Revelation 3:10, commentary and pictures

Christ promises that because his people have kept the word of his patience, he will keep them from and through the worldwide hour of testing that shall come upon all who dwell on the earth. Keeping that word means having little strength yet keeping his word and not denying his name, keeping all of God's commandments and living by Thus saith the Lord, and refusing to worship the beast and its image or receive its mark. That patience is patient, faithful witness until the warning has gone to all the earth, and quietly waiting on the Lord without fretting, holding fast, enduring to the end, and refusing self-exaltation and false theories. The keeping he pledges is sure defense in the time of trouble, with bounds Satan cannot pass and angels given to protect every trusting soul, as with Israel marked before judgment fell on Egypt. Therefore all must prepare to meet the Lord by watchfulness, prayer, living connection with Christ, and victory over every defect, striving for holiness and the crown of eternal life.

Setting in Revelation

The promise is spoken by the one who is holy and true and holds the key of David, who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens, to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, to those who have little strength yet have kept his word and the word of his patience and have not denied his name. He knows their works and has set before them an open door that no one can shut and that stands always open. Those of the synagogue of Satan, the false accusers, will be made to come and worship before their feet and to know that they are loved.

The keeping from the hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try those who dwell on the earth stands between neighboring assurances. On one side is the open door that no one can shut and the vindication before opposers, and on the other is Christ coming quickly with the charge to hold fast what they have so that no one takes their crown. The overcomer is then made a pillar in God's temple with God's name and the name of the New Jerusalem and Christ's new name written upon him. Faithful believers who held to his word are thus protected through the worldwide time of testing that will try earth's inhabitants.

These are Christ's own words to the churches, given by God through heaven to John on Patmos, reaching to the close of earth's history. They contain no vague soothsaying but sure plain truth leading to salvation, given by the Holy Spirit with no human messenger. The whole third chapter is a tremendous testimony and solemn warning from God for these last days, to be read and understood now because the perils of the last days are upon us. It reminds minds of things which will be and calls for watchfulness against confusion, lest Satan gain victory by deceiving if possible the very elect in the conflict between the two parties in the world, and it calls for keeping the candlestick with fine correct discernment of truth while the enemy works with confusing explanations to keep the churches in constant unrest.

The chapter is sent to the church of the present day, portraying the condition of God's people and of the religious world today, picturing spiritual life and the history of Satan's effort to bring dissension, and holding out precious promises to the overcomer. Its message calls those who have left their first love and failed to follow the light of truth to recognize their need and heed Christ's counsel. The seven churches are symbolic of the Christian church in different periods of the Christian era, with seven indicating completeness so that the messages extend to the end of time and remain in force today. The figures portray the state of God's professed people with wheat developing among tares and truth standing on its own eternal basis in contrast with error, revealing Christ weighing every character under his supervision, knowing thoughts and intents of the heart as well as every word and act and all about religious experience, whom each loves and serves, requiring close self-examination.

The chapter and verse must be read, diligently studied, heard with determined purpose to understand and heed what the Spirit says to the churches, personally applied, lived, and prayed over together with Christ's prayer in John 17 so that lives answer that prayer. There is no excuse for closing the heart to light, because very soon all will wish they had heard and obeyed. Every word is to be studied by those who watch for souls as those who must give an account, belonging to the work of watchmen who guard every outpost and answer in clear decided tones under the Holy Spirit, pressing ministers and doctors everywhere to rouse from unbelief lest souls be left in uncertainty and perish and their blood be required. The word of patience must be studied as the present work, and those who press to the mark with angels cooperating will have evidences of God's love and power and salvation, receiving brighter courage and light even when they think their burden is gone.

