Revelation 3:10 and the Greek to show that believers are promised to be kept “from” (not “through”) the hour of trial — a key verse for the Pretribulational Rapture view.
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Revelation 3:10 (ESV)
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.”
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Greek Breakdown:
Greek Text (Nestle-Aland 28):
“Ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς μου, κἀγὼ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ…”
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Key Phrase:
“τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ”
Translation: “I will keep you out of the hour of trial”
•τηρήσω (tērēsō): “I will keep, guard, preserve” (future active indicative of tēreō)
•ἐκ (ek): “out of, from” — a preposition denoting separation or removal from within
•ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ: “hour of trial” — referring to a specific, global time of testing
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Why “ἐκ” (ek) matters:
•“ἐκ” = from out of
•Example: Acts 12:7 — Peter was brought ἐκ (out of) prison. He wasn’t kept in the prison; he was removed.
•Jesus didn’t say “διά” (dia = through), which would imply preservation while going through.
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Jesus promises removal from the time itself, not just protection within it.
This is consistent with the Pretribulation Rapture, where the Church is taken before the Tribulation begins.
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“Jesus does not merely promise protection in tribulation, but exemption from the very hour in which it occurs.”
– John Walvoord, The Rapture Question