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ENDURING UNTO THE END? “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Mat. 24:13) This verse is often used to teach that no one can know for certain that they are saved because we haven’t yet endured unto the end, and only those who do so can be saved. The people who teach this don’t seem to know or care that they have created a Bible contradiction with their doctrine. I John 5:13 says that we may “know” that we have eternal life, and I John 3:14 says we have “passed from death unto life.” We aren’t waiting to endure to the end of anything. Christ endured for us at Calvary, and we trust Him as our Saviour. So what about enduring unto the end? Well, the context of that statement is the future Great Tribulation. Jesus said in Matthew 24:21, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The “end” that some have to endure unto is the end of the Great Tribulation, not the end of their lives. Everyone endures unto the end of his life, yet not everyone is saved! The “end” in the verse is the same as “the end” of Matthew 24:3, which began the chapter: “. . . what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Not everyone endures unto the end of the world, since they die before Jesus comes, so the statement cannot be for anyone other than those who will be living in the Great Tribulation just before Jesus returns. This is made clear in the very same chapter: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then (not now) shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Mat. 24:30) None of this has happened yet, so no one today is enduring unto the end, nor are they commanded to do so. The “end” of Matthew 24:13 concerns a period of time that hasn’t yet come. Furthermore, the "shall be saved" is not specifically a reference to eternal "new birth" salvation anyway, but rather a reference to tribulation overcomers being granted entrance into the kingdom when Christ returns. That is, the "shall be saved" has more to do with NOT BEING DECEIVED and NOT BEING KILLED than anything else (Mat. 24:10-25:46). I'm not suggesting that the overcomers are lost, just that the statement in Matthew 24:13 deals with people enduring a very trying period of time, not with people having to wait till "the end" to receive Christ. The tribulation martyrs of Revelation 7:14 do NOT endure unto the end, since they are beheaded, yet their souls are saved, as are the ones in Revelation 6:9-11, even though the Great Tribulation isn't over until chapter 19. The term "the end" is used four times in Matthew 24, and the last three uses refer to the first use, the one pointed out above (Mat. 24:3) where the disciples asked Jesus about "the end of the world." The next three uses of the term (24:6, 13, 14) are found in his ANSWER to their question, and the context is clearly the end of a period of time known as the Great Tribulation, not the end of anyone's life. So, YES, you can be saved right now and you can KNOW that you're saved right now, without enduring to the end of anything.