Biblical Eschatology

Who Escapes What in Revelation 3:10?

Revelation 3:10 is commonly used to prove a pre-trib rapture. However, is it really saying what they claim.

To get the right answers we must ask the right questions. Who was Revelation 3:10 written to? Answer: the Church of Philadelphia (Cf. Revelation 3:7). Was anyone now living, part of this church 2,000 years ago? No!

In 3:10 it says, "you have kept." This is translated from the verb ἐτήρησας (tereo) which is "Aorist Indicative Active." "Aorist Indicative" generally indicates a past action. This means that they are kept from the hour based on them "keeping the word" about 2,000 years ago.

Next, this verse only makes sense if the members of the church of Philadelphia (2,000 years ago), that didn't keep the word, are not kept from the hour of trial! How could this be if they are dead? Therefore, this verse cannot refer to the tribulation. Instead, as I will show, this refers to the day of judgment that occurs on the last day, the Day of the Lord. The ones who do not keep the word, take part in the ressurection of the unrighteous, and are judged in the hour of trial. This is a literal 60 minutes. However, as 3:10 points out, if they kept the word, they are kept from the hour of trial on the day of judgment.

Revelation 14:7 ESV
⁷He declared in a loud voice: "Fear God and give him glory, because THE HOUR of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!"

Revelation 18:19 ESV
¹⁹And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, "Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for IN ONE HOUR she has been laid waste!"

Revelation 3:10 ESV
¹⁰"Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the HOUR of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth."

2 Peter 2:9
⁹οἶδεν Κύριος
Then the Lord knows how

εὐσεβεῖς ἐκ πειρασμοῦ ῥύεσθαι
To deliver the righteous out of the TRIAL

ἀδίκους δὲ εἰς ἡμέραν κρίσεως κολαζομένους τηρεῖν
And KEEP the unrighteous to be punished on the Day of Judgment.

John 5:24 ESV
²⁴"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and DOES NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT, but has passed out of death into life."

1 Corinthians 3:13-15 ESV
¹³each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Matthew 6:19-20 ESV
¹⁹"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 ESV
⁵This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering ⁶since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, ⁷and to GRANT RELIEF TO YOU who are afflicted as well as to us, WHEN THE LORD JESUS IS REVEALED from heaven with his mighty ANGELS ⁸in FLAMING FIRE, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ¹⁰when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at AMONG ALL WHO HAVE BELIEVED, because our testimony to you was believed.

John 5:28-29 ESV
²⁸Do not marvel at this, for an HOUR is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.