HopeLives365

Guest (Male): God did not abandon Adam and Eve when they sinned. God didn't turn His back on the human race because it rebelled against Him. From the very beginning when sin first entered the world, our God had a plan. He showed us a way out.

Guest (Female): This is HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message: The War Behind All Wars. Enjoy and remember you can always catch past messages and stay up to date with HopeLives365 and Pastor Mark by going to HopeLives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Does it seem to you sometimes that just about everybody is fighting about something? It could be two little boys fighting in the school playground. It could be a husband and wife arguing, trading harsh, bitter words. It could be two prize fighters in a ring. It could be two political parties exchanging insults and accusations. It could even at times feel as if a fight is taking place right inside of you—a fight between your good side and your not-good side.

According to the Carter Center, an organization established by former American President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn to promote peace and combat world hunger and disease, at least 110 wars are raging around the world in any given year. At least 30 of these are considered to be major conflicts. Today's wars play out on 24-hour TV news channels. If there's a war of any consequence happening somewhere in the world, it's really hard to miss it.

Why then has the world's media missed the biggest war of them all? Why is the longest and most important conflict in all human history being totally ignored? You won't find it reported on cable news, over the radio, in newspapers, or on the internet. It's the war behind all wars. It's the mother of all conflicts. It's the great controversy between good and evil.

There's a chilling scenario in Michael Crichton's science fiction bestseller entitled *The Andromeda Strain*. He pictures a fictitious character by the name of Dr. Jeremy Stone staring in disbelief at an image on the electron microscope monitor. Here in this top-secret five-level underground lab, he and his team have worked through the night to isolate the microbe, and they're running out of time.

Two days earlier, a classified military satellite named Scoop 7, after developing instability in orbit, had been deliberately brought down in the Arizona desert. The two-man recovery team sent from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California had tracked the satellite's locator signal to the remote desert town of Piedmont, population 48. Entering the village, the team reported that the streets were littered with bodies. At Vandenberg, where the progress of the recovery operation was being monitored by radio, the staff at Scoop Mission Control suddenly heard a high-pitched scream followed by crunching noise. Mission Control could not raise the two men again.

A second team outfitted with airtight suits and helmets had been dispatched to Piedmont. There they recovered the satellite and, to their surprise, found two survivors: an old man and an infant. The survivors and the satellite were rushed to the underground Wildfire Lab just outside Flat Rock, Nevada. Searching for the cause of the mysterious deaths, the Wildfire team had discovered what they had feared might be true: the satellite had brought back from space a deadly extraterrestrial life form.

Now, their eyes riveted to this wall monitor, Dr. Stone and his colleagues watch the green crystal-like microbe multiply rapidly. Unless they can find a way to neutralize it soon, it will be quickly spread to destroy all life on Planet Earth. Now, all through the scene I've just described, it's pure fiction. It's make-believe. But people sometimes are just captured by this fiction, aren't they? They're captured by some fascinating story.

But I want to tell you something: scientists today are deeply concerned about rapidly spreading communicable disease. We saw that some in COVID-19, didn't we? And some of the scientists actually fear a possible space germ far less than we do a real virus right here on earth. Just think of some of the viruses. There's HIV, a killer virus that attacks the body's immune defense system and leads to the cause of AIDS. It has been a frightening epidemic in parts of Africa. We are developing now new mechanisms and new drugs to deal with it.

Though a search still continues, it's still a disease, and we're trying to do what we can to see if we can find a cure. Or you think of other infectious diseases that appear suddenly and threaten to spread out of control. We've had the SARS virus, the hantavirus, the Ebola virus, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, mad cow disease, and monkeypox. You see, our world has seen its share of deadly epidemics.

Between AD 1334 and AD 1351, up to 75 million people died in Eurasia of the plague known as the Black Death. More soldiers died in the Civil War of typhoid fever than were killed in action. Another 20 million perished worldwide in 1918 and 1919 of the influenza. Tens of millions more have died of cholera, smallpox, and contagious diseases. Yet the most lethal virus ever to devastate our planet is not AIDS or bubonic plague.

This killer has proven far more horrific and has swept away more millions than any other epidemic in history. Realize it or not, believe it or not, every human being alive today is infected and is burdened daily with the appalling symptoms of this lethal pandemic. This super-virus to which all other diseases of earth trace their origin is called sin. Sin is the ultimate cause of disease. It's the ultimate cause of death. It's the ultimate cause of accidents, tragedies, and disasters.

Grief and pain and violence and war and an endless host of other horrors exist solely as a result of the merciless invasion of the sin virus. The urgent and haunting question is: where did sin come from? God Himself answers that question for us in His message to us in the Bible. The Bible takes us back in time. That really helps us to understand this whole issue of war and conflict and disease and suffering.

The Bible takes us back to a time when there was no sin, a time when there was no evil. The stage is set. It takes us back to a time long, long, long ago to a place far, far away—a place called heaven. Here in heaven is God's throne, from which He oversees the vast universe He's created. Countless angels, brilliant, intelligent, sinless beings whom He has created, bask in the joy and love of His presence.