The message applies especially to professing Christians today who have become so much like the world that no difference can be seen, with the message to the Laodiceans applying especially to the people of God today. Hearing involves eternal interest, life or death, for church members living in transgression of God's law, and the special message of Revelation 3:6-13 must be brought before the professed Christian churches, addressed not to the common sinner with no profession of piety but to church members in every church. It applies to Seventh-day Adventists in the present hour when time is at hand, with a most trying time before us and perils thickening that will continue to increase until the close of earth's history. It belongs to particular congregations called to awake, give evidence of belief in truth of heavenly origin, and do the work God has given them to do, and learning it belongs to the highest education of obedience to all God's commandments learned from God himself and from his law spoken from Sinai.

The verse applies to the sixth state of the church, identified with those who unitedly proclaimed Christ's coming in the autumn of 1844. They were about to face a period of great trial, with light from the heavenly sanctuary helping them understand their true position amid opposition over the shut-and-open door and keeping God's commandments including the Sabbath. Its message is identified with the light given in 1842, 1843, and 1844, linked to Christ's patience as he waits for his people to carry the warning message to the world and pleads for them as a living Saviour in the heavenly sanctuary, with danger that Satan will distract believers from duty and cause them to lose the crown of life.

Keeping the Word Defined

Keeping from the hour is given because the word of Christ's patience has been kept, and keeping is answered with keeping through the worldwide time of trial. The promise is personal, joined to Christ coming quickly and to holding fast what is held so that no one takes the crown. Every worker, every individual, is to be proved, and the proving is met by laying hold in personal experience on the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour. That reveals the Father's love in giving His only begotten Son to die for rebels, leaving no excuse for unbelief, and calls those kept to represent Christ in character with gratitude and praise, to hold fast the truth for the last days, and to get ready clothed in His righteousness for the coming of the Son of God in the clouds with power and great glory.

Those who keep have little strength yet have kept His word and the word of His patience and have not denied His name. They are tested and tried and prove loyal and obedient to God's commandments, and are recognized as trustworthy members of God's family. Keeping means staying true to the baptismal vow to break all connection with Satan and enlist heart and soul in extending God's kingdom, with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit giving cooperation and opening a door of communication with heaven that no human hand or satanic agency can close. It means having purified the soul and washed the garments of character white in the blood of the Lamb. The word of His patience must be studied as the present work, and those who press to the mark with angels cooperating will have evidences of God's love and power and salvation, receiving brighter courage and light from Jesus even when they think their burden is gone.

Keeping the word of patience means keeping His commandments and living, treasuring His law, and complying with the conditions of God's Word as obedient, faithful, loyal ones. It means holding a Thus saith the Lord above the teachings of theologians, the ordinances of bishops, the decrees of councils, ceremonies, traditions, and the commandments of men. When churches depart from that obedience and exalt tradition, darkness comes, preparing the way for popery. There is no exception for even the least commandment, for whoever is willing to break one will be unable in spirit and in truth to keep any, and many who intend to keep yet make exceptions in minor points will under temptation be guilty of breaking the whole law. To stand requires striving for the crown of eternal life and letting everyone who names Christ's name depart from all iniquity.

That loyalty includes refusing to worship the papal Sabbath and the papal institution of the Sabbath. It includes refusing to worship the beast or its image or to receive its mark, and withstanding the false Christ, which is the only hope during the trial amid satanic deception. The hour is a coming and already approaching time of test and trial for people throughout the world, and Christ promises to keep the faithful through it as they hold fast what they have so no one takes their crown.

Christ's patience is His waiting for His people to carry the warning message to all parts of the earth, and when their duty is done and the world has been warned He will come and take them to Himself. Keeping His word therefore means patient, faithful witness until that duty is done. Neglect through laziness, indolence, or silence brings condemnation, and no move is to be made that retards God's work. Satan seeks to distract believers from that duty and cause them to lose the crown of life, while Christ as a living Saviour pleads for them in the heavenly sanctuary.

Keeping also means quietly waiting for the Lord to do His work without fretting life away or losing faith and courage because the work does not move as fast as thought right. It means encouraging the heart in hope, praying much, and doing what can be done in simplicity and with the grace of Christ without reaching into things too high. It means not overtaxing mind and body trying to perform impossibilities, and being careful not to retard the work. It means so much and requires constant watchfulness against rushing unbelief and darkness, enduring to the end in order to be saved, refusing neglect of duty or unfaithfulness in the least, improving probationary time, and following on to know the Lord, to know whom aright is life eternal.

