The wilderness was a place of testing to see who would remain obedient to God's word and His laws in both the Old and New Testaments. According to the Old Testament, the Israelites had seen all the miracles that the Lord had done when he brought them out of Egypt and while in the wilderness, but yet they were disobedient to Him by refusing to go into Canaan after 12 men were sent into Canaan to spy out the land for 40 days and reported that there were giants in the land. As a result, the Israelites spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness until also those 20 years and older, who had murmured against the Lord, died in the wilderness. (Numbers 14:26-39).  According to Numbers 14:22-23, the Lord said, "Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neithershall any of them that provoked me see it:"

Once again in the New Testament, the wilderness was a place of testing by the devil to see whether the Lord Jesus would remain obedient to God, His Father.  Matthew 4:1-11 tells us that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the Devil. After He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, He was hungry. The Devil tempts Jesus 3 times, but He remains obedient to God's word and will not fall down and worship the Devil. 

Likewise, Mystery Babylon, the great harlot that sitteth on the scarlet beast in the wilderness (Rev. 17:3) also represents a spiritual place of testing of the people on Earth as to whether they will remain obedient to God's word and not worship the image of the beast nor Satan and thus also forfeiting the right to buy or sell because they do not have the mark of the beast in their right hand or in their forehead. This means they will not commit spiritual fornication with the harlot and Satan. According to Rev. 3:10 the Philadelphia church was told, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."  This hour of temptation will test those on Earth as to whether they remain obedient to God's word,and don't worship the image of the beast. This could be considered everyone on Earth's experience with Satan in the wilderness using the Harlot sitting on the beast as the tempter to have them commit spiritual fornication and break the 1st and 2nd commandments of Exodus 20:1-5 shown below: 

Exodus 20:1-5, "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the

LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" 

Deuteronomy 13:1-3, "If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." According to Rev. 13:13-14, the False Prophet will do great wonders and miracles." 

How many will fall away from the Christian faith depicted in 2 Thess. 2:3 and choose to worship the image of the beast remains to be seen.