But God has chosen to create beings who loved Him because they wanted to, because they chose to, and not because they had to. So God created an angel with the awesome gift of free choice. He didn't create these angels as if they were computers who had been programmed to love. They were free to choose to love and obey their Creator. But that very freedom of choice meant that they also had to be free to choose against Him. That is the risk, the enormous risk that God took.

Reflecting His love of perfect order, each of the angels was assigned particular tasks. And the highest angel over them all is one called Lucifer. The word Lucifer comes from two Latin words: *Lux*, *fero*. *Lux* meaning light, *fero* meaning bearer, or he could be called the Shining One. Lucifer was the covering cherub. He stood out in the immediate presence of God.

The scripture says in Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 14, God said to Lucifer, "For so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God. You walked among the fiery stones. You were the model of perfection," verse 12, "full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." In perfect peace and sinlessness, the eons of eternity moved on. How long Lucifer lived in heaven since his creation, the Bible does not tell us. Perhaps thousands of years, perhaps millions. Who knows? We don't know.

But as time continued, Lucifer apparently became increasingly conscious of his own beauty and wisdom. And apparently, he felt that he should be elevated to an even higher position in heaven's line of authority. This is the saga of a fallen angel. Only two other beings in heaven stood as equals with God the Father: Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Lucifer, knowing God to be fair and truthful, doubtless concluded that God would soon recognize his personal growth, his qualifications, his accomplishments, and promote him to a position equal with that of the Son and the Spirit. Ezekiel 28, verse 17 tells the story: "Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor." Notice the words, "You corrupted your wisdom." In other words, Lucifer wasn't thinking straight. His judgment had become distorted by a false picture of himself that he chose to believe.

Guest (Female): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world, so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence His life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: And since the problem could not possibly be with himself, Lucifer reasoned the problem had to be with God. Despite all the apparent evidence to the contrary, Lucifer concluded God was not fair. God was not just. God was not truthful. It seemed obvious to Lucifer that by affording special honors, privileges, and authority to Jesus, the Father was playing favorites. God simply must not be as He represented Himself to be to the universe.

So this guardian cherub came sincerely to believe his own false ideas about God's character, fully accepting them as true. For an extended period, Lucifer worked to convince the angels under him that the picture they had seen of God was inaccurate—that in fact He was a partial, unjust, unfair liar. Can you believe it? That Lucifer actually claimed that God was unfair, unjust, not telling the truth? Finally, dissatisfaction filled heaven.

Lucifer sowed these seeds of evil, and they ripened into a full-scale revolt. Why is there war on earth? Because there was first war in heaven. Revelation 12, verse 7 to 9: "There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon," Lucifer, "and the dragon and his angels fought, but he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 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, his angels with him."

Try to imagine what kind of disturbance this caused in heaven. Imagine a place where jealousy, slander, and malice don't exist, had never existed. It never occurred to anyone to question the wisdom and love of God before. And suddenly, this brilliant Lucifer, this cherub so near the throne of God, starts making his evil remarks. He wonders why God has to have all the glory. He wonders why every created being has to obey God. Maybe there's an alternative. Maybe there's a better way to run the universe.

Lucifer questioned God's fairness. Appearing so reasonable, so wise, on the inside pride and greed took over. He had cut himself off from love, but on the outside he remained a brilliant angel of light. And evidently, Lucifer persuaded many other angels to join his rebellion. The Bible says one-third of the angels joined him. A great battle developed around the throne of God. Now we come to God's response. What should He do with Lucifer? What should He do with this challenge?

Many may wish that God had simply destroyed Lucifer. Why? If this is the origin of evil, if Lucifer was the first to cut himself off from God's love, then why not nip it in the bud? Why not destroy evil before it had a chance to spread? Why not eliminate evil before it spread to other worlds? Good question. Why didn't God just execute Lucifer? Think for a moment about what that would have said to all the watching angels.

Suppose that the mayor of your city, sitting in his office in city hall, has become under attack by a city councilman. The city councilman accuses him of being unfair, arbitrary, and dictatorial. He claims the mayor has not really had the citizens' best interests in mind at all but is using his office to further his own selfish purposes. Now, how could that mayor respond if the charges were false? What if he called the police to arrest the councilman? Would that clear his name?

What if he ordered the National Guard units to surround the man at his home? Would that solve the problem? You see the point, of course. God's reputation and credibility were at stake when Satan delivered his haughty challenge. The question was: is God really just? Is His way really best? Eradicating the opposition would not have answered the challenge at all. Instead, God chose a wiser course. He would allow sin to exist in the universe for a period of time.

When it had been fully demonstrated that rebellion against God does not bring happiness but rather sickness and disaster, then the whole universe could see that God's way brings joy and Lucifer's way brings death. Then and only then would God destroy all evil. The answer is that God is love. Love takes the long view. God draws us to Himself with cords of love. Love does not coerce. Remember, Lucifer was the first to challenge God's fairness.

He claimed there was an alternative, a better way. He claimed that God's power was arbitrary. If God had killed him, would that have settled the question? Love does something different. Love does not force. Love lets people see for themselves, decide for themselves. God allowed each angel to decide whose side they would be on. A loving God allowed each one to choose. He wooed them with His love. He appealed through His grace.

