Page 248 - The Rapture Question by John F. Walvoord

The Rapture in the Book of Revelation
The alternatives before John as he wrote Revelation
3:10-11 are obvious. If he wanted to say that the church was
kept through the Tribulation, he could have used the preposi­
tion dia. If he meant that the church was taken out of the
Tribulation, he could have used the same word for “take” that
is found in John 17:15 (airo). The fact that he did not use the
verb for “take” and did not use the preposition dia (through)
demonstrates that the intended meaning was “to keep from
completely.” This meaning probably would not be challenged
if it were not for the embarrassment to the posttribulational
argument.
When all the facts in this passage are taken into consider­
ation, it teaches that the Philadelphia church is promised, “I
will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come
upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.” The
purpose of the promise is deliverance from “the hour of trial,”
a period of time, not simply preservation through the trials in
that period. The promise to the Philadelphia church is that
they would be kept from a time of trouble that is ahead, not
that they would be taken from the midst of this period.
While the passage gives no comfort whatever to post-
tribulationism, its force and support of pretribulationism may
be subject to qualification. Is the letter to Philadelphia ad­
dressed to the church at large like the Pauline letters to the
Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians, or is it limited to the
particular church addressed? Many posttribulationists admit
that the expression “the hour of trial,” described as coming
upon the entire earth, is the Tribulation described in Revela­
tion 6-18, and here the promise given to Philadelphia is ad­
dressed to the entire church.
However, some have raised questions as to whether this is
the proper interpretation. The Philadelphian church was in
the midst of persecution from the Roman government, and the
promise could be construed that God would keep them from
this persecution. The argument against this, of course, is that

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