Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 3:10

"Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that [hour] which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." — Revelation 3:10 (ASV)

This is another promise given the church in Philadelphia. Though not part of the promise to the overcomers in Philadelphia (v.12), like the special promises to Smyrna and Sardis (2:10; 3:4), it may be taken as a promise to all the churches. The words “since you have kept my command to endure patiently” (lit., “kept the word of my patience”) refer to the condition under which the promise is valid. Some translate the phrase as in NIV, inferring that the “word of my patience” means the command of Christ to endure suffering until he returns (cf. Hebrews 10:36). Others translate it as “the word enjoining Christ’s patient endurance,” which would refer to an apostolic teaching (such as Paul’s) encouraging Christians to endure the contrariness of a sinful world after the pattern of Christ’s own endurance (2 Thessalonians 3:5; cf. Hebrews 12:3). Either is possible, though the Greek text slightly favors the latter. Related to the promise, “I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” are two problems: the identification of the “hour of trial” and the sense of the phrase “keep you from the hour of trial.” Both involve the ongoing debate among evangelicals over the Tribulation-Rapture question. We can dismiss the view that the “hour of trial” refers to some general or personal distress that will come only upon the Philadelphian community and from which that church will be delivered. Not only does the Lord refer to “the whole world,” but the phrase “those who live on the earth” is repeated in Revelation a number of times and refers not to believers but to unbelievers who are the objects of God’s wrath (6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 12:12; 13:8, 12, 14; cf. Isaiah 24; Jeremiah 13:12–14). According to many interpreters, the “hour of trial” is best understood as the time known to the Jews as the “messianic woes,” a time of intense trouble to fall on the world before the coming of Christ and known as the eschatological “day of the Lord” or the “Great Tribulation” (Daniel 12:1, Joel 2:31; Mark 13:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12; Revelation 14:7). This “hour of trial,” then, will be the one described in great detail in the following chapters of this book. If that is the proper meaning of “hour of trial,” what does promise mean, “I will also keep you from the hour of trial”? There are two possibilities. (1) Some, comparing the expression “keep from” in Jn 17:15, argue that the sense is preservation while in the trial (to be kept from evil or the evil one does not mean to be removed from his presence but simply to be kept from his harmful power). Thus, the universal church will experience preservation from harm in the trial of persecution and suffering and will not be raptured till the end of the period (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13ff.). (2) Other writers object to this interpretation: (a) The “hour of trial” is a judgment from God on the unbelieving inhabitants of the world, not a form of persecution. (b) It is not true that the saints of the Tribulation period are exempt from harm during this period; a great group of them will be martyred (6:9–11; 7:9–14, etc.). (c) In the Gospel of John, preservation is from the devil; in Revelation, from a time period—the “hour” of trial. In our opinion, we must identify “the hour of trial” as the wrath of God, deliverance from which is promised to every one of Christ’s overcomers. The key phrase is “to keep from” (GK 5498 & 608; synonymous with “to keep out of,” GK 5498 & 1666). This latter phrase is used in the LXX of Pr 7:5, where the wise man talks about delivering a man from contact with or the presence of the harlot. In Jas 1:27 the same expression means to be kept from the pollution of the world. In both instances the sense is that of exemption from something. Can one, then, be exempt from the “hour of trial” that will try the whole world by famines, earthquakes, wars, floods, etc., and still be present on the earth? Yes, but removal is one possible method of protection. The above discussion shows that v.10 does not settle the question of the time of the Rapture in relation to the Tribulation. Rather, it remains ambiguous. One might be on the earth and yet be exempt from the “hour of trial” if the “hour of trial” is directed only at the unbelievers in the world while the believers are divinely immune from the specific type of trial (God’s wrath) aimed at the rebellious on the earth. In any event, we have here a marvelous promise of Christ to protect those who have kept his word by their loving obedience.