But ultimately, each angel was free to choose their allegiance. Fully one-third of the angels accepted and believed Lucifer's false picture of God and were thrown out of heaven with him. The great battle between Christ and Lucifer, now called the devil or Satan, had begun. The war behind all wars, the war that would include and be the cause of every war ever fought on earth, was now raging.

But how is it that you and I are involved in this great war between God and His government of love, and Satan and his insurrection of selfishness? How did the great controversy move from angels to human beings? Evicted from heaven, Satan and his fellow rebels set up the headquarters of their counter-government on the small planet called earth. Now, God did not create earth as a dumping-off place for Satan.

Rather, Satan came here to this planet to tempt Adam and Eve as he had tempted others in the universe. God wanted the door of sin, suffering, sorrow, and heartache to be forever shut. God wanted the door of disease and death and destruction to be forever shut. God wanted the door of war to be forever shut. But let's go to the book of Genesis.

Here in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 and 27, God says, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them. God created the first human beings, Adam and Eve, with the same freedom of choice He had given the angels. He also created a beautiful garden called Eden as the home for our first parents.

God did not allow the fallen Satan to have free access to the man and woman He had created, confining him to just one tree in the center of the garden. And God warned Adam and Eve to stay away from that tree. He commanded them never to eat of it. Then came a tragic day that would change earth and human history forever. Let me sketch out the story for you.

Eve hadn't intended to wander away from Adam, but somehow, happily preoccupied with her work, she suddenly found herself alone, looking up at the tree God had warned them about. God had said, "You may eat of any tree in the garden of Eden, but do not eat the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden. If you eat it, you will certainly die." Now as she looked curiously at the tree, she noticed its attractive fruit and even wondered why God had declared this tree off-limits.

"Did God really tell you not to eat the fruit of any tree of the gardens?" Startled, Eve searched for the source of the questioning voice, but all she could see was a serpent draped across the lower branches of the tree. "I can't help but notice you're breathtakingly beautiful," she must have thought. And now Eve could see that the serpent was talking—a beautiful serpent, breathtaking, fascinating, but deceptive.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to HopeLives365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at HopeLives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to HopeLives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.

Mark Finley: "You're mistaken about the fruit. We're free to eat from any tree in the garden but this one," Eve said to Lucifer. "God says if we eat from this tree or if we touch it, we'll die." The serpent must have laughed. "Believe me, you won't die. I've known God for a long time. I can tell you he was just trying to scare you. You see, he knows that the fruit of this tree has incredible power.

Anybody who eats it moves up to a higher level of consciousness. In fact, those who eat this fruit will have the same knowledge God has. This is the tree of knowledge. Look at me, for example," he might have thought. "I'm just a serpent, but after eating this fruit, I'm able to speak just as you can. God doesn't want you to know what he knows, and God doesn't want you and your husband to know what he knows.

He doesn't want you to be as powerful as he is. Why should God share the same kind of knowledge that he has and power with anybody else? So to keep that from happening," Satan may have said, "he told you not to eat the fruit of this tree." He picked up the fruit—we know this from the Bible. Lucifer said, "You shall not surely die." We know from the Bible that he picked up the fruit and placed it in the hands of Eve.

Eve thought, "Wow, nothing's happened to me. This fruit is beautiful. It smells so good." She took one bite, then another. She savored the exotic new flavor. She thought she felt a wave of energy surging through her. She was sure that the sensation indicated that she was going to enter into a higher plane of consciousness. Before the day was out, Eve had shared the fruit from the tree with Adam, her husband.

Later that same day, Lucifer and his forces gleefully celebrated their great victory. Adam and Eve heard God calling them in the garden. Normally when He called, they gladly ran to meet Him. But this evening they hid themselves from the presence of God according to Genesis 3, verse 8. They hid themselves behind the trees. God began to call them, "Where are you?" You see, when we flee from God, God flees to us. When we run from God, God runs to us. "Where are you?" That's what God is saying to you today. "Where are you?"

Are you hiding from me? You may have just tuned in this radio program, but you're running from me. God says, "Come back to me." You may have eaten the forbidden fruit and sin, but God is speaking to you today saying, "Come back to me, my child." Jesus speaks to you today, the resurrected Christ speaks to you today. "My child, come. Open your heart to me. Make an eternal choice to follow me.

If you once followed me and you've drifted away, Jesus says, 'My arms are open to you. Come unto me, all you that are burdened and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.' Jesus says, 'Come back. If you've never accepted me,' Jesus says, 'open your heart to me, and I will change your life and transform you.'" Will you open your heart to Him today as we pray?

Father in heaven, thank You for Jesus. Thank You for His love and grace. Thank You that we can come to You just as we are. As the old song says, just as I am without one plea. Lord Jesus, I come. We come with our failures and our faults. We come with our sinfulness and at times our rebellious hearts. But we come. We come to the Christ that will accept us, forgive us, transform us. So change us by Your power. In Jesus' name, amen.