Rev 3:10: Rapture or Preservation?

Abstract

Abstract At Rev 3:10 the risen Lord makes a promise to the Church at Philadelphia. While it is a rather straightforward pledge, it has far-ranging implications depending on how one understands the details of the verse. Understandably, it has become somewhat of a crux interpretum for many. Many of those in the dispensational tradition understand that this verse refers to the secret rapture of the church. Those in the historic premillennial and amillennial tradition often see this as a reference to the saints being preserved through the tribulation period. In the treatment below I will interpret Rev 3:10 in somewhat of a different trajectory. I will suggest that the promise given by the Lord must be understood to directly include the Philadelphian believers as well as subsequent followers. I will also suggest that the promise is an assurance of spiritual safety through (at least) the preliminary judgments represented by opening the first four seals of the opisthograph described at 5:1–6:8.