(Revelation 3:10) “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, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
(John 17:15) “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”
Today throughout Christendom including evangelical and Charismatic churches and denominations there is a widespread view that the faithful Body of Messiah will be raptured (snatched away) before the revealing of the Antichrist and the time of Great Tribulation commences. Multitudes of believers across the denominational spectrum have been taught to believe this.
The pastors of these churches are saying that the Word of God teaches that the Messiah our Lord Jesus comes for the faithful Church before He comes with the faithful Church. This teaching has been widely embraced by evangelical and Charismatic/Pentecostal Churches and denominations in the western democracies which by and large are not being persecuted.
However in Russia, in China, in North Korea and in Islamic countries globally faithful New Covenant believers in the Messiah are being persecuted and martyred every day.
These precious members of the Body of Messiah are already in tribulation, as were faithful believers down through the history of the Church since the first century. One may well ask what worse atrocities the beast empire of the Antichrist could perpetrate against faithful New Covenant believers than the ones we already see being perpetrated against them today.
The word “tribulation” is used throughout the New Testament in reference to the Body of Messiah. The Greek word is “thlipsis” and it is wide in its use and application throughout the New Testament.
The word “thlipsis” describes; “affliction,” distress,” persecution,” “anguish,” “trouble,” and also describes being “under pressure” literally or figuratively and “that which constricts or rubs together causing friction.” It is used of “someone being hemmed in” or of an “internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined or restricted without options and with a feeling that there is no way of escape.”
The Lord Jesus Himself and the apostles said that all faithful New Covenant believers would all be delivered up to tribulation as He Himself was (Matthew 24:9-10) (Luke 21:12-19) (John 15:18-21).
The interesting thing is that our Lord Jesus and all of his followers did not escape tribulation in this world, but were kept by God’s power in and through tribulation.
All of the apostles except for John were martyred.
Tribulation in this world experienced by New Covenant believers is the lot of those who belong to the Lord Jesus even though it will differ in type and intensity (Acts 14:22).
Some will be marginalised in society, others will lose their livelihood, others will lose their houses and possessions, others will experience severe criticism and rejection by their immediate family, while others will go to prison and others martyred.
We see this increasing in frequency and intensity today all over the world in Islamic countries and in other countries like Russia, China and North Korea and coming to Europe and other western democracies.
Since the first century faithful New Covenant believers have always been in tribulation. At the end of this age the tribulation will merge into that time of Great Tribulation which will see the rising of the beast system of the Antichrist which will persecute the wider Body of Messiah on a global scale including Israel (Revelation 13:5-7).
Satan (the enormous Red Dragon) is seeking to destroy the woman (Israel) and her spiritual offspring, (the faithful Body of Messiah) spiritually grafted into Israel, being those who obey God’s commandments and hold steadfastly to the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 12:13-17).
As Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “Through much tribulation (many tribulations) we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22b). The apostle John writes; “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation” (Revelation1:9a). As the Lord Jesus Himself said; “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
He also said; “…then they shall deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all the nations because of My name;” (Matthew 24:9).
And then He also said; “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:21-22).
It is interesting to note the term “the elect.” Those in the Pretribulation rapture camp restrict this to refer only to Jews and those who come to faith after the rapture who have been saved during the time of Great Tribulation; however, the word “elect” appears in other passages in the New Testament to refer to the Body of Messiah which is spiritually grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17-18) (Ephesians 2:11-22).
The idea of tribulation saints, being those saved after the rapture has occurred, is not scriptural and scripture nowhere teaches this. In the New Testament saints are the Body of Messiah corporately and the ones who go into the Time of Great Tribulation, who are spiritually sustained and kept by the LORD in it and are delivered out of it at the end of it.
The Lord Jesus also said; “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31).
In this reference the saints are gathered from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other to meet the Lord Jesus in the air at His Second Coming. They are gathered around Him in their resurrected bodies as He descends to earth with them accompanied by His powerful angels (2 Thessalonians 1:7) (Jude 1:14).
