Thursday, August 7, 2014

Does Revelation 3:10 Solidify The Pre-Tribulation Theory?

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 - Revelation 3:10

This verse is the one that many pastors and scholars claim as the definite proof of the pre-tribulation rapture. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the other famous passage even though the word "rapture" is no where in that passage let alone anywhere in the Bible. The word does not even appear in the book of Revelation where one would think that is where it will be. Going back to Revelation 3:10, the question one must ask is, does this verse show absolute proof that there will a be pre-tribulation rapture? Here is the study note from The ESV Study Bible on this verse:

To those who have kept his word, Christ promises, “I will keep you” from the coming hour of trial, which will put those who dwell on the earth to the test. Because this trial is coming on the whole world, it seems that before the final consummation, Revelation envisions a brief future period of intensified persecution for the church (see 19:19; 20:7–9) and of escalating manifestations of God’s wrath against “those who dwell on the earth,” a phrase designating rebellious humanity (6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 12, 14; 17:2, 8).

Jesus does not promise to spare believers from suffering or martyrdom but to shield them from his wrath and to transform martyrdom into triumph (6:10–11; 12:11). Many who hold a “pretribulation rapture” position believe that this verse means Christ will take them out of the world before a literal “great tribulation” period begins. Other interpreters, however, see this as God’s promise to safeguard and remain faithful to believers who endure patiently in the midst of “the hour of trial that is coming,” though it does not imply that he will take believers out of the world at that time (cf. a similar but not identical Gk. expression in James 1:27, where it does not imply removal from the world).

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