It was insane of the adversary to begin this war over his desire to be worshiped as God. It is equally insane for him to continue this war, now that he knows that he has lost. But continue he does, in a mad desire to bring down as many as he can with him. And since no one in the wider universe is willing to listen to his charges any more, he concentrates his destructive efforts on us here on this planet. Only on earth can he find individuals willing to listen, he even finds many who agree with him. That explains the warning of Revelation 12:
Be glad, you heavens, and all you that live there! But how terrible for the earth and the sea! For the Devil has come down to you, and he is filled with rage, because he knows that he has only a little time left (Rev 12:12, GNB).
We are at the center of Satan’s deceptive activity because earth is where we live. Hence Peter offers a similar warning in 1 Peter 5:8-9, GNB: “Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him. . . .”
The apostle John warns that Satan’s final efforts to deceive will apparently be rewarded with complete success. For the whole world is described as worshiping him, the very thing he’s wanted all along:
The beast [Satan working through agents on earth], was allowed to make proud claims which were insulting to God. . . . It was allowed to fight against God’s people and to defeat them. . . . All people living on earth will worship it, except those whose names were written before the creation of the world in the book of the living. . . . This calls for endurance and faith on the part of God’s people [emphases supplied]. Rev 13:5, 7, 8, 10, GNB.
These words in Revelation 13 remind us of Revelation 14:12: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” [emphases supplied]. Rev 14:12, RSV. So that appeal is made more than once. The closing up of the Great Controversy and Satan’s final effort to deceive call for endurance and faith on the part of God’s people.