Mark; relating the same event writes; “Then they (the world) will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven” (Mark 13:26-27).
In this reference to the visible Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus with great power and glory His angels gather together His elect saints from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.” This describes a global rapture and resurrection of the faithful Body of Messiah that occurs, not just restricted to the Jews in Israel.
Notice the rapture and resurrection of all the saints occurs immediately after the tribulation of those days, not before it!
Clearly we see this exemplified in 1st Thessalonians when Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The rapture (Greek-harpazo, or the “snatching away”) and the resurrection (physically) are the one and the same event.
Now let’s look at our two leading texts related to the subject; “Kept in the Hour of Testing.”
(Revelation 3:10) “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, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
(John 17:15) “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”
Notice firstly those who have “kept the word of My perseverance.” The Lord Jesus is the eternal unchanging Word of God revealed in a flesh and blood body, one who has always existed in eternity and who, through His incarnation as a man, tabernacled among us as God the Son, the third person of the Eternal Triune God (John 1:1-5,14-15).
He was one who persevered to the very end or remained under extreme mental, emotional and physical anguish even though He was tempted to get out from under this intense pressure in the Garden of Gethsemane contemplating His coming crucifixion. He was tempted in every way we are yet never sinned (Matthew 6:29) (Hebrews 5:7-8).
When we were born again by the Holy Spirit infusing into our spirit the Word of God through this spiritual rebirth from above, the Son of God Himself, the living Word of God, came to dwell in us through the presence of His Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:27) (John 1:12-13) (1 John 5:12). As Rabbi the apostle Paul writes; “And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”(Galatians 4:6)
When we were born again our spiritually dead inner spirit, unresponsive to God, was made spiritually alive and made us responsive to God and we became joined to Him and made one in spirit with Him (John 3:3) (John 14:23) (1 Corinthians 6:17) (Colossians 2:13) (Ephesians 2:4-6).
We received the resurrection eternal indestructible everlasting life residing in the Lord Jesus who Himself is the source of eternal life, being God the Son and equal with God. (John 11:25-26) (John 5:25-26). The Lord Jesus we are also told in the Word of God that “all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form in Him (Colossians 2:9).
The Word of God active in us as born again New Covenant believers empowers us to keep His Word and to be kept by Him. This is “keeping the Word of His perseverance.” The Word of God is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses in His convicting and converting work (Luke 8:11) (John 6:63) (1 Peter 1:23).
When we received the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and Lord into our life we received His Word and received the gift of the Holy Spirit as a well of living water welling up into eternal life (John 4:10, 13-14) (Acts 2: 38-39) (Acts 7:12, 14-17). We also received the power of His perseverance and strength (Philippians 4:13). Now let’s continue…
“I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”
In both of our texts (Revelation 3:10) (John 17:15) notice the two phrases; “will keep you from” and “will keep them from.” The word “keep” can be translated as being “kept through” or “kept from” When you put the two texts together one may well ask to be kept from what?”
The “hour” of trial or testing tells us that this hour of trial that will come about in the whole earth will be quite short and intended to test those who dwell on the earth which is the context.
Those who have kept the Word of the Lord Jesus’ through the power of the Holy Spirit have dwelling in them the perseverance of the Messiah and will be “kept from” the evil one and not be overpowered by Him. These will be “heaven dwellers” living on earth during this time of testing but be passing the test by the power of God as heaven bound children of God. During this brief hour of temptation and testing (42 months, 1,260 days, a time, times, and half a time) the thoughts and intents of men’s hearts will be laid bare.
Things will get so bad in this time of tribulation (thlipsis) unequalled in past history and never to be equalled again, that for the very survival of all flesh and for the sake of the elect saints still on earth at that time God will cut those days short swiftly and suddenly (Matthew 24:21-22) (Daniel 12:1).
The “Earth dwellers” refers to those who are unsaved and whose way of life is centred in this life down here on earth and all that it offers by way of temporal things, but does not prepare them for eternity. In the Book of Revelation those “who dwell in heaven” are those who are members of God’s Kingdom on earth through the spiritual rebirth from above.
