Do you remember that old TV show called, Name That Tune? It was a game show where the contestants would say, “I can name that tune in four notes,” for example. Whichever contestant was able to name the tune in or less than the number of notes declared—was the winner. Well, I’m telling you that I can name that Pre-Tribulation Rapture tune in one Scripture:
“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
Okay, now let’s read that again:
“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the HOUR of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
There, I actually named that Pre-Tribulation Rapture tune in one word of one verse.(Emphasis on the word “hour” is mine.) So, if you stop at this word while reading this verse and think a minute, what does the word “hour” mean? It’s a block of time. A measure of time. Or as the dictionary describes it:
Noun: hour; plural noun: hours
1. A period of time equal to a twenty-fourth part of a day and night and divided into 60 minutes.
“An extra hour of daylight.”
A less definite period of time.
“During the early hours of the morning.”
The distance traveled in one hour.
“Ocean City is less than an hour away.”
2. A point in time.
“I wondered if my last hour had come.”
So, Jesus (Who authored the book of Revelation thru John) is saying that He will keep those of us who persevere from the HOUR of trial…as opposed to only keeping us from the TRIAL itself.
To understand this in simpler terms, I like Pastor Robert Jeffress’ analogy of a teacher telling the first few rows of the class that they will be taking a test tomorrow but announcing that the people in the last few rows of desks will not be required to be in attendance during tomorrow’s class time since they will be exempt from taking the test.
Note that in this analogy, the teacher does not tell the students who will be exempt from the test that they need to attend the class for the duration (HOUR) but will not have to take the test. In other words, they will be “protected” from the test but will still be in attendance for the HOUR of testing. Seems clear, doesn’t it, that we will be exempt from the HOUR of the test?
Don’t like that one or too hard to understand? Okay, here’s another example. I can name that Pre-Tribulation Rapture tune in three verses:
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark” (Genesis 7:11-13).
I could point out what God did not say.I could point out that Noah and company did not enter the ark in mid-flood or after the flood was over.But, I don’t think we need an analogy for this one, do you?This seems plain to see, to me.This looks like common sense.It reads like common sense. It speaks like common sense.I really think God’s Word is common sense. And I fear we are going to make nonsense out of it if we try to make any other sense.
Jesus said, “I am coming.”And, I think it’s plain to see from just the four verses mentioned in this article that He is coming before the Tribulation. So, since all the signs are pointing to the Tribulation’s imminent beginning, it also seems clear that He is coming SOON!So, please, I encourage you to get ready.
Please come quickly Lord Jesus, I am so ready to go Home!
skhoward8@hotmail.com