Kept from the time of testing

 

Revelation 3:10 says, ‘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.’

Does this mean that believers will be taken out of the world during this difficult time, or does it mean that believers will be kept strong so they can stand firm with God’s help through these trials? The following is from different commentaries, regarding the above verse:

 

VINCENT’S WORD STUDIES:

The preposition implies, not a keeping from temptation, but a keeping in temptation, as the result of which they shall be delivered out of its power. Compare John 17:15.

 

MATTHEW HENRY’S CONCISE COMMENTARY:

Christ promises preserving grace in the most trying times, as the reward of past faithfulness; To him that hath shall be given. Those who keep the gospel in a time of peace, shall be kept by Christ in an hour of temptation; and the same Divine grace that has made them fruitful in times of peace, will make them faithful in times of persecution.

 

BARNE’S NOTES ON THE BIBLE:

God does not leave those who have shown that they will not leave him. ‘I also will keep thee…’ – That is, I will so keep you that you shall not sink under the trials which will prove a severe temptation to many.

This does not mean that they would be actually kept from calamity of all kinds, but that they would be kept from the temptation of apostasy in calamity. He would give them grace to bear up under trials with a Christian spirit, and in such a manner that their salvation should not be endangered.

 

JAMEISON-FAUCET-BROWNE BIBLE COMMENTARY:

I also—The reward is in kind: “because thou didst keep,”….. “I also (on My side) will keep thee,” from—Greek, “(so as to deliver thee) out of,” not to exempt from temptation.

 

 

MEYER’S NT COMMENTARY:

In the words κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας, κ.τ.λ., the church at Philadelphia is not promised that it shall be preserved from the hour of trial, i.e., that it shall not meet with sufferings full of trial,[1465] but in accordance with the presentation of the Apoc., that the troubles before the coming of the Lord will befall all believers, who of course are sealed,[1466] lest by the temptation in the troubles they may fall;[1467] and in accordance with the corresponding expression τηρ. ἐκ,[1468] in distinction from ΤΗΡ. ἈΠΌ,[1469] the church at Philadelphia, since it has already maintained victorious patience, is also to be delivered by his confirming grace from the universal distress impending before the coming of the Lord.[1470]

 

11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

                                                                                 –  Acts 17:11  Berean Study Bible

 

* This is a subject that many Christians have different views on. The conclusions in the above commentaries seem worth consideration and further study.                  

                                                                                                         – l.e.h.

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