Matthew 24:13

"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." After this again, what is more grievous than all, they shall not have so much as the consolation from love. Then indicating, that these things will in no degree harm the noble and the firm, He saith, Fear not, neither be troubled. For if ye show forth the patience that becomes you, the dangers will not prevail over you. And if thou art minded to learn these things more distinctly, I mean, the famines, the pestilences, the earthquakes, the other calamities, peruse the history about these things composed by Josephus, and thou wilt know all accurately. Therefore Himself too said, "Be not troubled, for all must be;" and, "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved;" and, "The gospel shall surely be preached in all the world." For when weakened and faint at the fear of what had been said, He braces them up by saying, Though ten thousand things be done, the gospel must be preached in every part of the world, and then shall the end come.

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you." In good season did He introduce their ills, having a consolation from the common miseries; and not in this way only, but also by His adding, that it is "for my name's sake. For ye shall be hated," He saith, "of all men for my name's sake. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and many false Christs and false prophets shall arise, 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 is the greater evil, when the war is intestine too, for there were many false brethren. Seest thou the war to be threefold? from the deceivers, from the enemies, from the false brethren. See Paul too lamenting over the same things, and saying, "Without were fightings, within were fears;" and, "perils among false brethren," and again, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ." After this again, what is more grievous than all, they shall not have so much as the consolation from love. Then indicating, that these things will in no degree harm the noble and the firm, He saith, Fear not, neither be troubled. For if ye show forth the patience that becomes you, the dangers will not prevail over you. And it is a plain proof of this, that the word shall surely be preached everywhere in the world, so much shall ye be above the things that alarm you. For, that they may not say, how then shall we live? He said more, Ye shall both live and preach everywhere. Therefore He added moreover, "And this gospel shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come," of the downfall of Jerusalem.

Morally; He who shall see that glorious second coming of the word of God into his soul, must needs suffer in proportion to the measure of his proficiency assaults of opposing influences, and Christ in him must be hated by all, not only by the nations literally understood, but by the nations of spiritual vices. And in such enquiries there will be few who shall reach the truth with any fulness, the more part shall be offended and fall therefrom, betraying and accusing one another because of their disagreement respecting doctrines, which shall give rise to a mutual hatred. Also there shall be many setting forth unsound words concerning things to come, and interpreting the Prophets in a manner in which they ought not; these are the false Prophets who shall deceive many, and who shall cause to wax cold that fervour of love which was before in the simplicity of the faith. But he who can abide firmly in the Apostolic tradition, he shall be saved; and the Gospel being preached to the minds of all shall be for a testimony to all nations, that is, to all the unbelieving thoughts of the soul.

Because he that shall persevere to the end, namely, of the present life, he shall be saved. The same is found above, 10:22.

He foretells the evils that will occur, strengthening His disciples by speaking of these things beforehand. It is often the unexpected that strikes terror and disarray, so He mitigates their fear beforehand by speaking in advance of the terrible events that will be: the spite, …

"In your patience you shall possess your souls." The possession of the soul is placed in the virtue of patience because patience is the root and guardian of all virtues. Through patience we truly possess our souls, because while we learn to master ourselves, we begin to possess that very thing which we are. Patience, however, is to endure the evils of others with equanimity, and to feel no sting of resentment even against the one who inflicts the evils. For whoever bears the evils of a neighbor in such a way that he nevertheless grieves silently and seeks an opportunity for fitting retribution does not display patience but merely shows it outwardly. For it is written: "Love is patient, love is kind." It is patient so as to bear the evils of others, and kind so as to love even those whom it bears. Hence Truth says through Himself: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and slander you." It is therefore a virtue before men to tolerate adversaries, but the virtue before God is to love them, because God accepts only that sacrifice which the flame of charity kindles before His eyes on the altar of good works. For Solomon indicates how great is the height at which the virtue of patience excels, saying: "The patient man is better than the strong man, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures cities." It is therefore a lesser victory to capture cities, because what is conquered is external. But what is conquered through patience is greater, because the mind is overcome by itself, and it subjects itself to itself, when patience prostrates it in the humility of forbearance.

Perseverance wins the crown, through free grace, and shall wear it. They shall be saved: perhaps they may be delivered out of their troubles, and comfortably survive them in this world; but it is eternal salvation that is here intended. They that endure to the end of their days, shall then receive the end of their faith and hope, even the salvation of their souls, 1 Pet. i.

); the deceivers would pretend to divine inspiration, an immediate mission, and a spirit of prophecy, when it was all a lie. Such they had been formerly ( Jer. xxiii. 6 ), as was foretold, Deut. xiii.

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But he that shall endure to the end,....

He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved - The word “end,” here, has by some been thought to mean the destruction of Jerusalem, or the end of the Jewish economy, and the meaning has been supposed to be “he that perseveres in bearing these persecutions to the end of the wars shall be safe.

These verses begin a chapter full of prophecy: prophecy of which a large portion is unfulfilled; prophecy which ought to be deeply interesting to all true Christians. It is a subject to which, the Holy Ghost says, we “do well to take heed.” ( 2 Peter 1:19 ). All portions of Scripture like this ought to be approached with deep humility and earnest prayer for the teaching of the Spirit.

These verses begin a chapter full of prophecy: prophecy of which a large portion is unfulfilled; prophecy which ought to be deeply interesting to all true Christians. It is a subject to which, the Holy Ghost says, we “do well to take heed.” ( 2 Peter 1:19 ). All portions of Scripture like this ought to be approached with deep humility and earnest prayer for the teaching of the Spirit. On no point have good men so entirely disagreed as on the interpretation of prophecy; on no point have the prejudices of one class, the dogmatism of a second and the extravagance of a third done so much to rob the church of truths which God intended to be a blessing. Well says a certain divine, “What does not man see, or fail to see, when it serves to establish his own favorite opinions?” To understand the drift of the whole chapter we must carefully keep in view the question which gave rise to our Lord’s discourse. On leaving the temple for the last time, the disciples, with the natural feeling of Jews, had called their Master’s attention to the splendid buildings of which it was composed. To their surprise and amazement, he tells them that the whole was about to be destroyed. These words appear to have sunk deeply into the minds of the disciples. They came to him as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives and asked him with evident anxiety, “Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thycoming and of the end of theworld?” In these words we see the clue to the subject of the prophecy now before us. It embraces three points: one, the destruction of Jerusalem; another, the second personal advent of Christ; and a third, the end of the world.

But he that shall endure - The persecutions that shall come - unto the end; to the destruction of the Jewish polity, without growing cold or apostatizing - shall be saved, shall be delivered in all imminent dangers, and have his soul at last brought to an eternal glory. It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles lib. iii. c. 5, and Mr. Reading’s note there; and see the note here on Mat 24:20 (note).