This
question cannot really be answered without considering the promise
to the overcomer in Philadelphia: “Because thou hast kept the word
of my patience, I also will keep thee out of”
(not merely through) “the hour of trial, which is about to come upon
the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”
(Rev. 3: 10, my emphasis). Is this promise confined to
Philadelphia? No more than the promise to be uninjured of the second
death (see Rev. 2: 11)—the lake of fire (see Rev. 20: 14)—is
confined to the overcomer in Smyrna. Of course, the promise to
Philadelphia is not confined to its overcomer, for the address to
that Assembly supposes Christians as those that have kept the word
of the Lord’s patience. Now it is clear that Philadelphia had this
characteristic in a distinct way, but it is equally plain that the
attendant promise must be looked at in the context in which it is
set. Only two groups are in view: those that have kept
the word of the Lord’s patience, and are looking expectantly to
heaven, and “them that dwell upon the earth”
(Rev. 3: 10, my emphasis). Did the Philadelphian saints not dwell
upon the earth as well? No, for the word dwell (katoikeo)
means to settle down permanently. They were living on earth,
but they were not dwelling. The Christian is here in this
world as a stranger and a sojourner (see Heb. 11: 9), for “we have
not here an abiding city, but we seek the coming one” (Heb. 13: 14).
“In the world” he will “have tribulation” (John 16: 33) but he is
“not of the world” as much as the Lord is “not of the world” (John
17: 16), for his citizenship is “in [the] heavens” from which he
awaits “the Lord Jesus Christ [as] Saviour” (Phil. 3: 20). By
contrast, the book of Revelation consistently speaks of those who
dwell on the earth as a distinct class (see Rev. 6: 10; 8: 13; 11:
10; 13: 8, 14; 17: 8). Earth is their fixed abode. It is on that
abode that “the hour of trial” (Rev. 3: 10)—which may include the
“beginning of throes” (Matt. 24: 8) as well as the Great Tribulation
itself (see Rev. 7: 14)—shall descend. However, Christians, as
a class, are promised that they will be kept out of this
trial that will come upon the earth because properly they belong,
not to earth, but heaven. When the judgment falls, they will already
have been snatched away to their heavenly home. The prophetic
history of the Assembly on the earth (“the things that are”—Rev. 1:
19) will have closed before “the things that are about to be after”
(v19) commence. Indeed, it is more than this, for Christians are to
be kept out of the hour of trial—not merely the trial.
They are kept out of the time in which the trial is.
Further proof is
afforded by the first epistle to the Thessalonians. There we read
that “God has not set us for wrath” (1 Thess. 5: 9, my
emphasis). Is this the wrath of God spoken of in John 3: 36: “he
that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abides upon him”? No. The wrath in
John 3: 36 is eternal (it abides upon him) but the
wrath in 1 Thess. 5: 9 is God’s judgment of the earth and has both a
beginning and an end (hence “hour of trial” in Rev. 3: 10—a limited
period). Look at the context. 1 Thess. 5
opens with the apostle speaking of “times and seasons” (v1), and
these always relate to earth. Verses 2, 3 speak of “the day of [the]
Lord” coming unexpectedly upon those not ready for it. This is “the
day of Jehovah’s vengeance” (Is. 34: 8) when He directly intervenes
in the affairs of this earth, and during which Christ returns
publicly to this earth (see Is. 2: 12-21; 13: 9; 34: 8; Joel 2: 11;
Obad. v15; Zeph. 1: 18 etc.). In contrast with all this,
the writer then says, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness,
that the day should overtake you as a thief: for all ye are
sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness”
(1 Thess. 5: 4, 5—note the emphatic ye repeated twice). This
is the background to v9—“because God has not set us for wrath”—a
verse which goes on to say, “but for obtaining salvation through our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us, that … we may live together
with him”. What is this salvation? In the context, clearly the
opposite of God’s wrath upon the earth. Where will we live together
with Christ? Not on this earth, but where He now is (see John 14:
3). Similar truth is taught in 1 Thess. 1: 10, where the
Thessalonians were awaiting God’s son from the heavens, “Jesus, our
deliverer from the coming wrath” (1 Thess. 1: 10)—that wrath when
God arises to terrify the earth. This expression “coming wrath” also
occurs in the gospels, and similarly relates to that foretold by the
OT prophets (see Matt. 3: 7; Luke 3: 7). The Thessalonians were not
to be preserved through this wrath but delivered from entering into
it at all—they were not set “for wrath” (1 Thess. 5: 9).
All this
demonstrates that “the hour of trial” (Rev. 3: 10) is not for the
Christian, and that he will be removed before God deals with the
earth in judgment. As the Lord goes on to say, “I come quickly”
(v11)—coming to remove those who keep “the word of my patience”
(v10).
