November 23, 2021

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days . . . the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. Revelation 12:6,14

The use of the word wilderness denotes a place devoid of any sort of human protection. To be preserved there is a testimony of the divine protection of God. It is the testimony of His love toward all of mankind. The nourishment of the woman, which symbolizes God’s people, is for the benefit of everyone in our fallen world where Satan roams, for God’s intention is to send His message of salvation to the entire world through His messengers. Never has He left the world without a witness. God has always had a people who were true to Him and faithful to His Word.

In recent weeks, we have highlighted the contributions of brave Reformers who stepped forward to share the light of God’s Word as the Dark Ages were coming to a close. This ongoing scene of reformation has been occurring in relatively recent history, over the ‘back end’ of Christianity.

Look at the ‘front end’ of our Christian heritage. At its beginning, during the days of pagan Rome, the Apostolic Church was maligned and unpopular. The Roman coliseum stands today as a monument to dreadful persecution of the early Christ-followers. Amazingly, this persecution was accompanied by tremendous growth and spread of the original, pure faith. In fact, the very intensity of the persecution of those days is exactly what kept it free from nominal and lukewarm Christians. A true Christian was all in; there was no middle ground. It is still true today: there is no middle ground. Jesus is coming soon for His people. Are you all in?

At the time of the church’s compromise with paganism that began under Constantine’s rule, there were stalwart Christians who did not accept the influx of pagan practices. These faithful believers were the direct extension of the original, Apostolic Church. The church of Rome, as predicted in Scripture, had fallen into apostasy. So we see the church dividing into two branches: the false and the true. Those who remained true to Jesus were divinely protected as described in our opening verse above. They held to a pure, undefiled faith, as we are also called to do.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. Jude 3

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Matthew 12:30