After physical death the soul is thrust into eternity to appear before God for judgement (Hebrews 9:27). This is an appointment no one can cancel. The unsaved will be sentensed to Hell, but for the saved it will be entrey into heaven (John 14:2-3) (Daniel 12:2) (John 5:24-26).
Now it is very important to note that the phrase “to keep you from” or “kept “ used throughout the New Testament does not mean to be taken out of a trying situation or circumstance, or from a strong temptation or trial, but to be kept in it and through it, and at the end of it to be delivered out of it (1 Corinthians 10:13). The preposition implies this, not a keeping from temptation or testing, but a keeping in the time of it and kept through it, the result of which they shall be delivered out of its power.
In His prayer for His disciples in John Chapter 17:15 the Lord Jesus did not pray for His Father to take them out of the world but that He might “keep them from the evil one. Clearly the context is not being kept from the hour of temptation but being kept in it and through it because Satan is always seeking to turn God’s redeemed saints from the narrow way and draw them into the wide way which leads to eternal damnation. In the end it will only be a remnant in Israel and in Christendom that will make it out of here (Romans 11:5) (Matthew 7:13-14).
Satan has the unsaved already, the ones he is after is you and I whom God has rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14) (Ephesians 5:8) (2 Corinthians 4:6).
The question is asked widely; “When will the rapture and resurrection take place?
Now in the Book of Revelation in Chapter seven between the sixth and seventh seal we see two groups of the redeemed saints. 144,000 are from Israel and are Jews who have been redeemed and the other group a multitude of Gentile believers that cannot be numbered from every nation on earth (Revelation 7:4-9).
Later we see the 144,000 appear with the Messiah standing on Mt Zion, the dwelling place of the Triune God, those who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads, and when you see them described it would seem that they are directly connected to all of the redeemed from all of the ages, both Jews and Gentile New Covenant believers, being one new man in Messiah, separate and distinct from each other yet as one flock under one shepherd (John 10:16).
In the New Testament we are told that Jews who believe in Messiah as the natural cultivated branches are spiritually grafted in again to their own Olive Tree, being the Commonwealth of Israel.
The wild uncultivated branches, being gentiles who believe in Messiah, are spiritually grafted into the Olive Tree to replace the individual natural olive branches broken off through unbelief. If the Olive Tree (Israel) has gone then the branches cannot be grafted in (Romans 11:17-18).
The New Covenant cut in the blood of the Messiah was made with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, not with a Gentile Church (Jeremiah 31:31). Rabbi the apostle Paul gives us more insight into this spiritual connection between Israel withe Body of Messiah being one body even though their ethnicity is both Jewish and Gentile (Ephesians 2:11-22). Having said this does not imply that God has finished with the nation of Israel as they are His prophetic time clock for the unsaved Gentile nations.
Gentile believers who come to faith in Messiah are spiritually grafted into Israel and become partakers of the blessings of Abraham, the father of faith and of all who believe both Jew and Gentile (Romans Chapter 4).
The root that supports the Olive Tree and its engrafted branches is the Messiah Himself the true vine who through the divine sap of the Holy Spirit causes the branches to bear spiritual fruitfulness for God (John 15:1-8) (Galatians 5:22-26).
Now we also notice in Revelation Chapter 7:9 that the great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb (the Messiah our Lord Jesus) were all wearing white robes and were holding palm branches (signifying victory). They were crying out in a loud voice; “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the lamb.”
In verse 14 we are told who they are and where they were coming from. In verse fourteen we read; “These are those who have come out of Great Tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” The Greek text renders them as those “who are coming out of Great Tribulation.” It is rendered in the present continuous tense. The rest of the chapter from verse fifteen to verse 17 we see them in heaven.
Since the first century down to the present day those individual faithful believers who have died in times of tribulation over the centuries have been coming out of it to enter heaven to be with the Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8).
