The Nugget:
Rev 3:10 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. (KJV)
Rev 3:10 Because you have obeyed my command to endure, I will keep you safe during the time of testing which is coming to the whole world to test those living on earth. (GW, God’s Word translation)
Rev 3:10 `Because thou didst keep the word of my endurance, I also will keep thee from the hour of the trial that is about to come upon all the world, to try those dwelling upon the earth. (YLT, Young’s Literal Translation)
Rev 3:10 Because you kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial which is going to come on all the habitable world in order to try those dwelling on the earth. (LITV, Literal Translation of the Holy Bible)
Rev 3:10 You obeyed my message and endured. So I will protect you from the time of testing that everyone in all the world must go through. (CEV, Contemporary English Version)
Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, *I* also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Darby Translation)
My Comment:
From the above translations of Revelation 3:10 the attentive reader can see that even Bible translations are divided about whether the promise in Revelation 3:10 is a promise to be kept safe during the Great Tribulation or to be kept entirely out of the Great Tribulation.
Those who believe in the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church affirm that the promise for the Church is to be kept entirely out of the Great Tribulation. This is a major Bible text that supports this view.
I understand that the Greek grammar underlying our English translations very much favors the ” kept entirely out of” the Great Tribulation view.
I have in my print library a book by Gerald B. Stanton titled Kept from the Hour: Biblical Evidence for the Pretribulational Return of Christ (Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1964. 320 pages). This book is the doctoral thesis of Gerald B. Stanton. It goes into more depth on the subject than popular works written for the mass market of general readers do.
This is Part 1 of a short series I intend to write on the subject of the Pretribulation Rapture. I intend to dig deeper into this subject than I have in previous posts here about Bible prophecy. This means I expect serious readers to carefully read and study what I present. I welcome comments on my posts here. Feel free to submit them.
This series arises from an Internet post I shared recently on Facebook. The post attracted more responses than most of what I share on Facebook. I am writing to emphasize the Bible basis for belief in the Pretribulation Rapture. I am using the Bible verses cited in the Facebook post. The post began, however, with citations from Church Fathers who allegedly believed in the Pretribulation Rapture. I do not go by what the Church Fathers have to say. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes they are wrong. Quite often they appear to be contradictory.
Because the Bible is not written in the form of a systematic theology, what it teaches about a subject is not usually confined to a single passage of Scripture. More often, to learn what the Bible has to say about a subject, we must consult all the passages in the Bible about that subject. Cross references are links to related passages of Scripture. I will share my cross references and notes for each important verse that pertains to the Pretribulation Rapture. I will present the references given in the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, followed by the more complete references given in the Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury.
Dig deeper by consulting the cross references given below for Revelation 3:10 from:
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
Revelation 3:10
the word: Rev 1:9, Rev 13:10, Rev 14:12
I also: Mat 6:13, Mat 26:41; 1Co 10:13; Eph 6:13; 2Pe 2:9
all: Mat 24:14; Mrk 14:9; Luk 2:1; Rom 1:8
to try: Isa 24:17; Dan 12:10; Zec 13:9; Jas 3:12; 1Pe 4:12
The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
Revelation 3:10
hast kept. Rev 3:8, Psa 19:11; +*Psa 119:8; +*Psa 119:44; +*Psa 119:67, Pro 16:17, *+Jhn 17:6, Php 4:1, +*1Ti 1:19; %*1Ti 4:1; 1Ti 4:2, 2Ti 4:7, Jas 1:27.
the word. Rev 1:9; Rev 13:10; Rev 14:12.
of. FS181E, +Gen 3:24.
my patience. or, endurance. Gr. hupomonē (S# G5281, Luk 8:15). +Rev 1:9; Rev 2:2, 3; Rev 2:19; Rev 13:10; Rev 14:12, Psa 39:7, 8, Mat 10:22; Mat 24:13, +Luk 8:15; *Luk 21:19, Rom 2:7; Rom 5:3, 4; Rom 8:25; +*Rom 15:4; +*Rom 15:5, 2Co 6:4, 1Th 1:3, 2Th 3:5, Heb 10:36, 37; *Heb 12:1; *Heb 12:2, Jas 1:3, 4; Jas 1:12; Jas 5:7; Jas 5:11, *+1Pe 1:6; *+1Pe 1:7.
I also. *Pro 1:10; *Pro 3:25; *Pro 3:26; +*Pro 4:23, +*Mat 6:13; *Mat 26:41, +*1Co 10:13, *Eph 6:13, Heb 2:18, *+2Pe 2:9.
will keep. Gr. tēreō (S# G5083, Mat 19:17). Gen 19:28, 29, +*Exo 12:13, +*1Sa 2:9, Psa 12:7; *Psa 17:5; +*Psa 32:7; Psa 91:8; *Psa 94:18; Psa 121:8 note. *Pro 2:8, +*Isa 26:20; Isa 33:16; +*Isa 57:2, Hab 3:16, Zep 2:3, +**Luk 21:36; Luk 22:31, 32, Jhn 17:11, 12, Act 21:13, +*Rom 5:9, +*1Co 10:13, Col 1:13, 1Th 5:9.
