The above verse is interpreted today as follows: "Everyone who is saved will be caught up to Heaven so he will not suffer because of Antichrist or the great tribulation."

This interpretation does not even resemble the verse. It is not what the verse states. It is not what the verse means.

The promise is not directed toward those who are "saved" but those who guard the word of Christ's patience.

The Lord does not promise to remove us to Heaven but to guard us. The same Greek term ("kept", "keep") is used both in the condition and the promise. The verb means to guard.

The promise is not that Christ will guard us from the great tribulation but from the "hour of temptation."

The word "temptation" is the same Greek term used in the Lord's prayer, "lead us not into temptation." It has to do with our being tested, being put to the proof to find out what is in us, what we will do under various pressures.

The enemy of the Christian is not tribulation but sin—the temptation to sin, to fall away from God's Presence and will. The love of the majority will not grow cold in the last days because of the abundance of tribulation but because of the abundance of sin.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)

Tribulation is the chastening of the Lord and is to be desired for that reason. Tribulation teaches us righteousness. We enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation. Tribulation perfects our faith and patience.

Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

When ministers promise escape from tribulation by a flight to Heaven they are appealing to those who are living in the flesh, not to saints who are learning to live in the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The true saints know the value of tribulation and are not seeking to fly away from it. They have learned by experience that God will bring them victoriously through tribulation and by tribulation the gold of their faith will be refined.

As we have said, the terms "kept" and "keep" mean watched over; kept in a safe place; protected; guarded from loss or injury by keeping the eye on. The idea is to protect by preventing the hour of testing from harming us.

John uses the same expression in his Gospel. He employs the word to mean to protect, to guard. "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:15). John, the writer of Revelation 3:10, uses the term "keep out of the evil" in contrast to taking them "out of the world." "I am not asking you to remove them out of the world but to keep them out of Satan."

Notice also, "And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold . . . ." (Acts 4:3). "They cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely" (Acts 16:23). "Put them in hold" and "keep them safely" are from the same Greek term translated "keep," in Revelation 3:10.

To be continued.