This particular time of Great Tribulation in its context, is set right at the end of the age between the sixth and the seventh seal. It is tribulation but it is great in its scope, its intensity and frequency and at the zenith of its power and in all of the nations on earth.
The extraction or rescue or snatching away of faithful believers (the corporate rapture and resurrection of the Body of Messiah) it would seem happens between the sixth and seventh seal.
From Chapter eight onwards we see the seventh seal opened with the seven trumpets announcing the seven bowls of God’s wrath. The trumpets and the bowls are connected. God announces the coming wrath through the trumpets and then sends it through the bowls! When this happens there is no reprieve! We need to distinguish between “tribulation” and “wrath.”
(See “Destined for Tribulation but not for Wrath”)
The word for “wrath” in connection with the seven bowls is the Greek word “thumos” describing “a boiling bowl or fiery cauldron with liquid that comes to boiling point and then when the cauldron is tipped on its side its burning contents are poured out without restraint.
Now to come out of a situation or circumstance you have to be in it in the first place to come out of it. The faithful Body of Messiah goes into this time of Great Tribulation but is rescued out of it before the wrath of God falls.
Faithful New Covenant born again, blood redeemed, blood washed Bible believers in our Lord Jesus will experience tribulation (thlipsis) in this world, and those who have not died but are living in the time of Great Tribulation will be snatched away to join those coming with the Lord Jesus just prior to the bowls of God’s wrath being poured out on a Messiah hating, Messiah rejecting world.
How do we know this?
Well Rabbi the apostle Paul tells us in his first letter to the assembly at Thessalonica…
“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation (rescue/deliverance from) through our Lord Jesus Messiah…who rescues us from the coming wrath” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 1:10).
While not being dogmatic on the timing of the rapture and resurrection (the one and the same event) it would seem that the Holy Spirit is showing us that the faithful Body of Messiah comes out of the end-time of Great Tribulation between the sixth and the seventh seals.
As we see the whole planet in turmoil never equalled in past history, today we see weapons of mass destruction including nuclear capability and nations gearing up for open warfare. Today we see “the birth pains” described in Matthew 24:4-14 increasing in frequency and intensity and coming one upon another in quick succession.
When we see these things coming to a head one upon another like contractions in a pregnant woman about to give birth, we know that the birth of God’s Messianic Kingdom is about to come that will see all opposition to God put down by the Messiah and the inauguration of His Messianic reign on earth for a thousand years.
If we are part of God’s eternal family, having been redeemed by the blood of His Son and spiritually reborn by the Spirit of God from above, then in our resurrected glorified indestructible glorified bodies, just like our Messiah has Himself, we will co-reign with Him on earth, and in that day the seat of His power will be on the throne David at Jerusalem (Philippians 3:20-21) (Revelation 5:10) (Luke 1:32-33).
From the City of Jerusalem He will reign over the surviving nations of the world with a rod of iron, ruling with true righteousness and justice being the foundation of His throne with loving devotion and faithfulness going before Him (Psalm 89:14).
When looking at the texts (Revelation 3:10 and John 17:15) and aligning them with each other it is clear that we as New Covenant Messianic believers will be kept in and through the hour of testing that is coming upon the whole world at the end of this present age and is now possibly even at the very gates.
In closing as New Covenant believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus we will not be saved from entering this time of Great Tribulation but kept in and through it by God’s power, but raptured and resurrected immediately after it has come to its end (Matthew 24:29-31).
After this the wrath of God is poured out without restraint which we will not experience because we have been justified and sheltered by the blood of Messiah from these fiery bowls of His wrath (Romans 5:9).
Because we have the power of the Messiah’s endurance along with His word dwelling in us, having also been sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption, we will most certainly be among those who have come out of this Time of Great Tribulation dressed in white robes of the Messiah’s righteousness, with our garments having been made white and clean by His atoning, redeeming and cleansing blood.
As the apostle John writes…
“For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
We will be those “Kept in the Hour of Testing!” Selah.
