The Church in Philadelphia

[Sam V]

I expect our home Bible study to emphasize the alleged pretribulation rapture when we get to Rev 3:10:

“Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (KJV)

However, my question about this passage is more basic than the disagreement between the pretribulation rapture camp versus the posttribulation rapture camp (I’m in this camp).

Earlier, in chapter 1, Jesus said “Write the things which thou has seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be thereafter.” Accordingly, I believe that chapter 1 concerns “the things which thou hast seen”, chapters 2 & 3 concern “the things which are” (from John’s perspective), and chapters 4 – 22 concern “the things which shall be thereafter.”

Doesn’t Jesus’ promise to the Philadelphian church in Rev 3:10 relate to things they were about to experience, in either the 1st or 2nd century?

Does Rev 3:10 even have anything to do with the coming Great Tribulation?

[Timothy]

Sam,

While chapters 2-3 deal with the “things which are” (the seven churches which existed in John’s day), the promises attached to each do indeed concern the future. This is apparent because most of them deal with the Kingdom. For example, to the overcomers in Ephesus, Jesus promised they would eat of the Tree of Life. To Smyrna, the overcomers would not be subject to the second death. To Thyatira, the promise to the overcomers is they would rule the nations with a rod of iron (a reference to Psalm 2). So while the circumstances Jesus was addressing certainly existed at the time John wrote, all of the promises are about the distant future.

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