Bruce Warner asks the question  "How else can you explain what these two Scriptures are telling us ?"   Comparing the following:   Romans 5:3 (NKJV) "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;"   and   Revelation 3:10 "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."   -----------------------------------------------------------   I will tell you how else I would explain the passage in Revelation.   I believe that the translation you are using is a terrible mistranslation of what Jesus is actually saying. For it completely removes the emphasis from where Jesus was placing it and places it on a totally different place.   Here is the same verse in the King James version:   Revelation 3:10.  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, (My endurance) 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.   According to this version, Jesus was never referring to our perseverance at all or even to a command of His that we persevere, but rather to a WORD of HIS having already persevered or endured, translated as patience.   The point being that Jesus is rewarding the Philadelphia church for HOLDING onto the WORD of HIS having already completely paid the price of our salvation, period! Other churches did not manage to do this and therefore He had "somewhat against them". They had bad doctrine. In one way or another they taught that we contribute some part to what Jesus did in order to be worthy. I believe that we contribute only one thing: the resolve to hold onto the word that He paid it all therefore we owe Him all. That is how we purify ourselves even as He is pure. They lost their connection to Jesus Himself and let men lead them astray to any number of bad doctrines.   Jesus also says to the Philadelphia church:   for thou hast a little strength, and hast KEPT MY WORD, and hast NOT DENIED MY NAME.   Other churches denied His name by adopting bad doctrines. And their price for having done that was not going in the rapture because they disqualify themselves from His finished work by denying His name.   Keeping His WORD is the same as keeping the word of HIS endurance, His claim that He paid the whole price for our way in. Also, not denying His name "Jehovah Our Savior" is the same as well. For doing this, (keeping the word of HIS endurance) Jesus will also keep us from the tribulation period. But if we place our hope in anything else besides Jesus' promise to save us, (such as trying to keep the law) then we are left out of grace and must be judged according to how well we can measure up to the whole of the law.   All of this is what Paul laboured to explain in his epistles as well as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews.   Jesus said even a sinful tax collector who will but smite on his breast and not lift up so much as his eyes up to heaven but prays, 'Lord, be merciful unto me, a sinner' that man goes home justified rather than the Pharisee who has many works but does not trust in Jesus.   Therefore, all one has to do to be in the Philadelphia Church and make it into the rapture, is to believe and confess that Jesus paid the entire amount for our salvation when He ENDURED the cross despising the shame and He ENDURED such contradiction of sinners against Himself and God accepted His sacrifice on your and my behalf.   And conversely, all one has to do to be excluded from the Philadelphia Church is to turn loose of your confidence in that claim of Jesus to have endured to the end and FINISHED IT, and instead adopt some other doctrine that denies this claim. To deny this is to deny His name and to deny the word of His endurance or patience. Because you are saying He did not finish it and you must finish it yourself. Either by enduring tribulation or keeping all or part of the law or going to church or tithing or whatever it might be.   That is why I do not like that translation of that verse because it suggests that it is up to us to persevere in order to be raptured when I believe that Jesus is calling attention to His own already having finished the persevering and we keep the word of it. Do you see the difference?   This is why it says in Romans that you don't have to go up to heaven and get Jesus or down to the pit and help Him rise from there, as though you or I could help Jesus save us. Only Jesus could finish the work that God gave Him to do and He did finish it. HOLD ON TO THAT WORD! Satan will try to take that word from you. As Romans goes on to say after saying you cannot help Jesus come down from heaven or help Him rise from the dead, (Romans 10) it then says the WORD is already nigh thee even in your mouth so speak it forth and be saved. (Even as Moses was to SPEAK to the rock the second time and not strike it again.)   Now I do believe that Jesus wants only those who will put Him first in their lives. I believe that the way Jesus sorts us out is to only reveal this very truth that I am stating here to those who are walking closely with Him and then He will explain all this to you. Anyone who does not put Him first in their life will likely fall for any of the distortions and false doctrines that will cause them to fail to keep His word and His name.   Barry Amundsen   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- from Bruce's post:   The question is: How long is "the hour" and when does it begin ?   Is it the 1,260 day ( 3 and 1/2 year-long ) "Great Tribulation" described in Matthew 24, which is the second-half of the '70th Week of Daniel', or is it the 2,520 day  ( 7 year-long ) '70th Week of Daniel' in its entirety ?   Could it be that the 'perseverance produced' in the Church during the first-half of the '70th Week of Daniel', and by the Church keeping His "command to persevere" during the first-half of the '70th Week of Daniel' keep His Church "from the hour of trial" which would then be the second-half of the '70th Week of Daniel described in Matthew 24 as the "Great Tribulation" ?   How else can you explain what these two Scriptures are telling us ?   Come Lord Jesus!   Bruce Warner