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From What Will the Church of Philadelphia
Be Preserved?
Revelation 3:10-11
Jesus
instructed the Apostle John
to write letters to the messengers (plural of ággelos, 32)
of seven different churches of Asia Minor. Let us say that
John
wrote these letters about 95 AD, a date suggested by a number of
conservative exegetes. Let us concede that much of each one of these
letters contains observations, warnings, and promises applicable to a
particular church
in that time frame. On the other hand, each of these letters ends with
a broader generalization, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches" (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). I
believe I am justified in saying that certain portions of these letters
have also a broader application to the Church-at-Large
of a subsequent era of church history. Certainly that appears to be
true of the Church of Philadelphia. Let us examine closely the text of
Revelation 3:10-11.
John wrote to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7), "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world ..." (Rev. 3:10) Let us make several observations: (1) The church had kept the word of Jesus' perseverance. The word "kept" is the Aorist Indicative Active of the verb tēréō (5083), "to keep, to guard" (Accordance). Because they had done so, Jesus promised, "I also will keep you from the hour of testing" .... (Rev. 3:10). "I ... will keep" is the 1st Singular Future Indicative Active of the verb tēréō (5083), "to keep, to guard" (Accordance). (2) Jesus promised to keep or guard this church from (the preposition ek [1537], "out of, from, ... away from", excerpted from OBU) literally, "the hour of the testing." The word "hour" is the noun hōra (5610), "any definite time, point of time, moment" (excerpted from OBU). The term "the hour" suggests this is a relatively short, but specific future time. This was "the hour of the testing." The word "testing" is the noun peirasmós (3986), "temptation, test" (Accordance); "adversity, affliction, trouble: sent by God and serving to test or prove one's character, faith, holiness" (excerpted from OBU). I believe Jesus did, indeed, deliver the church of Philadelphia from "the hour of the testing." But I also believe that, according to the subsequent language Jesus used, there is a much broader and more distant and specific "the hour of the testing" from which He promised to deliver the true Church-at-Large. I say "true Church" because Jesus Himself promised there would be a great number of unbelievers whom the Devil would sow among the members of the true Church (Matt. 13:24-30; 36-43) during the interim between His First Coming and His Second Coming. More specifically, I believe this "particular hour of the testing" refers to the time known as the Tribulation, or the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:21-22; Rev. 7:13-14). Allow me, next, to defend that position by continuing to look at this passage. (3) "The hour of the testing" is furthermore described as "the one about to be coming upon the whole inhabited earth" (Rev. 3:10). The term "about to be" is the Present Active Participle Genitive Feminine Singular of the verb méllō (3195), "to be on the point of doing something" (excerpted from OBU); "to be about to" (excerpted from Accordance). I wish to point out that, from man's viewpoint the "about to" has proceeded about 2,000 years, and has still not arrived. From God's viewpoint what seems like a delay to man is inconsequential to God, who, moreover desires as many as possible to repent before that terrible time of testing and judgment arrives (see 2 Pet. 3:8-9). "coming" translates the Present Middle Infinitive of the verb érchomai (2064), "to come, go" (Accordance); metaphorically, "to come into being, arise, come forth, show itself, find place or influence" (excerpted from OBU). "upon the whole inhabited earth" (Rev. 3:10). The word "whole" is the Genitive Feminine Singular of the adjective hólos (3650), "whole, all" (Accordance); "all, whole, completely" (OBU). the words "the inhabited earth" translate the Genitive Feminine Singular of the noun oikouménē (3625), "the inhabited earth" (excerpted from OBU). What I am trying to say is that, in the long term, this "hour of the testing" is NOT a localized testing. It is the testing of the entire globe of populated mankind. This is the Great Tribulation, not a local persecution or pestilence or disaster. It is the event called by Jesus, "great tribulation" (Matt. 24:21), called by the Elder speaking to John, "the tribulation, the great one" (Rev. 7:14). (4) Jesus specifically stated the purpose of this hour of the testing which was to come upon the entire inhabited earth: it was "to test those who dwell on the earth" (Rev. 3:10). At first glance this purpose seems redundant. If the hour of the testing is coming upon the entire inhabited earth, of course its purpose would be "to test those who dwell on the earth." But that explanation fails to comprehend the identity of "the ones dwelling upon the earth." "The ones dwelling" translates the Accusative Masculine Plural Present Active Participle of the verb katoikéō (2730), "to settle, dwell, inhabit" (Accordance) preceded by the plural article ho (3588), "the;" "earth" is the Genitive Feminine Singular of the noun gē (1093), "earth, land" (Accordance). This is a phrase rather characteristic of the book of Revelation, used eleven times. Each time it is used in a bad sense. The people who are "the ones dwelling upon the earth" are people "who are given up to evil and hatred of God's saints" (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 1-7, Footnote 63 at page 289). These are people destined to experience the judgment of God. Here is the list of the appearances in the Book of Revelation: Rev. 3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10 [twice]; Rev. 13:8, 12, 14 [twice]; Rev. 17:2, 8. In summary, this phrase appears to identify unbelievers left upon the earth during the Tribulation period after the departure of believers to be with the Lord in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. See also the Glossary Entry "Earth-Dwellers." To put it another way, the Tribulation is a period of God's judgment designed to test and try unbelievers rampant upon the earth after the departure of the Church to heaven. This Rapture is described in considerable detail in John 14:1-6; 1 Cor. 15:50-57; 1 Thess. 1:10; 2:19; 3:13; 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:1; Titus 2:13, and hinted at in Rev. 4:1. In contrast to unrepentant unbelievers, believers "are not destined to experience the outpouring of God's wrath (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9-10; cf. Titus 2:13)" (quoting Constable at the end of his comments on 1 Thess. 4:13-18). To the Scriptures listed above, I would add 1 Thess. 5:4. (5) A fifth and final observation: Immediately after stating that He would spare the church from the hour of the testing that is to test the whole inhabited earth – the testing designed to test the ones dwelling upon the earth – Jesus said something remarkable. He said, "I am coming quickly!" (Rev. 3:11). "I am coming" is the 1st Singular Present Indicative Middle of the very common verb érchomai (2064); "quickly" is the adverb tachús (5036), "swift, quickly, soon" (Accordance); "quick, fleet, speedy" (OBU). In the NA28 Greek text, this adverb is used only in the book of Revelation: Rev. 2:16; 3:11; 11:14; 22:7, 12, 20. I believe this particular occurrence (Rev. 3:11) fits in nicely with the understanding of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. In this understanding, believers have the expectation of the imminent return of Christ. There are no signs or events that have to be observed or fulfilled before Christ returns for His Church. There is no Tribulation, no 70th Week of Daniel, no Antichrist, no seven-year treaty with Israel that gets broken in the middle of the period, no Revived Roman Empire, no world-wide preaching of the gospel that must be fulfilled before the return of Christ for His Church. Summary: In conclusion, I believe that the promise Jesus made to the church of Philadelphia has a broader application to the entire Church. He will preserve the Church from having to go through the terrible time of testing that will afflict the entire inhabited earth. He will come to remove the Church from the earth before that time. That is true because Jesus did not design the church to experience the wrath of God. His plan is to rescue the church from the earth before that time of testing comes to test the "Earth-Dwellers," not the Church. So Jesus ends this brief discourse with, "I am coming quickly!" Then He challenges them to hold fast to what they have so that no one will take away their victor's crown (Rev. 3:11). Then he focuses on Eschatology: "He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, and My new name (Rev. 3:12). Then Jesus closes with the epoch-straddling concluding exhortation: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!" (Rev. 3:15). Last Updated October 24, 2024
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