Keeping requires remembering how the truth was received and heard, holding fast, repenting, and remaining established rather than giving up what was heard. It requires keeping the candlestick with fine, correct discernment as to what is truth, and not letting loose the things received and heard while the enemy works with confusing explanations to keep churches in constant unrest. It requires diligent study and refusing for a moment interpretations, theories so subtle spreading from mind to mind, human interpretations, fables, skepticism, and a poisoned spiritual atmosphere that would loosen one pin or remove one pillar from the platform of truth established through half a century, for receiving them spoils faith, confuses understanding, and makes faith in Jesus of none effect. Men will arise claiming new light whose theories if received would destroy faith in truths that have stood the test.

Keeping stands in contrast to cherishing and exalting self in pride, haughtiness, and spiritual poverty, and calls even youth to die to self in order to gain precious experience. Only those who live out Christ's prayer in practical unity and love will stand through the test coming upon the whole world. Self-exaltation places people under Satan's power and prepares them to receive his deceptions as truth.

Keeping God's commandments in sacred relation with Him includes temperance in eating and drinking to keep mind and body in the most favorable condition for His service. Denying perverted appetite places a person where God can cooperate, and those who take their stand in the light of health reform receive strength from God. Flesh meat is not right food for God's people because it animalizes human nature, robs men and women of love and sympathy for everyone, builds them up from a wrong diet, and brings them where lower passions control higher powers. Those backslidden in health reform are called to be converted and live according to the light given.

The verse calls for religion in the home and for educating and training children with thorough work in home life to form well-balanced characters the Lord can approve, without which His blessing cannot be expected, while God works with human effort to do what He has given to be done. The education and character needed must be able to stand through the coming test reaching all who live on the earth. That fitness is gained through education understood for oneself, freedom from irreverence, company with the soundest Christians of deepest piety and intelligence in the things of God, and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent as the only safe knowledge.

There is a right side and a wrong side, and all, especially students and young men and young women, are called to know this and be on the right side by keeping the word of patience and the law of God. This holds even when the world under Satan's training and inspiration has gone mad sustaining and popularizing sin and transgression, as in Noah's day when the largest number chose the wrong side. Such popularity does not lessen the force of one principle of Jehovah.

Kept From the Hour

Because they have kept the word of patience, Christ will keep the faithful from and through the worldwide hour of temptation that shall come upon all the world to try those who dwell on the earth. That preservation was foretold and pledged by God, to be accepted and trusted whether or not faith brings comforting feelings. That hour has come and will continue to increase in force and intensity until Christ says it is done, when he that is unjust remains unjust still and he that is filthy remains filthy still and he that is righteous remains righteous still and he that is holy remains holy still. The promise is joined to Christ coming quickly and the command to hold fast what they have, so that no one takes their crown.

The keeping applies to the sealed saints, who will be protected when God's wrath is poured out and Christ rules the nations with judgment. Their sealing is compared to Israel's marking of the doorposts before the firstborn of Egypt were slain, for as Israel was protected that night, so God will protect His people in the coming peril. God has set bounds that Satan cannot pass, and the most holy faith is that barrier. He would send every angel to protect trusting souls rather than let them be overcome, providing a sure defense, a refuge from the storm, and a strong arm to deliver the loyal. Those who seek truth, purify the soul through obedience, and prepare for the conflict will find that defense, for Satan gains control only when people yield, while Christ will gather every faithful one and bring terror to transgressors.

To those who are true, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit give cooperation and open a door of communication with heaven that no human hand or satanic agency can close. Keeping that word means having little strength yet keeping Christ's word and not denying His name, staying true to the baptismal vow to break with Satan and extend God's kingdom. The keeping is joined to an open door set before the faithful that no one can shut, to false accusers being made to come and worship before their feet and to know that they are loved, and to Christ coming quickly with the charge to hold fast what they have that no one takes their crown. That hour will reveal every person's true character, when those who have fallen away will recognize their condition in anguish and bow at the saints' feet.

