Another verse that Dispensationalists attempt to use in support of the Rapture is 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 upon the earth.” As we pointed out when we were discussing The Rapture in the Gospel of John, the word translated “keep” is the Greek tereo (τηρεω), which, again, literally means “to guard, to preserve.”
Not only does the word tereo appear twice in Revelation 3:10, but it also appears in John 17:6, 11-12, and 15. In John 17:15 we noted that Jesus prayed, “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” If the word meant “to take away, to gather, to remove” as the Dispensationalists tell us, we have a severe problem on our hands. In other words, according to the Dispensationalist’s interpretation, Jesus said, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you take them out of the world.” After all, they tell us that this word teaches the Rapture in Revelation 3:10. John MacArthur insists “this phrase, ‘keep…from’ supports the pretribulational rapture of the church.”1 I am sorry, but one would have to stretch and twist this verse, and particularly this word, to great extremes in order for it to mean “to take away, to gather, to remove.” In fact, the exact same word is used only mere words earlier: “Because you have kept (tereo) the word…” How should we interpret it then?
Furthermore, the phrase “keep…from” that appears in Revelation 3:10 also appears in John 17:15. If tereo means what Dispensationalists try to tell us it means, how do we explain its usage in these verses: “If you keep (tereo) My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept (tereo) My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” (John 15:10); “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept (tereo) My word, they will keep (tereo) yours also.” (John 15:20)?
Mr. MacArthur also insists that this is “an event still future that for a short time severely tests the whole world.”2 Although I greatly respect Mr. MacArthur, being a great man of God, he is mistaken once again because this passage was spoken to a church in history, which no longer exists, which, if we read our history, we would know has already come to pass. “This promise was literally and verbatim fulfilled. Philadelphia was the only church in the seven which escaped unscathed from the persecutions of Trajan; and the reason which philosophers assigned and historians have stated is, that Philadelphia was subject to earthquakes; and the Roman emperor, with all his sanguinary cruelty, was afraid to go there himself, or to trust his generals and his armies in a place so dangerous. No doubt this was the secondary cause, which many modern philosophers worship; but the secret of Philadelphia’s safety was the first great and glorious reason that Christians trust in – that Jesus had recorded it as his truth. ‘I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, that shall come upon all the world.’”3
“I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world; for this faithfulness God promises to keep the ministers of this church from those persecutions which raged elsewhere, and were further, in Trajan’s time, to come upon all Christians living under the Roman Empire. To try them that dwell upon the earth; to try those Christians that lived within that empire, how well they would adhere to Christ, and the profession of the gospel. This I take to be a more proper sense, than theirs who would interpret this hour of temptation of the day of judgment, which is never so called.”4 The historical evidence is overwhelmingly supportive of precisely what the passage says.
There is one key verse that demonstrates most powerfully the Dispensationalist’s use of hermeneutical “reaching”–Revelation 4:1. The Dispensationalist latches onto the phrase “Come up here” and says, “See! That is the rapture!” Oh, how foolish. That would be no different than latching onto the words “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” and saying, “See! Christ was a vampire! If you drink His blood you will have everlasting life.” It is the same silly nonsense. Come on, my Dispensationalist friend, you can do better than that.
In that letter that my Theology Professor wrote in response to me, he also stated that “The church is no where mentioned again in Revelation until ch.19 when Jesus returns at His Revelation as King, with all His holy ones to begin His Millennial Kingdom.” I am sorry, but the church is nowhere mentioned in this chapter. He is assuming that the “armies of heaven” (v.14) include the saints, and that if it does, they already have their glorified bodies rather than the souls of dead saints themselves coming to be united with their bodies from the grave. Elsewhere in Scripture Jesus says He could command legions of angels to come to his aid (Matt. 26:53). Matthew 25:31 and 2 Thessalonians 1:7 inform us that Jesus will return with His angels.
The fact is, nowhere in Revelation is the “church” mentioned. The word “church” appears seven times through chapters 2 and 3, each time in regard to the specific church that John was told to write to (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). The word “churches” appears thirteen times; seven of which are in the repetitive warning “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22), four of which mention specifically the “seven churches” (1:4, 11, 20 – twice), and the last two of which are plural with no specifics (2:23; 22:16). The term “bride” is used four times (18:23; 21:2, 9; 22:17), two of which are in conjunction with the fact the New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ, the Church (21:2, 9).
