'Desert' in the Bible

In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the Wilderness of Judea [along the western side of the Dead Sea] and saying,

This is the one who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said,“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the road for the Lord,Make His highways straight (level, direct)!’”

Then Jesus was led by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind [which is commonplace]?

yet he has no [substantial] root in himself, but is only temporary, and when pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles and falls away [abandoning the One who is the source of salvation].

When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.

And the disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so many loaves in a desert place as to fill so great a multitude?

At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust] and will betray one another [handing over believers to their persecutors] and will hate one another.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

Peter replied to Him, “Though they all fall away because of You [and doubt and disown You], I will never fall away!”

A voice of one shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way of the Lord,Make His paths straight!’”

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [that is, requiring a change of one’s old way of thinking, turning away from sin and seeking God and His righteousness].

Immediately the [Holy] Spirit forced Him out into the wilderness.

He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted [to do evil] by Satan; and He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered continually to Him.

And very early, it being yet night, having risen, he went forth, and went away to a desert place, and was there praying;

But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:

And his disciples answered him, Whence shall one be able to satisfy these with bread here in a desert place?

Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away [and be ashamed and be afraid to be associated with Me as disciples], because it is written, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

But Peter said to Him, “Even if they all fall away [and desert You, ashamed and afraid of being associated with You], yet I will not [do so]!”

The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas [his son-in-law], the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

as it is written and forever remains written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way of the Lord,Make His paths straight.

Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led about by the Spirit in the Desert for forty days,

for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they ended, He was hungry.

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.

and he was withdrawing himself in the desert places and was praying.

When John’s messengers left, Jesus began speaking to the crowds about John: “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break his bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.

And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.

And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.

"When a foul spirit has left a man, it roams about in the Desert, seeking a resting-place; but, unable to find any, it says, 'I will return to the house I have left;"

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, [searching] until he finds it?

He said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],

Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Your forefathers ate the manna in the Desert, and they died.

Jesus therefore walked no longer openly among the Jews, but went away thence into the country near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and there he sojourned with the disciples.

After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness 40 years.

He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.

Then God turned away and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:House of Israel, did you bring Me offerings and sacrifices40 years in the wilderness?

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.

And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

And for about 40 years He put up with them in the wilderness;

Aren’t you the Egyptian who raised a rebellion some time ago and led 4,000 Assassins into the wilderness?”

But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own race, in perils from the nations, in perils in the city, in perils in the desert, in perils on the sea, in perils among false brethren;

Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,on the day of testing in the wilderness,

Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God.

while it is said,“Today [while there is still opportunity] if you hear His voice,Do not harden your heart, as when they provoked Me [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”

And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years).

And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the desert into her place, where she is nourished there a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

So he carried me away in the Spirit to a desert. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns.

And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, for the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich from her great wealth, because in one hour she has been laid waste!’