(1) A devastated Church, or one in which all the truths of the Word have been falsified, such as there was among the Jews at the time of the Lord's coming.

(2) A Church in which there are no truths because there is no Word, such as existed with the upright Gentiles at the time of the Lord.

(3) A state of temptation in which a man is as it were without truths, because surrounded with evil spirits who induce temptations, and then take truths away from him.

[2] [(1)] That by 'a wilderness' is signified a devastated Church, or one in which all the truths of the Word have been falsified, such as there was among the Jews at the time of the Lord's coming, is plain from these passages:-

Is this the man who disturbing the land, shaking the kingdom, has made the region a wilderness? Isa. xiv 16, 17.

This [is said] of Babel.

Upon the land of My people the thorn and the brier goes up; the palace shall be a wilderness Isa. xxxii 13, 14.

I have seen when, behold, Carmel was a wilderness, the whole land shall he a waste Jer. iv 26, 27.

The 'land' is the Church (n. 285).

The shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have reduced the field of my longings to a wilderness of desert; the wasters are coming in the wilderness Jer. xii 10, 12.

A vine has been planted in a wilderness in a dry and thirsty land Ezek. xix 13.

The fire has consumed the habitations of the wilderness Joel i 19, 20.

The day of Jehovah is coming, the land before Him is as the garden of Eden, but after Him a wilderness of waste Joel ii 1, 3.

See the Word of Jehovah; have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Jer. ii 31.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a paths for our God Isa. xl 3;

besides elsewhere, as Isa. xxxiii 9; Jer. iii 2; xxiii 10; Lam. v 9; Hosea ii 2, 3; xiii 15; Joel iii 19 {H.B. iv 19]; Mal. i 3; Ps. cvii 33, 34; Matt. xxiv 26; Luke xiii 35. That such also is the Church at this day may be seen below (n. 566).

[3] (2) That by 'a wilderness' is signified a Church in which there were no truths because there was no Word, as with the upright Gentiles at the time of the Lord, is plain from these passages:-

The spirit shall be poured upon us from on high, then the wilderness shall be [turned] into arable land, and judgment shall dwell in the wilderness Isa. xxxii 15, 16.

I will set fountains in the midst of the valleys, [and turn] the wilderness into a pool of waters; I will plant in the wilderness the shittim cedar, and the olive tree Isa. xli 18, 19.

He shall make the wilderness into a pool of waters, and the dry land into springs of waters Ps. cvii 35, 36.

I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, for giving drink to My people, My chosen Isa. xliii 19, 20.

Jehovah wilt make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; gladness and joy shall be found therein Isa. li 3.

The habitations of the wilderness drip Ps. lxv 12, 13 [H.B. 13, 14].

Let the wilderness lift up its voice, let the inhabitants of the rock sing Isa. xlii 10, 11.

[4] (3) That by 'a wilderness' is signified the state of temptation in which a man is as it were without truths, because surrounded with evil spirits who induce the temptation and then take truths away from him, is plain from Matt. iv 1-3; Mark i 12, 13; Luke iv 1-3; Ezek. xx 34-37; Jer. ii 2, 6, 7; Hosea ii 13-16; Ps. cvii 4-7; Deut. i 31, 33; viii 2-4, 15, 16; xxxii 10.