Revelation
Revelation 3:10 (NKJV) 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Revelation 6:10 (NKJV) 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Revelation 8:13 (NKJV) 13 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Revelation 11:10 (NKJV) 10 And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
Revelation 13:8 (NKJV) 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:12 (NKJV) 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Revelation 13:14 (NKJV) 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
Revelation 17:2 (NKJV) 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
Revelation 17:8 (NKJV) 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Two Groups
Luke 21:34-36 (NKJV) 34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
We have here, a clear distinction between two groups.
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In verse 36, we have the believers who “stand before the Son of Man,”
- whether in confidence or in shame –
1 John 2:28 (NKJV) 28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming
- whether in confidence or in shame –
- at verse 35 we have those who are left behind – “all those who dwell on the face of all the earth;” the earth dwellers.
Luke 21:26 (NKJV) 26 men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.
This is a pretty good synonym for “earth dwellers.”
Revelation 3:10 EASILY points back to this.
Revelation 3:8-10 (NKJV) 8 I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie–indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
The phrase is used by John to identify the wicked and the beast-followers. These are the ones seen as the killers the martyred saints in the fifth seal; these are the ones who follow after the beast and take his mark; these are the ones who engage in immorality with the great harlot.
The fact that John uses this same phrase in Rev. 3:10 strongly indicates that he is not talking about this “hour of trial” as coming upon believers, but upon unbelievers – that is the purpose of the hour.
There is a natural distinction between the believers of the church as represented by the Philadelphia church, and those who dwell on the earth.
Revelation 3:7-13 (NKJV) 7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:
8 I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie–indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ‘
Thus, the normal understanding of the passage is that there will be a group of believers who will be delivered from a time of trial that will come upon a different group of people called the earth dwellers.
Even the 6th seal shows us the EARTH DWELLERS (without calling them that) worried about what is going to happen as Jesus comes back.
Revelation 6:12-17 (NKJV) 12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
The reaction and the character of the recipients of the Day of the Lord judgment:.
Isaiah 13:6-13 (NKJV) 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will be limp, Every man’s heart will melt, 8 And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11 “I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger.
I believe this distinction is clear enough so that I can conclude that the HOUR OF TRIAL is a time JUST FOR the earth dwellers. That is, it is TRIAL for unbelievers and not believers. The CHURCH will be gone and anyone who becomes a believer after the rapture will not be touched DIRECTLY by the Day-of-the-Lord judgments.
The promise at Revelation 3:10 tells me that believers of the church will be KEPT OUT FROM the time of trial and judgment that is designed for the unbelievers who remain on the earth after the rapture.