Revelation 3:10 10Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is about to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
This verse provides another promise for remaining faithful during our journey. The first part of the verse gives the cause or condition for the second part. Keeping the words of Jesus is a common theme in Johannine literature. Jesus emphasized to his disciples in his last discourse in John 13-16 to keep his commands, especially the command to love one another. Trials and persecution make obedience difficult because we take our eyes off Jesus and begin to look at the problems. What is required is patient endurance (hypomonēs), an important New Testament word. The word can also mean perseverance and fortitude, not giving up when the pressure gets intense. Endurance for the Philadelphian believers was connected to not denying the name of Jesus (verse 8). Their commitment was tested by Jews who denied the Messiah or those who rejected the claims about Jesus.
When this condition is met, the promise is given that Jesus would protect and preserve the church from the hour of trial. The meaning of this phrase is unclear, but Jesus gave possible background in the eschatological sayings in the Gospels (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Some people have interpreted this idea to mean that believers will be raptured and taken to heaven before the great tribulation. How believers will be kept from this time or through it is not specifically stated in this verse, but the problem will be worldwide and a time of great testing for humanity. One unanswered question that is much debated is when this testing will take place. What it meant for the readers of Revelation, thus it has already happened, or is it in the yet future, in the “end days,” as some people think today? Is it a timeless, symbolic reference to the general suffering of all believers go through? The attributive participle is about (mellousēs) and the infinitive to come (erchesthai) are both present tense, indicating that the Philadelphian church was facing this problem at that time. Those who remain faithful have nothing to fear because Jesus will keep them from the trial. The trials we face test our faithfulness and provide opportunity for our faith to grow in preparation for the big trial that will come someday. As James 1: 2-3 reminds us, we can have joy even in trails of many kinds. The reason for this is the presence of Jesus with us.