The faith of Christians in the last days
Revelation 3:10 "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."
Is Revelation 3:10 proof that a pre-tribulation rapture will be taking place? I had someone who quoted this verse in support of the pre-tribulation rapture. Will there be a pre-tribulation rapture according to this verse? The word "temptation" in this verse is a reference to:
Luke 8:13 "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away."
This is a verse taken from the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:2-9; Luke 8:4-8). Jesus taught that there are four types of grounds whereby the hearts of all men may be represented:
The wayside ground;
The stony ground;
The thorny ground; and
The good ground.
Of all the four types of ground, only the "good ground" can bring forth fruit by the "seed" which is the word of God (Luke 8:11). According to Luke 8:15, the good ground is an "honest and good heart". The word of God cannot take root and bear fruit apart from an honest and good heart. Jesus talked about the scarcity of faith on earth when he shall come the second time:
Luke 18:7-8 "And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
Jesus asked a question in this verse: "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" The answer is an obvious 'No'. This in itself is a prophecy that Christianity shall turn apostate in the last days before the Son of man comes back to earth the second time.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"
In like manner, Apostle Paul confirmed by the Spirit of God that there will be a "falling away" first before "that day" comes. The meaning of "that day" is given in verse 1 as "our gathering together unto him". That would be the second coming of the Lord and the rapture. The words "falling away" is a reference to the type 2 "stony ground" heart in the parable of the sower:
Luke 8:13 "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away."
Therein is a prophecy from the word of God revealed unto us: The type 2 heart ("stony ground") would be the face of Christianity on earth in the last days, just before the great and notable day of the Lord Jesus Christ when he shall come in the clouds to gather God's elects unto himself. Churches all over the world would primarily be made up of such false converts, ones that would "fall away" in time of temptation.
Matthew 24:37 "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
Jesus compared the last days before his return to the earth to the "days of Noe". So if anybody wants to know about the signs of the end times, study the conditions which existed before the Great Flood in the first 6 chapters of Genesis. The Bible tells us that:
Genesis 4:26 "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD."
Enos died in the year 1,140 after the Creation, 84 years after Noah was born. By that time, there were already many people who were living on the earth that had "called upon the name of the Lord". However, out of all these untold thousands or even millions who had called upon the name of the Lord, only Noah and his family were saved. The Bible further tells us:
2 Peter 2:5 "And [God] spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;" Note: [Insertion added]
Therefore we conclude that those who had called upon the name of the Lord but were destroyed in the Flood were unsaved people since Peter calls them "the ungodly". They were hypocrites, lost and reprobates who put on an outer covering of "godliness". Jesus said that these conditions would be repeated towards the end of the world. The hearts of believers in the last days would be like those who called upon the name of the LORD in the days of Noah, believers whom Peter calls "ungodly".
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
This would be the conditions of men in the last days: having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. The same was also true for the people in the days of Noah. These are proofs from the word of God that Christianity will turn apostate in the last days, before the great and notable day of the Lord come.
Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Christianity will cover the face of the whole earth, but Christians in the last days will be characterized by the "stony ground" heart in the Parable of the Sower. Bildad the Shuhite said this by inspiration of the Holy Ghost:
Job 8:13-17 "So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: 14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web. 15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. 16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. 17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones."
Therefore, "hypocrites" are by definition "all that forget God". That means that they used to know God, but have forgotten him along the way. In fact, we also find a word-for-word reference in this verse:
Psalms 9:17 "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
So, "all the nations that forget God" are according to this verse, hypocritical nations.
Isaiah 10:5-6 "O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets."
The "Assyrian" in this passage is a reference to the "man of sin" (Antichrist) in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. God will send the "Assyrian" against all the nations that forget God, every hypocritical nation, as a judgment. The "man of sin" shall tread over these nations like the mire of the streets.
Matthew 24:12 "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."
2 Timothy 3:13 "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived."
This is the reason why we are witnessing more and more cases of tyranny as the end of the world approaches. It is a judgment from God against every hypocritical nation where Christianity once flourished, but have turned apostate over time — God is still judging the earth!! Notice in Job 8 verse 17 where the Bible says this about a hypocrite:
Job 8:17 "His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones."
This verse is a reference to the Parable of the Sower, the type 2 "stony ground" heart.
Matthew 13:20-21 "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended."
Mark 4:16-17 "And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended."
Luke 8:13 "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away."
Christians with type 2 "stony ground" hearts, Luke 8:13 calls them "hypocrites" in Job 8:13. These are the ones who will "forget God". These are the ones who for a while believe, but when tribulation or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, by and by they are offended. In the time of temptation, they "fall away".
Matthew 23:13 "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
Jesus called the scribes and the scribes and Pharisees "hypocrites" over and over again (7 times) in Matthew 23. That is to say: the scribes and Pharisees also had type 2 "stony ground" hearts. This in itself is prophetic of the type of "Christianity" on earth in the last days i.e. it will no longer be pure Bible Christianity but the religion of the scribes and the Pharisees.
Matthew 16:12 "Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
Today, even though the Pharisees and the Sadduccees who hated Jesus and persecuted the church are no longer with us, but their spirits live on in the form of "...doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees". In that sense, they continue to make disciples, converting them into "...twofold more the child of hell" (Mat 23:15) than themselves. Perhaps every single church today will sing of a common Saviour, but not every church (perhaps only very few) will preach from the word of God.
John 6:35 "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
In the time of Exodus, the children of Israel were given a commandment to only eat "unleavened bread" and not "leavened bread" lest their soul be cut off from Israel (Exodus 12:15). Leaven, as revealed by Jesus, is the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matthew 16:12). Leaven is a substance, typically yeast, that is added to the dough to make it ferment and rise. Yeast cells thrive on simple sugars. As the sugars are metabolized, carbon dioxide and alcohol are released into the bread dough, making it rise.
Psalms 119:103-104 "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way."
Leaven works to consume sugar from the unleavened bread dough, taking away it's natural sweetness. In the same way, the leaven of Pharisees and the Sadducees works to modify the pure word of God, taking away from it the very Spirit of Jesus Christ, the sweet words that will save a dying soul (1 Samuel 14:27).
Colossians 2:8 "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."
Today we see that spiritual leaven present in modern version bibles (NIV, NASB, NKJV, ESV, NLT, etc) as well as all the "theories", "theologies", "philosophies" and "traditions" which add unto or take away from the pure word of God. Instead of born again Bible-believing Christians, these apostate churches are producing Pharisees and Sadducees by the millions, false Christians which will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God in eternity to come.
Matthew 5:20 "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Now, back to the original question: Is Revelation 3:10 proof of a pre-tribulation rapture?
Revelation 3:10 "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."
Notice I have highlighted the words "kept the word" in this verse? In fact, this verse is a reference to the type 4 "good ground" heart in:
Luke 8:15 "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."
Only the "good ground" heart will keep the word. These are the few who will keep the word even in the face of tribulation and persecution, and will not be offended at it.
Matthew 10:22 "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."
These are the few who will hold fast onto the blessed hope and the words and promises in the 66 books of the word of God even in the midst of a fiery trial. These are the few who shall not "fall away" but endureth unto the very end for the word's sake until the great and notable day of the Lord comes.
Revelation 3:10 "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."
The word of God is the anchor of their souls that will keep them from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Therefore, this verse is not proof of a "Pre-Tribulation Rapture". Rather, it is a prophecy that the faith of every believer will be tried in the last days. Only true believers will not fall away in the hour of temptation.