Jesus' Care for Believers in Adversity
Revelation 3:10: “…I also will
keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the
inhabitants of the earth.” We have to focus on three key phrases. First, “I
will keep you from.” This is the interpretive crux of this whole passage. Does
that mean Jesus will protect us in the midst of something, or that he will keep
us outside of something? This phrase is based upon the Greek TEREO [threw] and the preposition EK [e)k].
We are now in the church age
which is going to end with Jesus Christ coming in the clouds. We don’t know
when that will be. No other prophecy is necessary to be fulfilled before He
returns for the church. This is why this is our blessed hope. It is why we are
looking for the future return of Christ, we are not looking for the Antichrist,
for the rise of the ten-nation confederacy in
Following the Rapture, though
not immediately following—most people believe there is some transition period,
whether it is short or long we are not sure—a seven year period of tribulation will
come upon the earth. This is known in the Old Testament as the time of Jacob’s
trouble, indicating that its emphasis is on
There are four different
views of the timing of the Rapture of the church. The view that we hold is the
view called the pre-Tribulation Rapture. That is the view that the Rapture of
the church occurs before the seven-year Tribulation begins. Another view is
that there is a partial Rapture, the view that “spiritual” Christians, those
who are advancing, get raptured before the
Tribulation and those who are carnal at the time of
Christ’s coming for the church have to go through the Tribulation period. Then
there is the mid-Tribulation Rapture view, the view that all believers go
through the first three and a half years and then at the mid-point of the
Tribulation they are taken to be with the Lord in heaven. A variation of that
view has come up in the last few years called the pre-wrath Rapture. Then there
is the post-Tribulation view that all church age believers go through the
Tribulation and all believers are taken to be with the Lord in the clouds at
the end of the Tribulation.
As we look at verse 10 we
read: “I also will keep you from the hour of trial.” The question here is the
meaning of “keep you from.” It is the Greek verb TEREO. Often this word is
translated to keep in the sense of being obedient. In this sentence it is used
with a different sense, and that is of to protect, to reserve, or to deliver.
The best translation, as we will see, is “I also will deliver you from the hour
of testing.” The context of
A quote from the Iliad: “Thereafter
will we hold ourselves aloof from the fight, beyond the range of missiles.” They never were in the range of missiles, they were always outside the range of the
missiles. A quote from Proverbs 21:23: “The one who guards his mouth and tongue
keeps his soul from [EK/e)k] trouble.”
This doesn’t mean that he is first in trouble and then he gets out of trouble. This
is the Greek word DIATEREO [diathrew],
a compound form. This is the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. He
never enters into trouble so he is never within that sphere of trouble, he is always outside of it. Psalm 59:1, 2: “Deliver
me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.
Deliver me from those who work evil; from the bloodthirsty save me.” Three
times in these two verses the psalmist uses a verb that is synonymous to
keeping from, plus that preposition EK. There is no indication that he has ever been under
the control of his enemies but he doesn’t want to be captured or controlled by
those enemies. In each of these instances there is a structure that indicates
that the person is never in the control of the enemy, he has never been
captured or been dominated by the enemy, but he doesn’t want to come into that sphere
where he is controlled by those enemies.
There are also some important
illustrations in the New Testament. Acts
Again, it is a comfort to
realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is praying for our protection in times of
testing and trials as we go through this life. That is the same thing He has
said is happening with the Philadelphian believers, that they are going through
testing right now but in a broader picture there is a greater, more intense
period of suffering coming, and even though He has provided for them in this
testing and persecution they will be kept out of, will never go into, that
future time of great testing and persecution. Charles Ryrie says regarding the
time frame here: “It is impossible to conceive of being in a location where
something is happening and being exempt from of the happening.” In other words,
if you are exempt from the time of the happening you are not going to go through
that again.
The next clause that we look at relates to this. “I will keep you from the hour of trial.” He is not saying He is going to keep them from the testing, He says he is going to keep them from the hour of trial. It is the time period of the trial that we are kept out of, not testing per se. All believers are going to go through testings and tribulations in this life but here we are talking about a particular period of intense testing and tribulation known as the great Tribulation. So this is not a passage that is talking about the Rapture per se but it relates because it tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to keep us from going into that period of time, that period of testing, which is further defined as “that which will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell upon the earth.” This phrase “those who dwell upon the earth” becomes a technical term in the book of Revelation for unbelievers during the time of the Tribulation. The word translated “will come upon” is actually a present participle of a Greek verb MELLO [mellw] which means about to come. It could happen at any moment. So one of the doctrines that under girds our understanding of this passage is the doctrine of the imminency of Christ’s return, that Christ could come at any moment, that there is nothing that has to happen between now and when Jesus returns for the church. We have to always be ready.