Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from (ek) the hour of temptation (peirasmos), which shall come upon all the world, to try (peirazo) them that dwell upon the earth.
I used to believe and teach that this notable day (hour of temptation), was the “Tribulation Period” or more specifically the “great tribulation,” however, it is now obvious to me that the “Tribulation Period” is an erroneous name given to the seventieth week, and the great tribulation doesn’t fit the description of the hour of trial given in Rev 3:10.
The hour spoken of in Rev 3:10 is said to be a time of trial upon the earth dwellers (“them that dwell upon the earth”) which distinguishes it from the great tribulation which is a period of time in which ethnic Israel and the Christian saints (the elect) are persecuted at an unprecedented level (Matt 24:21-22). Since the testing in Rev 3:10 is focused upon the unbelieving world (earth dwellers), who follow the Beast, and not the elect, the trial can only refer to the Day of the LORD, which is the period of God’s wrath, not Satan’s. Satan’s wrath (Rev 12:12) through the Beast (Rev 13:7) falls upon ethnic Israel and the elect beginning in the middle of the week in the days that Jesus called great tribulation. The great tribulation is over before the day of the Lord begins. True believers will not experience God’s wrath in the Day of the LORD, but are saved from it (1Thes 5:9).
Two other texts can add more light to this truth.
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered (rhuomai) us from the wrath (orgay) to come.
2Pe 2:7 And delivered (rhuomai) just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
2Pe 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver (rhuomai) the godly out of (ek) temptations (peirasmos), and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Can you see how these three texts all refer to the same thing? Peter, in the context of God's wrath falling upon false prophets in the day of the Lord, uses Lot for an example of the righteous being delivered out of peirasmos. The peirasmos that Lot was delivered out of was the wrath of God upon the cities of the plain, including Sodom and Gomorrah. Paul, to the church, says that we will be rhuomai (delivered) from orgay (wrath of God). Peter says that the righteous will be rhuomai (delivered) out of peirasmos (temptation). Therefore, the temptation is the wrath of God which falls in the day of the Lord upon the earth-dwellers.
Looking at these three passages together should clear up any misunderstanding about what the trial spoken of in Rev 3:10 is. The notable hour of temptation is the wrath of God in the day of the Lord, not the great tribulation persecution of the saints.
Glory be unto Jesus Christ the Lord.
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