Episode 97: The Hour of Testing About to Come

Bible Prophecy Under the Microscope-Episode 97

Gary discusses common misconceptions about Revelation 3:10 and its context, emphasizing the importance of understanding biblical prophecy within its historical setting.

Many commentators from the early and medieval periods held that the hour of testing in Rev. 3:10 was, or could be interpreted as, a first-century persecution. These included Ecumenius of Tricca, Andrew of Caesarea, Ralph of Laon, Hugh of St Cher, Alexander of Bremen, Vital du Four, Nicholas of Lyra, and Nicholas of Gorran. This corresponds with contemporary partial preterist interpretation of the passage. For example, Larry T. Smith writes that if Rev. 3:10 is interpreted in its proper context, “it becomes evident that this is referring to a temptation that they would soon face and not to a time of tribulation thousands of years away.”

Some of these biblical exegetes, for example Hugh of Saint Cher and Nicholas of Gorran, believed that the hour of testing specifically referred to a period “immediately after the death of Nero” (statim post mortem Neronis). Geoffrey of Auxerre commented that the preservation promised perhaps referred to “the faithful of that time,” meaning the time near when John wrote the book of Revelation. Some early Protestant commentators saw the hour of testing in Rev. 3:10 as the persecution of Christians under Trajan in the first decades of the second century. These preterist interpretations of this passage are certainly no modern innovation created by the Jesuit Alcasar or by liberals. They have a long history within Christian exegesis.

Revelation and the First Century

This book answers these questions by providing selections from ancient and medieval commentaries on the book of Revelation, writings composed long before the seventeenth century. Many of these selections are translated into English here for the first time. All of the selections reflect the fact that some Christians in ancient and medieval times interpreted visions in the book of Revelation in a preterist fashion.

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Gary discusses common misconceptions about Revelation 3:10 and its context, emphasizing the importance of understanding biblical prophecy within its historical setting. He clarifies that many interpretations of end-time events are misapplied and highlights the early church’s view on Revelation’s fulfillment.

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