Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing

  Good morning. The next sentence begins with the word “because”, which kind of supports my assertion from the previous lesson about how that sentence should be punctuated. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I will also keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. My Bible says the phrase “keep you from“; that the Greek for this phrase can mean either keep you from undergoing or keep you through the hour of testing. Is it talking about the great tribulation or something less? In relationship to all of time, the great tribulation is “just an hour“. That particular church has been gone for centuries, so that would seem to indicate a lesser tribulation. However, it does say the whole world will undergo an hour of testing which seems to indicate the great tribulation. But all of this could have double meaning – one for that particular church with a lesser tribulation, and another for the church in general with the great tribulation. Whether the church is “Raptured” out of the great tribulation, or God keeps it throughout the great tribulation, the church shall survive! Father help us to realize that whether we go through the great tribulation or You take us completely out of it, You will keep us until Jesus comes.

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