Dear Christian Believer,
In Revelation 3:10, Dispensationalists claim that tereo (τηρεω) means "to remove, to take out of," and use this in attempt to support their false doctrine of the "Rapture." However, that word is used twice in that verse, as well as being used by Jesus in John 17:6, 11-12, and 15. Let us see if they can get support for what they say from these verses:
In Revelation 3:10, Dispensationalists claim that tereo (τηρεω) means "to remove, to take out of," and use this in attempt to support their false doctrine of the "Rapture." However, that word is used twice in that verse, as well as being used by Jesus in John 17:6, 11-12, and 15. Let us see if they can get support for what they say from these verses:
"Because you have kept (tereo, τηρεω) the word of My perseverance, I also will keep (tereo, τηρεω) 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." Rev. 3:10
"I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept (tereo, τηρεω) Thy word." John 17:6
"And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep (tereo, τηρεω) them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping (tereo, τηρεω) them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." John 17:11-12
"I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep (tereo, τηρεω) them from the evil one." John 17:15
Tereo means "to guard (from loss or injury), to hold fast, to keep, to preserve." How about we look at a couple more verses to prove our point:
"If you keep (tereo, τηρεω) My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept (tereo, τηρεω) 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, τηρεω) My word, they will keep (tereo, τηρεω) yours also." John 15:20
In The MacArthur Study Bible for Revelation 3:10, John writes, "this phrase, 'keep . . . from' supports the pretribulational rapture of the church" (p.1946, ESV edition). The phrase "keep . . . from" is "tereo . . . ek" (τηρεω . . . εκ), and this phrase is also found in John 17:15. John
MacArthur, along with every other Dispensationalist, is in grave error here because it supports no such false teaching. What this phrase supports is the historical evidence:
"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.'" (John Cumming, Apocalyptic Sketches, pp.436-437)So, brothers and sisters, make sure you are "[testing] the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1), "examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things [are] so" (Acts 17:11), and "[studying] to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Do not be a spoon-fed Christian clothed in spiritual hand-me-downs believing false doctrines that are not supported or substantiated in or by Scripture. May God bless you as you study His Word honestly, truthfully, and accurately!
"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." (Matthew Poole, A Commentary on the Holy Bible, 3:958)