The Necessity of Endurance to the End

WE have the highest Authority for the announcement that it is he who endureth to the end that shall be saved (Matt. x., 22). The Saviour is forewarning His disciples as He sends them forth weak and helpless to face a hostile world. They are sent forth by Him as sheep in the midst of wolves and they are counselled (1) to be wise as serpents and (2) to be as harmless as doves. The contrast between the serpent and the dove is arresting but it is the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove that are inculcated. The wisdom referred to is not any kind of wisdom but that which is indicated by our word prudence as the original clearly indicates. The Saviour promises help to His disciples in the difficult situations in which they may find themselves and adds a word of solemn warning. Continuance as His disciples is not to cease when they are met with adverse circumstances. It will not be sufficient that they remain faithful to Him for say the half of the way and then turn back. No, it is he that endureth to the end that shall be saved. All who profess Christ’s name whether near the beginning of the journey or near the end of it have need of this warning. How often it is that the fair promise of the morning is belied before the end of the day. Many a bright morning had a stormy enough ending. To be warned is to be forearmed. Hence we find that Jude in his Epistle reminds those to whom he is writing of some that made a fair beginning who ended sadly enough. (1) Satan had a bright beginning but he has an unspeakably sad ending. (2) The children of Israel promised well when they crossed the Red Sea and sang their triumphant song but how many of those who sang that song entered the Land of Promise?

When we ask ourselves why it is that such warnings are given us the reasons are not far to seek.

1. We live in an enemy’s country whose cunning is too often more than a match for us. He has friends within the citadel and his appeals and blandishments are presented with a persistency that takes us off our guard and we become an easy prey. The wisdom which the Saviour counsels His people to exercise is to meet and baffle the cunning of Satan. This wisdom is not a virtue which can be cultivated on the natural soil of the human heart; it is a gift that comes down from above. And if anyone feels that he lacks this wisdom we are told to ask of God who gives liberally. Our own natural wisdom will not do in this contest. Many who relied on their own wisdom found it but a broken reed in the time of trial.

2. The fickleness and frailty of human nature is another reason why God’s people need this warning. (1) At the beginning of their Christian life they are enjoying the experiences of their first love and everything seems so bright and the way so easy. They will soon be at the end of the journey or if the way is long, still, the love they have to their Saviour carries them along. As Alexander Gair put it if one met an Israelite after he had crossed the Red Sea and asked when do you expect to be in the Promised Land he would likely say: “Oh, very soon.” But if after nearly 40 years that same person was asked the same question he would likely say: “Oh! I don’t know; it looks like we’ll never see it.” The way was no longer now than at the beginning but it appeared much longer after all the experiences of the wilderness. (2) They are to learn the great lesson of living by faith—the just shall live by faith. This is the royal road to heaven and it is not so easy to walk in it as we sometimes think. Nature would have us walk by sight and because we cannot see how God’s purposes and promises can be accomplished we are ready to grow indolent and before we are aware we are in the Enchanted Meadow where Christian began to be drowsy. That drowsiness cost him more than he would care to experience again. Some of the props on which they leaned failed them and they need wisdom to discern that these props were usually of their own making and that they are better without them. In this way the self-sufficiency and self-complacency which were so strongly entrenched in their hearts are getting blow after blow until their eyes are directed to an all-sufficient Help.

It is very interesting to notice that Jude after addressing solemn warning to his readers reminds them that there is One who is able to keep them from falling and to present them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). The way may be long and hard, the traveller on the great journey may be painfully conscious of his own weakness but if the feeling of that weakness leads him to lean upon omnipotence then, like the Apostle, he will be strong.