1 John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, 1946.
2 Ibid.
3 John Cumming, Apocalyptic Sketches, 436-437.
4 Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, 3:958.
Not only does the word tereo appear twice in Revelation 3:10, but it also appears in John 17:6, 11-12, and 15. In John 17:15 we noted that Jesus prayed, “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.” If the word meant “to take away, to gather, to remove” as the Dispensationalists tell us, we have a severe problem on our hands. In other words, according to the Dispensationalist’s interpretation, Jesus said, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you take them out of the world.” After all, they tell us that this word teaches the Rapture in Revelation 3:10. John MacArthur insists “this phrase, ‘keep…from’ supports the pretribulational rapture of the church.”1 I am sorry, but one would have to stretch and twist this verse, and particularly this word, to great extremes in order for it to mean “to take away, to gather, to remove.” In fact, the exact same word is used only mere words earlier: “Because you have kept (tereo) the word…” How should we interpret it then?
Furthermore, the phrase “keep…from” that appears in Revelation 3:10 also appears in John 17:15. If tereo means what Dispensationalists try to tell us it means, how do we explain its usage in these verses: “If you keep (tereo) My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept (tereo) My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” (John 15:10); “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept (tereo) My word, they will keep (tereo) yours also.” (John 15:20)?
Mr. MacArthur also insists that this is “an event still future that for a short time severely tests the whole world.”2 Although I greatly respect Mr. MacArthur, being a great man of God, he is mistaken once again because this passage was spoken to a church in history, which no longer exists, which, if we read our history, we would know has already come to pass. “This promise was literally and verbatim fulfilled. Philadelphia was the only church in the seven which escaped unscathed from the persecutions of Trajan; and the reason which philosophers assigned and historians have stated is, that Philadelphia was subject to earthquakes; and the Roman emperor, with all his sanguinary cruelty, was afraid to go there himself, or to trust his generals and his armies in a place so dangerous. No doubt this was the secondary cause, which many modern philosophers worship; but the secret of Philadelphia’s safety was the first great and glorious reason that Christians trust in – that Jesus had recorded it as his truth. ‘I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, that shall come upon all the world.’”3
“I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world; for this faithfulness God promises to keep the ministers of this church from those persecutions which raged elsewhere, and were further, in Trajan’s time, to come upon all Christians living under the Roman Empire. To try them that dwell upon the earth; to try those Christians that lived within that empire, how well they would adhere to Christ, and the profession of the gospel. This I take to be a more proper sense, than theirs who would interpret this hour of temptation of the day of judgment, which is never so called.”4 The historical evidence is overwhelmingly supportive of precisely what the passage says.
There is one key verse that demonstrates most powerfully the Dispensationalist’s use of hermeneutical “reaching”–Revelation 4:1. The Dispensationalist latches onto the phrase “Come up here” and says, “See! That is the rapture!” Oh, how foolish. That would be no different than latching onto the words “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life” and saying, “See! Christ was a vampire! If you drink His blood you will have everlasting life.” It is the same silly nonsense. Come on, my Dispensationalist friend, you can do better than that.
In that letter that my Theology Professor wrote in response to me, he also stated that “The church is no where mentioned again in Revelation until ch.19 when Jesus returns at His Revelation as King, with all His holy ones to begin His Millennial Kingdom.” I am sorry, but the church is nowhere mentioned in this chapter. He is assuming that the “armies of heaven” (v.14) include the saints, and that if it does, they already have their glorified bodies rather than the souls of dead saints themselves coming to be united with their bodies from the grave. Elsewhere in Scripture Jesus says He could command legions of angels to come to his aid (Matt. 26:53). Matthew 25:31 and 2 Thessalonians 1:7 inform us that Jesus will return with His angels.
The fact is, nowhere in Revelation is the “church” mentioned. The word “church” appears seven times through chapters 2 and 3, each time in regard to the specific church that John was told to write to (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). The word “churches” appears thirteen times; seven of which are in the repetitive warning “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22), four of which mention specifically the “seven churches” (1:4, 11, 20 – twice), and the last two of which are plural with no specifics (2:23; 22:16). The term “bride” is used four times (18:23; 21:2, 9; 22:17), two of which are in conjunction with the fact the New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ, the Church (21:2, 9).
1 John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, 1946.
2 Ibid.
3 John Cumming, Apocalyptic Sketches, 436-437.
4 Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, 3:958.