Matt. 24.
Enduring to the end.
WHEN the Jews are in their own land again, and looking for the coming of their Messiah, the godly ones among them will suffer persecution, because they will cleave to the name of Jesus, and will testify that He is the true Christ. Their testimony will be resented by the unbelieving Jews, who will still expect a Christ to be raised up on earth. And when the antichrist presents himself, they will receive him, and will seek to crush the true testimony; and in this they will be joined by the unbelieving among the nations.
So Jesus gives warning beforehand saying, “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”
This will be a trying time to the poor Jews who then hold to the name of Jesus. They will be persecuted both by their own brethren and by the Gentiles who love not the truth. Many of them will die as martyrs for the truth of Jesus; and these will enter the kingdom above, instead of the kingdom on earth. Many too, in whose hearts the fear of God is not a reality, will prove unfaithful, and will become betrayers of the faithful. And the love of many, who, perhaps, are the Lord’s, will grow cold, because of abounding iniquity. In every way it will be a time of great trial. Life is sweet, and men do not like to lose it; and they also shrink from suffering and imprisonment, so that the temptation to give up the truth will be very great.
But this time of trial will come to an end. Jesus will come and will deliver His faithful witnesses, and bring them into great blessing on the earth. When He appears, all their trials and sorrows will come to an end. And this is the “end” which Jesus means, when he says, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” He does not mean here the end of human life, but the end of this period of great trial. Of course those who are faithful to the end of human life—those who are faithful unto death—will also be saved. They will have a crown of life. But that is not the thought here. There will be a company of these Jews who will suffer from hunger and thirst and nakedness and imprisonment. And those who remain faithful to the end of their trial will be saved out of all their troubles, when Jesus comes in glory, and destroys their enemies. And they will then have a rich reward for all their faithfulness.
ML 02/07/1904