Firm To The End

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

FIRM TO THE END

Matt 24:9-14

9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

NIV

It is almost certain that many of the disciples were put to death. We know that John was left and lived a full life, but in exile on the island of Patmos. It is also almost certain that we will not be put to death or handed over to be persecuted. Unfortunately, there are believers in other parts of the world who have been persecuted by faithless men and handed over to be put to death. However, in our slightly more civilized country, it is doubtful that we will be killed by unbelievers for our faith, however, we might well be seeing certain levels of persecution being exhibited here in this land of free speech and freedom of religion. At the same time, we are also seeing some, as we cannot be sure how many, turn away from the faith and betray each other. What we do know is that there are people who do not exhibit faith in God or Jesus and consequently cannot help themselves from betraying one another at some level. This is the way of life, to spend one’s energy on self-gratification, self-fulfillment, and self-advancement. There might be some people who display aspects of altruism in this world and that was truly the act of Christ, and we are told that is how we should live by the command of Jesus for us to love one another as he loves us. Therefore, it is so important to be ever vigilant against false prophets. It was obvious the Pharisees and teachers of the law did not have a selfless concern for the well-being of others. We also must be on guard against the increase of wickedness in this world, which is on course to being greater and more widespread as the years roll by. But our love, both for our Lord, and our neighbors must not go cold. Jesus is speaking specifically about our love for him growing cold. The problem we need to be watchful against is growing cold. This is not being ice cold, nor is it being boiling hot, but as we once were hot, if we start cooling we might just settle on being lukewarm and we know full well that if that occurs, Jesus will spit the lukewarm out of his mouth. Thus, standing firm means to remain hot, to remain sold out for Jesus, boiling over with both the fruit of the Spirit and the His gifts along as being completely dressed in the full armor of God. We are told within the description of God’s armor to stand firm, to stand our ground, to continue to stand and Jesus tells us here that if we stand firm until the end we will be saved. This would imply there is a cost of salvation, although it is free, it does require that we do not grow cold, becoming lukewarm, but that we stand firm, remain firm in our faith, full of faith and love enduring to the end.