from. Gr. ek, lit. out of. Some who favor a posttribulational rapture of the church understand the primary force of this preposition to mean “out from within” (Robert Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, p. 55). Gundry asserts “the preposition ek appears in John’s writings approximately 336 times, far more often than in the writings of any other NT author. There is not a single instance where the primary thought of emergence, or origin, cannot fit, indeed, does not best fit the thought of the context. Surely the invariability of meaning in such a high number of occurrences establishes the Johannine usage” (p. 57). Gundry’s unexamined universal assertion is not supported by a careful examination of the particular instances. We have met this claim for a universal meaning for ek in other connections, and fully proved by the citation of specific instances, that ek may sometimes mean not “out of,” as from within, but from, as here (Act 8:39 note). J. B. Smith points out that if ek means “out of,” in the sense of being preserved in the hour of temptation, applying this construction to the acclaimed parallel in Jhn 17:15, “shouldst keep them out of (the evil one),” the words “would really mean safe in the evil one, that is, safe in the devil. Thus the absurdity of such an interpretation becomes apparent” (Comm. on Revelation, Appendix 10, p. 333). A much more satisfactory parallel is **Jhn 12:27, which, taken with its parallels (Mat 26:38, Mrk 14:36, Luk 22:42, Jhn 18:11, Psa 42:5, 6) proves that, when Jesus in his human nature prayed “Remove this cup from me,” and the parallel or equivalent request, “Save me from this hour,” he was not praying to be spared during the hour, but to be kept from it, which settles the meaning of the expression here. Rev 7:14, Psa 27:5; Psa 32:6; Psa 37:19; Psa 41:1, Pro 7:5; Pro 14:3, Mrk 13:13, Luk 11:4; >Luk 21:36; Luk 22:40, Jhn 5:24; **+Jhn 12:27; **+Jhn 12:32; Jhn 13:4; Jhn 14:3; Jhn 17:15 g. +*Rom 5:9, 2Co 1:10, +*1Th 1:10; 1Th 4:16, 17, 2Th 3:3, Jas 1:27, 2Pe 1:10; 2Pe 2:9.
the hour. Rev 2:10; Rev 14:7; Rev 14:15, Psa 41:1, Luk 22:53.
of temptation. or, trial. Gr. peirasmos (S# G3986, Heb 3:8; this is the only occurrence in Revelation), anything that tends to cause to swerve from the right, either in feeling or action, whether an allurement, prophecy of evil, threat, persecution, or an affliction (see Luk 4:13; +*Luk 8:13; Luk 22:28; Luk 22:40; Luk 22:46; Act 20:19; 1Co 10:13; Gal 4:14; 1Ti 6:9; 1Pe 1:6; 1Pe 4:12); It is so styled because it is a trial, a test, of faith or the spirit of obedience. The hour of temptation (testing) is doubtless that special period referred to, 1Pe 4:12, and by our Lord, Mat 24:21, 22; (a period both of testing and of punishment—primarily, however, of the former). This special period, be it observed, is distinguished from the period of ordinary peirasmoi referred to 1Pe 1:6, and Mat 24:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. It is to be observed that the promise is not of preservation in trial, as was the promise to Peter, Luk 22:32; but preservation from (ek) the hour or period of trial (compare 2Pe 2:9). The idea of this promise seems to be, that as the Philadelphians had continued steadfast throughout the period of ordinary testing, they were to be exempted from those extraordinary peirasmoi which were to come upon the world (E. R. Craven in Lange). Rev 2:10, +*Deut 4:34; Deut 7:19; Deut 29:3, +*Dan 12:1, Zep 1:14, 15, 16, 17, 18, Mat 6:13; **Mat 24:21; **Mat 24:22; **Mat 24:24, Mrk 14:38, Luk 11:4, 1Co 10:13, 1Pe 1:7.
come upon. Rev 6:1; Rev 7:14; Rev 8:7, *Dan 7:21; *Dan 7:25, **2Th 2:8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
all the world. Gr. oikoumene, +Mat 24:14, The use of this phrase shows this testing is not to be confined to “an hour of trial or tribulation upon the churches of John’s day” (Dake), for no such world-encompassing tribulation occurred in John’s day. Rather, this time of testing “may be equated with the tribulation yet to come,” which proves that the Philadelphian church, “as well as the other churches, is representative of the church universal” (J. B. Smith, Comm. on Revelation, p. 88). Rev 12:9; Rev 13:3; Rev 13:8; Rev 16:14, +Mat 24:14, Mrk 14:9, Luk 2:1; Luk 4:5, Act 17:31, *Rom 1:8; Rom 10:18, Heb 1:6.
to try. or, test. Gr. peirazō (S# G3985, Heb 2:18). Rev 2:2; Rev 2:10; Rev 9:20, 21; Rev 16:11; Rev 16:21, *Isa 24:17, +*Dan 11:35; *Dan 12:10, *Zec 13:9, *Mrk 13:13; *Mrk 13:19, Jhn 6:70, Heb 11:17, *Jas 1:3; *Jas 1:12, *1Pe 4:12.
that dwell. Rev 6:10; Rev 8:13; Rev 11:10; *Rev 12:12; *%Rev 13:6; *Rev 13:8; *Rev 13:12; *Rev 13:14; Rev 14:6; Rev 17:2; Rev 17:8, Isa 24:17, Mrk 5:3, Act 4:26, %Heb 11:13.
upon the earth. +*Rev 6:10, Zep 1:14, 15, 16, 17, 18, Jhn 1:10; Jhn 16:33, %Php 3:20, %1Th 1:10.