The promise is connected with the patience of the saints who keep God's commandments and the faith of Jesus, with abundant glory and strength preparing them to endure. It belongs to the solemn testimony now to be proclaimed as the third angel's message, which combines the first and second messages and sets forth the great last warfare between those who keep God's law and those who make it void, down to the closing scenes of earth's history. The people are prepared to stand through the worldwide test by the final work of that message, strengthened by the loud cry and the warning about Babylon's fall, having received the latter rain as the last warning sounds everywhere and those who reject it are stirred to anger.

At deliverance, when enemies are about to attack, God intervenes and stops the danger. The faithful see heaven's glory and the glorified Christ bearing the marks of humiliation, hear that they will be with Him and walk among angels, and their faithful endurance ends in victory. The promise extends even to faithful believers who die, who sleep until Christ returns, are awakened and caught up, are exalted to God's right hand to receive an inheritance in the better world and everlasting life, and are reunited with separated loved ones. The verse is a personal word of comfort spoken to a faithful believer in bereavement amid the perils of the last days in earth's evening, and a message of comfort to commandment keepers facing oppression.

Nature of Worldwide Trial

The hour of temptation is a worldwide hour of testing that shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth, a present period of conflict between good and evil from which no one can escape. In that hour Satan's deceptions intensify and increase, and those whose faith is not firmly grounded in God's word will be deceived and overcome. He gains control only when people yield to temptation, while every trusting soul that seeks truth and purifies the soul through obedience finds God a sure defense.

That hour has come and is now present as the last conflict in this world, and it will continue to increase in force and intensity until Christ declares It is done. Then he that is unjust remains unjust still, and he that is filthy remains filthy still, and he that is righteous remains righteous still, and he that is holy remains holy still. Perils are thickening around with a most trying time before us that will continue to increase until the close of this earth's history.

The trial is already approaching and soon to come, yet its full force is still future. It brings the judgments of God upon the world and indignation, soon bringing a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, a time of trouble and anguish that must come upon the world to try every soul that dwells on the face of the whole earth. In only a little while everyone will be severely tried, and human sophistry will prove nothing that can sustain anyone through it.

In the time of trouble Satan is permitted to try God's people to the uttermost and accuses them because of their sins, severely testing their confidence in God, faith and firmness. Their anguish then is not dread of persecution for the truth's sake, for with assurance of pardon they would not shrink from torture or death. Their fear is that every sin has not been repented of, that some sin remains unrepented or some fault and defect of character in themselves will make them unworthy of the promise and keep them from realizing its fulfilment, and that if they prove unworthy and lose their lives because of their own defects God's holy name will be reproached.

Even when prayers are not immediately answered they plead for pardon and hold to God's strength. Though deliverance is delayed and to human sight they appear about to die at the hands of their enemies, angels watch over them while they cry to God. The delay is not abandonment but helps them exercise faith, hope, and patience, and the time of trouble will be shortened for the elect while God gathers the righteous.

The coming day of test and trial reveals whether people choose loyalty or rebellion, with allegiance evident to the world and to angels and safety depending on being committed to the right. It is a searching time that exposes hearts, as the passing of the expected time of Christ's coming brought disappointment that exposed mere profession whose hearts had not been changed. Those who have fallen away after profession will recognize in anguish that they are forever lost, while the faithful are distinguished and identified by patience, keeping God's commandments, and the faith of Jesus, strengthened and prepared with abundant glory.

Jesus strengthens waiting believers as the approaching hour draws near, though they have not yet faced the full test and still hold errors. God sends warnings and repeated messages to lead them to search their hearts and study Scripture. By this they are led to put away errors inherited from paganism and the papacy so they can keep all God's commandments and become a people through whom He can work more powerfully, with angels sent to strengthen them for the trial.

