with my friends at It Is Written Television.

Well this week as I mentioned we're taking a look at Light Shines in the Darkness and this week's memory verse is a significant 1.

I'd like to read it and then give you an opportunity to reflect a little bit on it.

It says, "...then Jesus said to them, a little while longer the light is with you.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.

He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going." What's the significance of this text?

Throughout the Bible you have this contrast between light and darkness.

In fact, Jesus in John chapter 8 said, I am the light of the world.

So walking in the light is walking with Jesus.

Walking in the darkness, Satan is the author of darkness, that is spiritual darkness.

He wants people confused and not understanding the word of God.

So when Jesus says, walk while you have the light, just before that he talked about his crucifixion and what he was saying is, I'm here now.

The spiritual lesson of that to each of us is that at some time in every life, God reveals his light and truth and he invites us to walk in it.

In fact, not only some time, but every day God is revealing to us facets of light and truth, and he's encouraging us to create an appetite, a desire, the will to do whatever he asks us to do and walk in the light of His word.

So there is in this world, in this life, light and darkness.

And there are many Bible verses that draw this out.

I'd like to read a couple of more Bible verses here, Pastor Mark, John 14, 6 and John 8, verse 44, and give you the opportunity to compare and to contrast those 2.

I'll start with John 14 and verse number 6.

In John 14, verse number 6, Jesus says, where Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No 1 comes to the Father except through me." And then we're gonna contrast that with John 8, verse 44, where Jesus says, "'You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

When he speaks a lie he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it." So 1 of these verses is clearly describing Jesus, and the other is clearly describing the adversary.

Help us to draw some things out of these verses.

Well, Jesus is the author of truth, and all truth resides in Christ.

And so Jesus reveals the truth of his word to lead us on the pathway of eternal life.

For example, if I say 1 plus 1 equals 2 or 3 plus 2 equals 5 or 5 times 6 equals 30.

How many right answers are 5 times 6 equals 30?

He will do everything he can to confuse the mind, to lie to us.

There's another aspect of that too, and Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

When Christ reveals the truth to us, He reveals the truth about salvation, the truth about his word, the truth about the fact that we are children of God, the truth about the fact that he's doing everything he can to save us.

He says you're unworthy, you cannot be saved.

He says your sins are too great, you cannot be saved.

He says that you have no self-worth or self-esteem.

In Christ we find the truth about Jesus, but we also find the truth about ourselves, we find the truth about the point of salvation.

Satan wants to distort all that and confuse our thinking.

Pastor Mark, when we talk about truth, years ago, I think many people accepted that there is a truth, there is 1 truth.

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