What does it mean that he who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:13)?

"He that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved." In the light of this is it not premature to speak of ourselves as saved, while we are still on our way to the end?

It certainly would be, IF these words of our Lord referred to the way in which sinful men might receive the salvation of their souls. These words however, which occur in the course of His prophetic discourse recorded in Matthew 24, and Mark 13, do not refer to that. The Lord was not addressing sinners but men who already had been brought into relationship with Himself — His disciples. At that moment they were representative of the chosen remnant of Israel, who will be found on earth at the time of the end.

"The end" in this passage is not the end of this or that individual life, but the end of the whole time of persecution, trial and sorrow, which end will be brought about by the second coming of Christ. Endurance is the supreme virtue which is to mark these saints, for their salvation is sure when Christ appears.

That is the primary bearing of this passage; but there are of course many profitable applications of it which we may make for ourselves. However to apply it so as to teach that one cannot be really sure of salvation until one dies is not one of them.

As to verse 10, during this dispensation the gospel has been published among all nations; and also, following the rapture of the Church the gospel of the kingdom (not the gospel of the grace of God) will be preached in all the world for a witness just before the end (Mt.24:14). Mark's gospel seems to speak in a more general way, and Matthew more specifically. But whether before or after the rapture of the Church, the instruction of the Lord remains effective, that His servants should not premeditate what to answer when brought before rulers and kings, but should depend simply upon the power of the Spirit of God, who would supply the words suitable for the occasion. Because of the hostility of governments toward the name of Jesus, one would betray his own brother to be killed, a father betray his son, and children their parents.

The increase of the hatred of all men generally will be more marked after the Church is gone, and the remnant of Israel will suffer severely. It is in this connection that we are told, "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." One bearing the suffering of the tribulation and enduring this to the end would be saved for earthly blessing in the millennium.

We are also quite free to say that salvation in its fullest sense looks on to the final deliverance from the very presence of sin — the consummation in heaven. There is also a governmental and external salvation; such, for instance, as is spoken of in our Lord's prophetic discourse: "He that endureth unto the end shall be saved." This, we need hardly say, does not refer to the salvation of the soul, but the deliverance from the Great Tribulation through which the Jewish remnant will be called to pass, with an indirect application to us also.

All is of a piece: the prophetic testimony, (the testimony of the little open book,) is now to be suddenly consummated, which ends only with the glories of Christ's reign over the earth. Amid all the confusion and evil of days so full of tribulation, that except they were mercifully shortened, no flesh should be saved (Matt. 24:22), yet faith will be allowed to reckon the very days of its continuance, which in both Daniel and Revelation are exactly numbered. How great the relief in that day of distress! and how sweet the compassion of God that has provided it after this manner! "He that endureth to the end shall be saved," — shall find deliverance speedy and effectual, and find it in the coming of that Son of Man whose very title is a gospel of peace, and whose hand will accomplish the deliverance.

Besides the external sufferings of the remnant, their trials from within will be poignant. Under the strenuous temptation of the time, there will be treacherous defections from their ranks, with all the mortification and disappointment which such lapses must cause. There will be, too, the rending of ties and severing of friendships, as we read, "Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And because lawlessness (dvopcia) shall abound, the love of the many shall wax cold" (Matt. 24:12). The "many" here must mean of the remnant. It could not mean of Israel at large; for they will, as now, be hardened in estrangement from God. Those, therefore, whose loye cools must be those in whom there was love that could be cooled. So while some will desert and betray, many will become half-hearted, to the grief, no doubt, of the zealous and true. Then follows a text which has troubled the peace of many a Christian, but which really belongs to the Jewish remnant of a future day — "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." It refers to salvation when the Lord appears in judgment. Many will fall away under the influence of the delusions of the time, but there will be a discriminating judgment when the Son of man appears. Then, there may be two in the field, and one may be taken and the other left. That is, one taken in judgment, and the other spared or "saved" to pass into eternal life on the earth under the Son of man in the millennium. Besides these things there will be to the godly remnant as to Christians now, all the dangers arising from personal unwatchfulness. "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:34-36). Here, what is in view is clearly not the catching up of saints out of the world, but an escaping through judgments, and passing, saved, into the millennium.

The glorious appearing of the Son of Man will be followed by the gathering together of "His elect." These were mentioned in verse 20, and they are those who "endure to the end" (verse 13), and they shall be saved by the appearing of Christ. These elect are the God-fearing remnant of Israel in the last days; for the Lord was addressing His disciples who at that moment were the God-fearing remnant in the midst of Israel, and they would without a doubt have understood His words in that sense. These elect ones will be found in all parts of the earth, and the instruments used in their gathering together will be angels: gathered together, they will become the redeemed Israel who will enter upon the millennial reign. All this must be differentiated from the coming of the Lord for His saints as predicted in 1 Thessalonians 4, when the Lord Himself will descend from heaven and our gathering together will be to Him.

(V. 13). Fifthly, the disciples are warned that the persecution would not only come from those in authority, and from the closest natural relations, but, they would be hated of all men because of their confession of the Name of Christ. But he that endures to the end will be saved — whatever the end may be, whether a martyr's death or the coming of Christ to the earth. As ever, the test of reality is continuance. There may, indeed, be failure, and even the love of many growing cold, but those that are real will endure. Peter broke down, but his faith did not fail; he continued to the end.

“He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13).

Examine this Scripture, and you will see it does not describe the case of an individual believer, enduring to the end of his earthly pilgrimage, and thereby making sure of his salvation. It is here not a question of eternal salvation.

"He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." Some say, Oh! that is said to the Jew. True, it is so: but it is as true of you and of me as of the Jew. Do you understand scripture so little as not to see that while there is a present salvation there is also a salvation which is future; see, for instance, 1 Thess. 5:8-9. Who are the people who get this? Are they the ones who prove their reality by continuance or the reverse? The passage is as true of me as of the Jew, and I say, If I remain to the end I shall be saved. Does this disturb me? Not at all. I know God has wrought in me, and I know that He will continue to do so. I am quite at rest about it. If, however, a professed believer turns away, and does not endure, but lives in sin, can we say that it is sure to be well with him? Never. The proof of reality is continuance. The proof that it is going to be well with you at the end is that it is well with you to-day. There is every comfort in scripture for the man who is connected with Christ to-day. I believe we do not half enough press the living present reality of God's blessing, but rather try and rest on the past.

People say, “I see you believe in that old Baptist doctrine of ‘once in grace, always in grace.’” Or another says, “I understand you hold that old Presbyterian idea of ‘the final perseverance of the saints.’” I do not know why this should be called either Baptist or Presbyterian, only to the extent that Baptists and Presbyterians agree with the Book, and the Word of God clearly shows that once God takes us up in grace nothing can separate us from the love of Christ so that evidently the expression, “once in grace, always in grace,” is a perfectly correct one. But, on the other hand, I am not so enthusiastic about the other expression, “the perseverance of the saints.” I believe in it; I believe that all saints - all really belonging to God - will persevere to the end, for the Book tells me, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13), and if a man starts out and makes a profession but gives it all up, he will never be saved, because he was never born again to begin with, he was never truly changed by grace divine. On the other hand, the reason he endures to the end is not because of any particular perseverance of his own. What I believe in, and what the Word of God clearly teaches, is the perseverance of the Holy Spirit. When He begins a work, He never gives up until it is completed. That is our confidence.