The Battle for the Human Race
The Story of the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan
Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.9 The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Space Wars
The battle on earth was about to reach its climax. Jesus had been telling his disciples of his imminent death at the hands of the Jewish leaders and the Romans that he would be betrayed by one of his own and handed over to be tortured and killed. It was in one of these talks to his disciples that Satan entered Peter to try to discourage Jesus from going through with it.
Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you! “23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Peter was not Satan, but it was Satan working through Peter to try and stop Jesus from completing his mission to save this planet from the influence of the dark side.
But Satan was more successful with another one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot. For he made a pact with the Pharisees and the dark side to betray Jesus into their hands. Jesus had already ridden into Jerusalem in a triumphal entry on a donkey; he had cleansed the Jewish Temple from the money changers, telling them that their house (temple) would be left to them desolate. Again he bamboozled the teachers of the law by answering all their trick questions as they tried vainly to trap him. And it was this last week, the Passover week, when all the Jewish nation had come to celebrate, that in the atmosphere of dejection and troubled minds that Jesus turned to his disciples, telling them not to be troubled.
John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me.2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
The Garden of Gethsemane
On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, he and his disciples had finished the last supper. Jesus had just washed the disciple’s feet. They sang a hymn and proceeded to leave the upper room and go over to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
The Greatest Battle For Planet Earth
Here in the backdrop of an imperfect garden where olives were crushed by the Gethsemane was the beginning of the greatest battle ever played out on planet earth. The destiny of the whole human race was at stake. If Christ loses the battle here, the whole human race would be doomed.
Humans were completely oblivious to the war that was going on. The great controversy between Christ and Satan was reaching its climax in the garden of Gethsemane. The agony which Christ was enduring as the sins of this world were placed upon him almost crushed out his life. He was about to experience the agony of being separated from his father for the first time in eternity. The decision that was made here to go to the cross, he saw no further. The agonizing prayer to His Father: “if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me that I drink it, but thy will be done.” Three times Christ offered up this prayer.
Ellen White wrote that Jesus was seized with superhuman agony. We cannot even imagine what Jesus was going through. She also wrote: Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground. From which He had partially risen.
But God had to send an angel to come and strengthen and encourage Him. This was no ordinary battle taking place herein the Garden of Gethsemane.
The battle for humanity was a full-on confrontation between Christ and Satan and the forces of evil. It involved not only this world but also the whole universe. As I have shown previously, the war started in heaven. It involved the heavenly host, which included the unfallen worlds. So you can imagine they were all looking on the great tussle in the Garden of Gethsemane with bated breath. This was going to affect them as well.
Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.9 The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
So in the backdrop of a garden, the decision was made to go through the agony which Satan and his followers would throw at Him and allow Himself to be humiliated, beaten beyond human recognition, which was prophesied in Isaiah 52:14.
Isaiah 52:14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness–
They beat Him, and scourged Him to the point of Him being unrecognizable. But He endured the pain, why? Because He loved us with an everlasting love.
The Battle Continues on Planet Earth.
