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.”

“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,”

God says that because they kept His word of patience, God’s going to keep them away from the hour of temptation. For some reason, there is some sort of hour of temptation. In one way Philadelphia would be able to avoid whatever this hour of temptation is.

“which shall come upon all the world,”

There is some sort of temptation or trial that’s going to afflict the whole world. So that one is referring to the tribulation.

“to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

So this tribulation is to try them, to test them. The word tribulation, temptation, trying, they all are simultaneous throughout your Bible if you read that. There’s no doubt that this is referring to a tribulation timeline.

A spiritual application for the church could mean the church of Philadelphia because they were such a golden age at that time, there’s no way the tribulation can happen: the one-world government. Because there’s no way the Antichrist is going to take over the world with all these people preaching hellfire and brimstone, and people getting saved and right with God. So that just delayed the tribulation timeline. So because of that, the Lord delivered them from this hour of that time.

It could also be referring that because these people are faithful, that there is some sort of a pre-tribulation escape. Some people refer to this as a pre-tribulation rapture. Now, you can use that if you want but to be honest, it’s not really a strong argument for a pre-tribulation rapture. Because it’s talking about if you’re patient for God then you don’t have to go through the tribulation. That’s not true, if you read 1 Thessalonians 4, anyone who is saved in Jesus Christ, whether you’re faithful or not, you will get raptured.

The doctrinal application for this could be that because these tribulation saints of the Philadelphia region were found faithful and patient, that they could be raptured before God actually spreads out His seven vials that judge the whole world. This could be true, there is a rapture that is conditional. If you read the first few verses of Matthew 25, there were 5 foolish virgins and 5 wise virgins. These particular tribulation saints that were wise like Philadelphia, because they were patient and faithful, were delivered from the hour of temptation, before God was going to pour out His vials that judges that whole world. So God delivered them up, they were raptured, but five of them were left behind, they were called the five foolish virgins.

Revelation 3:11 “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

“Behold, I come quickly:”

This is a verse that you want to mark down, that is a great verse proving the imminent return of Jesus Christ, that it’s really soon. Jesus comes for us and raptures us right before the tribulation. Remember there is a pre-tribulation rapture for Christians and then there’s a tribulation rapture for tribulation saints.

The Bible says ‘Behold, I come quickly’ so Jesus is coming really soon, we’re expecting this any moment, we’re seeing the signs of the end times that’s why we are getting ready right now.

Some people might say that it’s been 2000 years since the entire church age era, how is that soon? In 2 Peter 3, a day with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. Because to God’s eyes, it’s very soon to Him. He lived eternally, there was no beginning. 2000 years is just a blink of an eye to Him. That’s why it’s very interesting when you study the Bible about some kind of rapture or resurrection or God restoring the kingdom, He walys talks about 2 days. A thousand year is one day (2 Peter 3), it’s been 2000 years, so it’s really soon, any moment now. There’s no doubt, we’re right at the corner.

“hold that fast which thou hast,”

Whatever you’re doing for the Lord, you got to hold fast to what you have right now. Why?

“that no man take thy crown.”

Whatever you’re holding onto right now while you’re serving God, you better hold on to that because you can lose your crown. If you don’t hold fast to your faithful service to the Lord, you can lose your rewards. Is that possible? Absolutely, the verse says right here that no man take thy crown.

Revelation 3 is the chapter you want to mark down about losing stuff. We covered about losing crowns, in the church of Sardis, it was concerning their garments, and if you look at Laodicea, it’s going to be their riches, including their garments.

So at the Judgment Seat of Christ, there are several things you can lose that you want to hold on to.

One is your rewards: gold, silver, precious stones. The other one is your clothes, we talked about your white garments. Another one is referring to your crown, you can lose your crown.

Here are two more bonuses here: the first is rulership of cities, you can find that in the book of Luke. There it talks about God giving certain pounds to a few servants and how well they use the pound. Let’s say five pounds and they get five cities to rule. They’re given ten pounds to take care of it well, they’re given ten cities to rule. But as you continue reading that parable, God mentions taking away the pound from this servant who didn’t serve me well and give it to the other servant.

The second one is your inheritance. Inheritance would be proven at Revelation 21 and 1 Corinthians 3. The Bible says that you will inherit all things at Revelation 21, 1 Corinthians 3 mentions what all things are, whether they be of earth or heaven, past present future, all are yours. That’s literally everything in the universe.

Imagine that you’re butt-naked, you have nothing, nothing to own for a thousand years at the Millennium and then you see one of these Christians who has a really nice crown and full clothed garment and everything really neat. You’re like “Man, I wish I can have some of that” and the guy looked at you and said “Well, this city that I’m ruling and this crown that I’m wearing, it used to be yours.” You’re going to be seeing that for a thousand years long. Why would God do that to you?

Notice everything God is doing is deliberate to make you feel regret and shame. Why are you naked? Because of shame. Why does God have somebody else wearing your crown? Because of regret. The purpose of the Judgment Seat of Christ is truly to give you shame and regret on what you could have done to serve God. If I were you, I wouldn’t say “Oh this isn’t a big deal.” No, it’s going to be a big deal. 1000 years long, can you have that over your conscience?

Do you think you’re really going to enjoy the Millennium?