Questions, questions...
If there were not some difficult questions that the Scriptures themselves raise regarding the so-called "pre-tribulation rapture" , fewer people would give this theory the nod.
I prayerfully submit the following explanation ofa passage in Revelation that seems to point toward pre-tribulationism.
Revelation 3:10, "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.
" Question: Isn't it God's will to remove His Church to Heaven from this final trial? Here the "hour of trial" is called by the pre-trib people, the Great Tribulation, and the Philadelphia Church becomes the "end-time church" in the church-age theory, and the faithful are thus promised they will not have to go through this Tribulation because, it is further assumed, they will be "caught up" before that time comes.
Problems with that view: 1.
Can we prove that the "hour of trial" is the full three and one half years? Could it not just as easily be the terrible day of His coming ? Then indeed the saved will be caught up to be with Jesus.
2.
To make Philadelphia the end-time church is to make Laodicea the church of the Tribulation, a group of "losers" who suddenly turn into martyrs for the cause of Christ.
3.
Is it not possible that this message is indeed given to a church known in the days of John, and that the promise was kept? Did not Philadelphia escape the last times altogether? 4.
Are there not churches in every generation who can claim this promise of escaping the judgment of God if they are faithful? 5.
Is it not possible at the very least, that God is able to keep His People from harm in the midst of judgment? Was either Noah or Lot removed from the earth? Do not the 144,000 escape Satan's plan? When the bowl judgments fall, is it not stated explicitly who is being targeted? Other than persecutions allowed , are God's people ever harmed when God is pouring wrath on His enemies? As Schwertley points out, it is not proper to make the promise given to an individual church in Asia some generalized promise for all churches of all time.
As he says, " The church of Smyrna is told that they 'will have tribulation ten days.
Be faithful unto death.
' (Rev.
2:10) They are not promised protection from the coming time of tribulation.
" To make the behavior of a particular church in Asia Minor universal in its application "is to render the commendation to the Philadelphians meaningless.
" Also, Jesus indicates strongly here that the time is about to happen.
This is not talking about an end-time scenario, but the persecution of their own time, the difficult political situations of their own day.
And the Philadelphian church was not "beamed out of the Roman Empire" but kept from the evil of the days, as Noah and Lot in their generations.
Was it not Jesus who said to the Father, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
" That's how it works: in the world, but kept from evil.
That is what Philadelphia is no doubt being promised.