Endurance, Part 6

Today we will conclude our series of meditations on the subject of endurance. This will be the last one that you will have to endure on this subject. We have seen that endurance is the ability to undergo hardship without giving way. In the context of Christianity, it is the ability to undergo hardship without giving up one’s faith and hope. Connected with endurance is patience, which is the enduring of pain, difficulty, or hardship with calmness and composure; it is abiding the issue of time without rage or discontent. It is the ability to hang in there when the going gets rough and not allowing the difficulty to reduce you to complaining and bitterness. It is continuing to believe God and His promise although you wait long for the reward. We have considered two examples of endurance set forth for us to follow, the example of Abraham and the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. And last time, we saw that those who do not endure lack root in themselves. Their faith is superficial. For them, faith is more a matter of emotion than of a well thought-out commitment.

Now our Lord speaks of a time and condition when many will not endure.

Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

To wax cold is to become cold. Now what is meant here by the word cold?

Cold - Void of ardour, warmth, or intensity of feeling; lacking enthusiasm, heartiness, or zeal; indifferent, apathetic. Of persons, their affections, and actions.

Indifferent, apathetic people who lack heart and zeal are not prone to endure. Love is the very incentive to endure. Paul wrote that charity (love) “endureth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Therefore, when love waxes cold, then the motive to endure is gone.

It is amazing how much people will endure for someone or something they love. Love is a very tenacious thing. Solomon spoke of the strength and toughness of love in the following passage:

Song of Songs 8:6 …love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

Death, the grave, and a vehement flame are all very tenacious. Solomon said that the grave and fire are never satisfied (Proverbs 30:15-16). They never say, “It is enough.” Death endures until it finally brings down its victim. The grave endures until it swallows its prey. And just consider the giant fires recently occurring in California to get an idea of something that doesn’t give way easily. Love is so tenacious, so persistent that floods cannot drown it. All that a man might give for love is of no consequence. Considering Solomon’s description of the power of love, we can easily understand why Paul says love endures.

This brings to mind the story of Jacob, who had to labour seven years to get Rachel for his wife. We are told that those seven years “seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Genesis 29:20). Jacob could well endure those seven years because he had so much love for the woman he was labouring for. Love eases the pain of endurance and helps one better cope with the passage of time. The more we love the Lord, the better we will be able to endure whatever He sends us to endure. When we truly love someone, then we delight in pleasing that person. If we know that enduring our tribulations patiently is pleasing to God, then we will have a reason to endure them because we love God and want to please Him. People can generally endure anything better if their endurance has meaning and purpose.

Now our Lord said that it is abounding iniquity that causes love to wax cold. If we live in a time of abounding iniquity, we will be surrounded with more temptations to sin. And as more and more of those around us succumb to the iniquity of the times, godly people will stand out all the more. This in turn will bring the pressure of persecution, the pressure to capitulate and go with the flow of the times. It is no wonder that in such times, “the love of many will wax cold.”

In contrast to the many whose love will wax cold, our Lord speaks of those who “endure to the end.” Their love will not wax cold, even though iniquity abounds. They are like Noah, who preached righteousness in a world turned so wicked that God would bear it no longer. They are like Elijah standing faithful to God against the wicked court of Ahab and Jezebel, and the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:22). They are like the faithful few in the end times who will not worship the beast, nor his image, nor receive his mark, when the whole world wonders after that monster of iniquity (REV 13; 20:4). It is to such souls as these that our Lord utters the promise: “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.”

Oh, blessed promise! Whatever we endure will end. This agrees with the often heard saying: “This too shall pass.” It may seem like your hardship will last forever, but it will end. God’s word assures it. And at that end the expected deliverance will come.

Proverbs 23:18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

So, no matter the struggle, hold fast your faith and the practice of that faith. Do not give up and draw back. Forge ahead with endurance.

Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Keep your sights on the end, on the saving of the soul. At the end of your struggle you will experience everlasting deliverance, eternal rest, and unmingled joy and peace as you gaze on the radiant face of God. Expect it. Wait for it. Endure until you receive it. I close with these beautiful verses describing what believers can expect in the end.

Revelation 7:14 …These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Revelation 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face.