Call to Stand Faithful

The verse is an earnest warning to get ready to meet the Son of God coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, clothed in the robe of his righteousness and holding fast the truth for these last days. It confronts indifference to the signs he foretold and gives evidence that the end of the world is right upon us. It calls for advancing day by day and receiving the grace of God so its effect is saving and its blessing is strength, not receiving that grace in vain, for watchfulness and prayer in faith bring rich and precious blessing through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Every worker, every individual, is to be proved, and the proving is met by laying hold in personal experience on the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour, which reveals the Father's love in giving his only begotten Son to die for rebels and leaves no excuse for unbelief and denial, while those kept are to represent Christ in character with gratitude, thanksgiving and praise.

The hour that tries all who dwell on the earth is now present as the last worldwide conflict between good and evil from which no one can escape. To gain the victory every advance must be pressed forward in Christian warfare against constant opposition, without self-sufficiency, by laying hold on power out of and beyond self through a constant living connection with Christ in faith and humility. Any defective trait of character not striven against gives the watching enemy advantage to spoil faith, while abiding in Christ gives power to overcome every besetment and receive the overcomer's reward. All who bear the Christian name are therefore to watch, to pray, and to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, keeping the word by strict obedience and holding the commandments of God and a Thus saith the Lord above theologians, bishops, councils, ceremonies, traditions and commandments of men, since departing from that obedience into exalted tradition brings darkness and prepares the way for popery.

Standing in the coming time of trouble upon all the world requires learning the lessons of faith now with the courage of heroes and the faith of martyrs. The most trying times are still to come and the test turns on keeping God's commandments without exception, for whoever will break one of the least cannot in spirit and in truth keep any, and many who intend to keep them yet make exceptions in minor points will under temptation break the whole law, so all who name the name of Christ must strive for the crown of eternal life and depart from all iniquity. Trouble is coming upon the whole world in only a little while when everyone will be severely tried, and no sin can be covered without risking salvation, so the richest blessings and daily renewal of grace are needed now to climb step by step up the ladder of perfection of character higher and higher in the way that leads to heaven, to holiness, and to God, with God himself the strength and deliverer of his people. Faithful witnesses who stand firm are upheld, while those who refuse to testify lose their place and are replaced by those who shine for him.

There is no time to be idle and indifferent, for a heavenly Watcher marks words and deportment and reads the motives prompting action, and the call is to strive to develop Christian character with cleansed, purified, sanctified and ennobled understanding, to take sides now, to choose blessing or curse, and to purify the mind by obeying the truth as revealed truth now being fulfilled and to be read and understood. Those who seek truth and purify the soul through obedience will find God their sure defense when Satan's deceptions intensify to deceive all whose faith is not firmly grounded in his word, for the Saviour promises to keep those who have kept his word and trust in him, and God would send every angel to protect a trusting soul rather than let Satan overcome it. The word of his patience must be studied as the present work by those who have little strength yet have kept his word and have not denied his name, and those who press to the mark with angels cooperating will have evidences of the love and power and salvation of God, receiving brighter courage and stronger light from Jesus even when they think their burden is gone.

The verse belongs to the work of watchmen who guard every outpost and answer in clear decided tones under the Holy Spirit, with every word of the third chapter of Revelation to be studied by those who watch for souls as those who must give an account. It presses ministers and doctors everywhere to rouse themselves and not remain stubborn in unbelief, lest souls be left in uncertainty and perish and their blood be required at the watchmen's hands. It is part of the special message of Revelation 3:6-13 to be brought before the professed Christian churches, whose hearing involves eternal life or death, commanded to churches living in transgression of God's law and addressing in every church not the common sinner of no profession but church members who must hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Its warning of a soon-coming test and trial upon all people is the message that prepares people to stand through that test. It is to be read and studied with earnest prayer together with the prayer of Christ in John 17, and to be lived so that lives answer that prayer, calling the church to awake, to give evidence of belief in truth of heavenly origin, and to do the work God has given it to do.