Please read the phrase in question and the one that Pretribbers try to use to justify their beliefs:
"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep [Gr. tēreō] thee from [Gr. ek] the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
Once again: there is nothing clear (or ambiguous) here that proves a rapture of the church, followed by any length of sustained tribulation followed by a 3rd coming, nothing. You need to be taught Pretrib and then force it into this text in order to see that. In fact, you have no proof-text anywhere in Scripture that states this.
What you miss is, the same assurance that we find in Revelation 3:10 is found in our Lord’s Prayer in John 17:15 (only it was written a few years before). The comparison cannot be lightly dismissed as both were penned by the same author in the same biblical time-period. Praying to His Father for His followers He petitioned:
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep [Gr.
tēreō]
them from [Gr.
ek]
the evil.”
Other similar Scripture shows us the sense of the original Greek. But you also totally ignored that. Check #4385. It is impossible to get you to address the multiple holes in your argument.
Christ does not ask the Father to ‘take them out’ of the world with its existing tribulation, suffering and inherent evil, as the Pretrib argues, rather the opposite, but that by the power of His Spirit, He would “keep them from” the surrounding evil. This is the same thought that Christ is presenting in Revelation 3:10. Interestingly, a careful comparison between these two passages reveals the remarkable similarity in their import and word construction.
- “keep [Gr. tēreō] them from [Gr. ek] the evil” (John 17:15)
- “keep [Gr. tēreō] thee from [Gr. ek] the hour of temptation” (Revelation 3:10)
It is God's heart to protect His children. He did it in the OT and He did it in the New Testament. He did it yesterday, He does it today, and He will do it tomorrow. He did not rapture Israel from similar plagues in Egypt. He did not remove Rahab and her family before He destroyed Jericho. No, He preserved His elect and brought them through those fierce times of wrath. He did not remove Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. He did not rescue Daniel from the lion’s den. No, He preserved His elect during times of intense persecution by the enemy.