“Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:9-13
We Christians in the West have gotten used to cheap grace. To be a Christian is often to become a part of a prosperous gathering. How safe it is in our day and age to be a Christian.
Our attendance at church is never called under threat. But Jesus in this passage of Scripture seems to be saying that we are to be faithful even when our witness is not popular even when it is dangerous, we are to be openly Christian. Jesus was about to become a martyr himself, so he calls us to be faithful even when our faithfulness will be costly,
When we are to be ‘handed over to be persecuted and put to death. . .’
When we are ‘hated by all nations. . .’
When people ‘will turn away from the
faith and will betray and hate each other. . .’
When ‘many false prophets will appear and deceive many. . .’
In all of these circumstances, we are to be faithful in our relationship with Christ.
But notice the reward of our faithfulness, ‘He who stands firm to the end will be saved.’ This passage contains the typical New Testament word for ‘saved,’ yet it does not refer to the normal state of salvation. No, this is salvation with a capital S. It is that state of final being, face-to-face for eternity with Christ.
The word saved sometimes refers to our initial encounter with Christ but at other times indicates an ongoing state of grace in Jesus. But this use of the word saved refers to that unending union with Jesus in which we, who have longed to see him and know him with no cloud between us, stand at last in his presence forever.
This salvation indeed is the plum of our faithfulness be plucked from the tree of our obedience.
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