The Safety of the Wilderness – Part 2
TimeWatch Editorial
June 23, 2016
The protection of truth was accomplished in the Church in the Wilderness. The persecution that drove the people of God into the wilderness was a test of faith. What are you willing to give up for truth? Those who found themselves in the mountain retreats were willing to surrender everything for God. Their example was a powerful witness to the world in their time and to us as well. The book Desire of Ages describes the power of trials on page 306, and paragraph 2:
“Each fiery trial is God's agent for their refining. Each is fitting them for their work as co laborers with Him. Each conflict has its place in the great battle for righteousness, and each will add to the joy of their final triumph. Having this in view, the test of their faith and patience will be cheerfully accepted rather than dreaded and avoided. Anxious to fulfill their obligation to the world, fixing their desire upon the approval of God, His servants are to fulfill every duty, irrespective of the fear or the favor of men.” {Desire of Ages, Page 306, paragraph 2}
In the midst of trials, God’s children are called to quietly do the work that he has assigned. We must understand that the battle is the lord’s. He is our defense, and in the midst of difficulties He provides a place of protection and a path of safety. Listen to how Elder Wilkinson continues to describe the Church in the Wilderness:
“The Church in the Wilderness was to do her great work in quietness. Surrendering to her hierarchical opponents the pompous show, and demonstrating fertility in a comparatively diminished condition, she was to mold the human race. Contrariwise, her rival, clothed in scarlet and living pompously with princes and kings,(Revelation 17:2-4.) would, during the same 1260 years, feed her members with those weak and beggarly elements of the world from which the gospel was designed to free them.” Benjamin George Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant, page 17
It was because of the preservation of the truth, in the quietness of isolation, that the seamlessness of continuity was maintained. All attempts to stifle the clear word had failed. There was this special group, trimmed of all the fashionable adornment of worldly acclaim, directed and protected only by the power of Heaven that brought forth into the light the Apostolic Faith in its purity.
“IT WAS a glorious hour when the church came up out of the wilderness. She had done her work well; she had been faithful to her task. She emerged from the wilderness condition to lay the treasures of her hard-fought battles at the feet of the church of the last period, that era which the Redeemer called “the times of the Gentiles.”(Luke 21:24.) The contest had been long. It had not been a Thirty Years’ War, or a Hundred Years’ War, but a 1260-year struggle. It had been cruel for the Church in the Wilderness. Though she never had peace from battle, she always had peace in battle. The torture chamber, galley chains, burning at the stake, hard labor, and a plebeian status had been forced upon her. Yet, as victor, what had she won for humanity? Had she not won liberty, enlightenment, and the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience?” Benjamin George Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant, page 369
The essence of a successful battle lay in the consistency of truth, holding fast those things which were taught in the beginning. Not one jot or tittle being removed, the accuracy of the Word remained untouched.
“During the Dark Ages, therefore, one would not find the true church favored by princes and kings, but constantly pursued by wolves in sheep’s clothing. During those 1260 years the Church in the Wilderness did not ally herself with governments to form a state church, neither was she clothed with the robes of an imperial hierarchy. Otherwise, she could not have been singled out by the Redeemer to suffer a tribulation so deep and long that the church could not have endured it unless the days were shortened.” Benjamin George Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant, page 372
It is indeed God’s plan that the remnant church reflects his glory and majesty. The righteousness of the Church in the Wilderness must reproduced in the His final church.
“In “the time of the end” stupendous and unprecedented are the scenes through which the Remnant Church must pass. The Remnant Church will occupy a position such as was never before occupied by God’s people. Her message will embrace all the messages of the past and bring them to final consummation. She will fix her eyes upon the soon return of Christ as the next event in this stupendous program. Of her amid the vast scenes of Christ’s return, the revelator writes: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”(Revelation 14:12.) While those who walk in the broad way are losing their awareness of things eternal, God’s final church will be alert to things not seen. She will endure, like Moses, by seeing Him who is invisible. She will take time to follow after holiness.” Benjamin George Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant, page 388
God bless you as you pass through trial unto victory.
Cameron A. Bowen
