"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:10 NKJV
The promise to keep this church of Philadelphia in Asia Minor from the “hour of trial” is believed by many, if not most futurists, as yet to be fulfilled with future believers in Christ, since that “hour of trial” has not yet come “upon the whole world.”
Who is this promise for, and what is this “hour of trial” and what does “keep you from” mean?
One’s views about end time events will influence the understanding of these things.
If one believes the rapture is in view, and the "hour of trial" is the 70th week of Daniel, they may ignore the conditional part of the text that says: “Because you have kept my command to persevere," because what if a believer does not persevere? This is more a problem for pretribulationists. They must assume that all believers persevere. Yet even those who are not pretrib rapturists, such as prewrath rapturists, and believe the hour of trial is the day of the Lord, they would have the same problem with conditional statement, because do all believers persevere?
Ithas been demonstrated by some to grammatically apply to the previous verse (verse 9) the conditional statement, and it should read: “…indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you, because you have kept My command to persevere.” If one believes the “keep you from” is the rapture, then the conditional statement doesn’t become a problem as to whom the promise applies or what the promise is, in that the rapture requires one to persevere. Of course, some may believe that believers have to persevere or they are not saved or lost their salvation. But placing the condition on verse 9 solves that problem, whatever one's rapture view is.
I think many have just kind of ignored the implications of the condition, or they believe that if the church as a whole is in view, then they all meet this condition somehow—which could be problematic, depending on the understanding of perseverance. I don’t have a problem with moving the conditional statement to verse 9, but I wonder if it fully removes the idea of condition from verse 10, since the promise was only stated to the Church of Philadelphia and not the other six churches addressed, and if Christ was doing something for them because of their conduct in verse 9, the promise in verse 10 could still be due to their conduct recognized in the conditional statement. And if this “hour of trial” did not happen in their time period, and is yet future, then the application of this promise can be to a future church of similar conduct.
I tend to think this promise of “keep you from” is not talking about the rapture, and I tend to think the “hour of trial” is not the “Day of the Lord,” but “great tribulation” that Jesus spoke concerning in the Olivet Discourse (eg. Matthew 24.1), and Revelation 7.14 says a great multitude (of obviously saved people) come out of it.
If Pretribulational rapturists believe it is about the rapture of the Church (removal from the earth), they would say the “hour” is the 70th Week of Daniel (Daniel 9.27) as the Day of the Lord (the 70th Week being the last 7 years before the Second Coming of Christ being designated as “tribulation” and the Day of the Lord)—and removing the conditional statement would be a good thing, because the rapture is not just for the faithful Christians, unless you believe all Christians persevere and salvation guarantees such.
Prewrath Rapturists may say the “hour” is the Day of the Lord, but they place it near the end of the 70th Week of Daniel and this is consistent with their view that the rapture happens at the end of great tribulation but before the Day of the Lord—removing the conditional statement would be the same issue as to all believers must persevere.
Posttribulational Rapturists (rapture comes at end of 70th week and Great Tribulation) and some Prewrath Rapturists may see the “keep you from” as a kind of protection during the time of great tribulation and not a physical removal from the earth as in the rapture.
Though the conditional part of Revelation 3.10 may apply to verse 9, the promise of Verse 10, to be kept from the hour, is to a church of a certain approved character and conduct. I don’t believe the rapture is conditional to the faithful only, and I don’t think salvation guarantees the faithfulness of believers. But whether the conditional part of verse 10 belongs to verse 9 or not, it seems the promise of verse 10 is to those who have persevered.
In Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in John 17.15, he says: "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” This prayer seems to be about a kind of protection. The words “Keep” and “from” are seen used by Jesus in Revelation 3.10. The keeping from in John 17.15 are with reference to “the evil,” the word “one” is added. It’s similar to the part in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6.13: “And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil [one.]” The prayer is for deliverance from the “evil.” I tend to think that there is a promise of some sort of spiritual protection for the believer during the great tribulation.
The Great
Tribulation will be a very difficult time for believers, because of severe
persecution and the degree of evil deception going on. Revelation 13 speaks of the persecution of
that time by the one called the “beast”:
“7 It was granted to him to make
war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over
every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him,
whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who
leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must
be killed with the sword. Here is the
patience and the faith of the saints.” Notice the reference to “the patience and
faith of the saints.”
The
temptation and deception of that time will be very great, and the choices
people make will be of eternal consequence (it’s the “hour of trial”), as Revelation
14 says: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives [his] mark
on his forehead or on his hand, 10 "he himself shall also drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His
indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11
"And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they
have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever
receives the mark of his name."
12 Here is the patience
of the saints; here [are] those who keep the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus.” Notice again the
reference to the patience of the saints-those who have “the faith of Jesus.”
