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In Revelation 3:10-11, the church of Philadelphia is told:-
"Because thou hast 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. Behold, I come quickly ..."
This same idea is expressed in Zephaniah 2:3 :-
"Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger."
It also occurs in Isaiah 26:20-21:-
"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity ...."
Similarly, Psalms 50:15 says:-
"And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."
Some think that Revelation 3:10-11 refers to a 'rapture' , so let us ask the question of the scriipture itself "What could it be about ?"....
[many are unaware of the great escape that God will provide for Israel in the tribulation. Israel will come under a massive attack at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. However, God's chosen will be miraculously rescued out into the wilderness, where God will keep them safe during the last three and a half years, the great tribulation. Since some may be unfamiliar with this prophecy, let's take a moment to look at a few of the many passages that speak of it.]
The "hour of temptation" from which Philadelphia will be kept is the great tribulation... back in Revelation 2:22, it said many of those in the church of Thyatira would be cast into it.
"Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
This time is also called the time of Jacob's trouble. Jeremiah 7:7 says, "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it."
How shall Jacob be saved out of this great tribulation? In a prophecy about the latter days (Jeremiah 1:24 and 31:1) Jeremiah 31:2 says,
"Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest." So many will not be saved, but God will help a remnant escape to safety in the wilderness.
Zechariah 13:8-9 even tells us the odds, "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD (Jehovah) is my God."
The ones that escape will not do so by their own strength, but by God's power. Isaiah 40:31 says,
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
There is a strong parallel between this future rescue of Israel, and of their rescue from Egypt. In both cases, God carries them on eagles' wings.
"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exodus 19:4).
God tells Israel in Deuteronomy 32:11-12,
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
So the LORD alone did lead him (Israel) ...."
This prophecy of Isaiah 40:31 comes up again in Revelation chapter 12. At the midpoint of the future seven-year tribulation, Revelation 12:1 describes
"... a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."
After reading chapter 12 and comparing this vision to Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9-10, it should be apparent that the woman represents the nation of Israel.
At the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, she has to flee into the wilderness with "... two wings of a great eagle ..."
where God will take care of her for three and a half years (Revelation 12:6, 14).
This is just as Jesus explained to the apostles on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24:15-22.
When the abomination of desolation occurs in the middle of the seven-year tribulation (Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15), all who are in Judea are to flee into the mountains to escape the great tribulation. "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:20-21).
In the same discourse, Jesus told the apostles, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36).
Again, Psalms 41:1-2 says, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies."
Now continuing on to Revelation 3:12 we have, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out ...."
Likewise, the book of Psalms contains many passages about dwelling in the holy temple forever.
Psalms 65:4 says, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple."
Psalms 15:1-2, "LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart."
Psalms 23:6 reads, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."
Psalms 27:4-6 says, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."
This also appears in a song of Moses, Exodus 15:17,
"Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established."
"Because thou hast 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. Behold, I come quickly ..."
This same idea is expressed in Zephaniah 2:3 :-
"Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD'S anger."
It also occurs in Isaiah 26:20-21:-
"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity ...."
Similarly, Psalms 50:15 says:-
"And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."
Some think that Revelation 3:10-11 refers to a 'rapture' , so let us ask the question of the scriipture itself "What could it be about ?"....
[many are unaware of the great escape that God will provide for Israel in the tribulation. Israel will come under a massive attack at the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation. However, God's chosen will be miraculously rescued out into the wilderness, where God will keep them safe during the last three and a half years, the great tribulation. Since some may be unfamiliar with this prophecy, let's take a moment to look at a few of the many passages that speak of it.]
The "hour of temptation" from which Philadelphia will be kept is the great tribulation... back in Revelation 2:22, it said many of those in the church of Thyatira would be cast into it.
"Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
This time is also called the time of Jacob's trouble. Jeremiah 7:7 says, "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it."
How shall Jacob be saved out of this great tribulation? In a prophecy about the latter days (Jeremiah 1:24 and 31:1) Jeremiah 31:2 says,
"Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest." So many will not be saved, but God will help a remnant escape to safety in the wilderness.
Zechariah 13:8-9 even tells us the odds, "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD (Jehovah) is my God."
The ones that escape will not do so by their own strength, but by God's power. Isaiah 40:31 says,
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
There is a strong parallel between this future rescue of Israel, and of their rescue from Egypt. In both cases, God carries them on eagles' wings.
"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exodus 19:4).
God tells Israel in Deuteronomy 32:11-12,
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
So the LORD alone did lead him (Israel) ...."
This prophecy of Isaiah 40:31 comes up again in Revelation chapter 12. At the midpoint of the future seven-year tribulation, Revelation 12:1 describes
"... a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."
After reading chapter 12 and comparing this vision to Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9-10, it should be apparent that the woman represents the nation of Israel.
At the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation, she has to flee into the wilderness with "... two wings of a great eagle ..."
where God will take care of her for three and a half years (Revelation 12:6, 14).
This is just as Jesus explained to the apostles on the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24:15-22.
When the abomination of desolation occurs in the middle of the seven-year tribulation (Daniel 9:27 and Matthew 24:15), all who are in Judea are to flee into the mountains to escape the great tribulation. "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:20-21).
In the same discourse, Jesus told the apostles, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36).
Again, Psalms 41:1-2 says, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies."
Now continuing on to Revelation 3:12 we have, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out ...."
Likewise, the book of Psalms contains many passages about dwelling in the holy temple forever.
Psalms 65:4 says, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even thy holy temple."
Psalms 15:1-2, "LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart."
Psalms 23:6 reads, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."
Psalms 27:4-6 says, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."
This also appears in a song of Moses, Exodus 15:17,
"Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established."