The
following may more specifically apply to the time of the early Church, but it
has application to the end times as well, because there are similarities
between the persecution of the early church and the time of the end: “16
"You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and
friends; and they will put [some] of you to death. 17
"And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18
"But not a
hair of your head shall be
lost. 19
"By your patience possess your souls.” (Luke 21) Notice the possessing of your souls by
patience—this patience is a trust in God, no matter how bad it gets. And the proverbial saying about not losing a
hair of your head is not speaking about physical loss, but it’s a figure of
speech, that God has possession of you, and you need to trust and obey him. God will give you the ability to stand during
that evil time. Jesus appears to be referencing
the words of the book of Micah: 7:“6 For son dishonors father, Daughter rises against her mother ,
Daughter- in - law against her mother - in - law ; A man's enemies [are] the men of his own
household. 7 Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.”
So I tend to see the promise in Revelation 3:10 as that of a kind of spiritual keeping from during the great tribulation. It’s not a promise of physical removal, but a kind of deliverance from the evil of that time. I think there can be still some difficulties with this view when it comes to the unfaithful believer and the mark of the beast. I don’t think there is a guarantee that a believer won’t fail, so I’m not sure about that situation. Removing the conditional statement from verse 10 and applying it to verse 9 doesn’t fully solve the problem, because the promise to the Philadelphia Church as a representative church of the end times would indicate it is for those of a certain character, not the whole church automatically. However all this works out, it still seems the promise is not about the rapture but a spiritual kind of keeping from/ deliverance during great tribulation.
If the keeping from is from the "Day of the Lord" according to the "prewrath" view, then it would be a keeping from the trumpets and bowls. This then would support the view it is the rapture, because the prewrath view has the rapture before thoses things. It could be said that the Church of Philadephia was kept from the trumpets and bowls because it is in heaven now, but so are all the other churches who didn't get this specific promise.
From a more post-trib view, the rapture would not be required, even if the "hour of trial" is specifically the trumpet and bowls, since the believer would still be on earth during those things, if those things are the more specific "test" to come upon the world. probably a more common view of post-trib is that the second half of the 70th Week is both great tribulation and the trumpets and bowls (which I would still place near the end of the Week).
Of course there is some variations about the trumpets and bowls as to where they appear in the 70th Week. I think it is common to place the bowls in the extra days (found at the end of Daniel chapter 12) after the 70th Week in the Prewrath view. There may be some who have a view that places the rapture after the trumpets but before the bowls--this may be a hybrid prewrath, post-trib view. I don't know if any prewrathers place the bowls within the 70th Week.
Actually, I'm more post-trib in my views, so even if the "hour" is the trumpets and bowls, I can see this keeping from as referring to them, even in a physical sense, because there will be protection for those who don't have the mark of the beast. In a post-trib rapture view, the Day of the Lord is mainly the second coming of Christ and not the trumpet and bowls.
Another concern is the words of Christ as in Luke 21 about being watchful concerning the "day" that is coming, so as to be "worthy" to "escape" what is to come and to "stand" before the Lord: "34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:34-36
This text looks like it could be about the same thing in Revelation 3.10. The "snare" on the "whole earth" sounds close to "the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth."
The requirement to be worthy is troublesome, since if the rapture is in view, then it would seem one must qualify for it, unless the conduct and watchfulness is just used to identify believers by what should be characteristic of them. What about believers who are not being watchful, and living as they should? In First Thessalonians 5, the Apostle Paul does talk about how the Day of the Lord will come like a "thief" and the believer should not be asleep but awake, but even if he is asleep: "that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." But Paul's words seem to connect with Luke 21 with reference to the unexpectedness of events and the need for the believer to be watchful.
Could a believer be unwatchful leading up to the trumpets and bowls, or is it more likely he is unwatchful leading up to the great tribulation?
What is the "escape" the worthy believer is to experience? Is it physical removal, as in the rapture? Or is it some spiritual kind of deliverance in which they are kept from the evil? And what exactly would that be? He doesn't succumb but perseveres.? Luke 21 does speak of "stand before the son of man." Could it be how one is spiritually going into the "trial" and "snare" will determine how they will persevere successfully and be able to stand before the Lord in approval? Could it be the Philadelphian Church was the kind of church that could persevere through the trial and snare that the great tribulation would bring? And this is applicable to believers who may actually enter great tribulation?
But if the Day of the Lord is particularly in view, and from a prewrath understanding, then it would seem the rapture is what is in view. But then there are prewrathers who believe the great tribulation is in view, and so a kind of protection would be in view.
Revelation 3.10 and Luke 21.34-36 will remain to be difficult to fully sort out. And one will argue it according to their understanding of the rapture, whether pretrib, post-trib, or prewrath, and what the "hour of trial" is.
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