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In recent days, I have noticed that a certain meme has been making the rounds on the social networks, particularly on Facebook. This meme -- or memes, because there is more than one version of it -- emphasizes something Jesus said in His Olivet Discourse. This teaching is found in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, and concerns dreadful events which the Lord prophesied would occur prior to His return to the Earth. The teaching in question -- the Olivet Discourse -- was a result of Jesus' followers asking Him a two-pointed question: When would He return, and when would the end of the age occur. In responding to their query, at one point the Lord said "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." We find the Lord saying the very same thing in Matthew 10 as well.

It's upon this particular sentence that these popular social network memes are based. So exactly why have I decided to write a series about this meme, and the Bible verse which it contains? I will explain that thoroughly in a minute. But first, let me share the place in two of the Gospels where the quote is found:

"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."


"BUT HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTO THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."


"And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."


Now we get to the meat of the matter. Sadly, this quote from the Lord has been seriously taken out of context by modern Christians due to their sloppy exegesis -- or interpretation -- and due to the fact that they embrace erroneous Futurist theology. Contrary to their misguided belief, the verse in question has absolutely nothing to do with our modern times, or with our personal salvation for that matter. For us to really understand what the Lord was saying, we need to first ask ourselves an important question: Endure to the end of what?

As I clearly explain in some of my other Bill's Bible Basic articles, Jesus was referring to the end of TWO things: the end of the prophetic age of Daniel -- that is to say, the Seventy Weeks prophecy of 490 years -- and the end of the coming First Jewish-Roman War, which concluded that same prophetic age. The end of that war and that age culminated in Jesus' return to the Earth, exactly as He had promised His followers that He would do in John 14 and elsewhere as well. Please remember that it was based on those two very questions in the aforementioned three chapters, that the Lord shared this astounding information with His Disciples.

This bloody war occurred from 66 AD to 73 AD -- seven years, meaning the Seventieth Week mentioned by Daniel -- and as some of my readers will already know, it was precisely in the middle of that seven-year war in 70 AD -- which again, the Prophet Daniel specifically referred to as "the midst of the week" -- that Jerusalem and the temple compound were destroyed by General Titus and his Roman legions, along with their local allies, which included King Herod and his forces. In fact, Herod later fled to Rome along with his evil sister Berenice. But this is no surprise, considering that all the Herods were puppet kings of the Roman emperor. The first Herod -- Herod the Great -- was in fact appointed by the Roman Senate.

The destruction of the temple compound of course resulted in the temple sacrifice and the oblation ceasing, EXACTLY as the Prophet Daniel had also written. In his prophetic book, Daniel describes General Titus and the Romans as "the people of the prince that shall come", and he says that "the end thereof shall be with a flood". Please note that the word "flood" is sometimes used in Scripture to symbolize a host, or army, as in "the arms of a flood". While I discuss the Daniel prophecies in other articles, allow me to share the four key verses for those of you who may not be familiar with them:

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."


Please note that while the war had actually been initiated by his father, Vespasian -- as ordered by Emperor Nero -- Titus took over the war campaign against Israel, after his father had to suddenly return to Rome in order to become the new emperor, following Nero's cowardly suicide. It was regarding these same events -- that is to say, Jerusalem being encompassed about by armies, and the temple compound being destroyed -- that Jesus prophesied in His Olivet Discourse in the aforementioned chapters.

It was a terrible time for the Jews. During that war, it's been estimated that somewhere between six hundred thousand and one million plus Jews died, either as a direct result of the actual fighting, or due to other causes including Roman crucifixion, starvation, disease or betrayal and infighting amongst the Jews of Jerusalem themselves, who were trapped within a Roman siege wall which surrounded Jerusalem. So indeed, there was a lot to endure. Incidentally, I believe that this seven-year war was the great tribulation which had been spoken of by Jesus. It's also known as Jacob's trouble, Jacob of course being Israel. Furthermore I believe that these were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which are mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

Now, in the aforementioned three chapters, when all of these terrible things began to occur in First Century Israel, what did the Lord very clearly instruct His followers to do? For those of you who may not be too familiar with the chapters, let me share the following verses with you:

"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened."


"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elects sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days."


Now, what I want you to realize, is that in both cases -- that is, in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 -- the previous verses come immediately after the verse where Jesus says "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Why is it so important to recognize this? Because by doing so, it establishes several important markers. First of all, it establishes a direct link between the need to endure, and the solution for HOW to endure. Furthermore, it also establishes exactly WHO Jesus was speaking to when He said that, WHEN He said it, WHERE He said it, and WHAT would be happening at that time -- meaning the First Century -- in Israel.

In short, the Lord is giving His followers a clear warning regarding the approaching seven-year First Jewish-Roman War, and telling them that if they want to endure, and survive to the end of that awful war, they need to immediately flee to the mountains and hills surrounding Jerusalem, once they see Jerusalem surrounded by Roman armies and a siege wall, and once they witness the Roman standard -- or raised flag -- standing in the temple compound. That is, in the holy place.

For those of you who may not be aware of it, this standard was considered to be an abomination to the Jews, because as I point out in the four-part series entitled "Abomination of Desolation: Explained", it had a metallic eagle on the top of it. The eagle is in fact an unclean bird according to the Levitical Laws that were given to Moses.

So, as I was saying, Jesus was telling His followers that if they really expect to endure or survive that war, and the terrible Roman destruction which is going to be wrought on Jerusalem and the temple compound, they have to get out of town, and they have to do it quickly. Jesus told them to flee with just the clothes on their backs. Don't even take time to try to get anything else, because that is how fast the wrath of Rome is going to fall on them.

To expand on this thought a little more, as I explain in the series entitled "Woman in the Wilderness and the 144,000", I am convinced by the Scriptures that these obedient Jews who obey Jesus' warning to flee for their lives, constitute the 144,000 sealed servants of the Lord who escape the wrath of the Roman Beast in the Book of Revelation. We are informed that 12,000 people are sealed from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Of course, these tribes no longer exist. As such, this is clear proof in my mind that the Book of Revelation's prophecy cannot possibly be referring to our modern times, despite what certain misguided, Futurist-leaning Christians think.

Furthermore, I am also convinced by the Scriptures that the 144,000 are the same thing as the woman in the wilderness who is discussed in the twelfth chapter of Revelation, who is "given two wings of a great eagle", so that she might escape into the mountains around Jerusalem, and thus avoid the wrath of the dragon, exactly as Jesus instructed His followers to do. Consider the following group of verses:

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.


Lastly, I believe that these Jewish escapees, the 144,000 sealed servants of the Lord, the woman in the wilderness, and the remnant who are mentioned in other Scriptures, all equate to the very same people who obeyed Jesus's warning. Because they heeded the Lord's advice, they endured to the end, and were thus saved from the terrible devastation and death that resulted from the First Jewish-Roman War, while many others -- quite possibly as much as 90% of the Jewish population in Jerusalem -- utterly perished during that terrible war.

Now, my friends, everything I have just shared with you is fully backed, not only by the Scriptures, but by the actual historical record as well. In this instance, the historical record and the Biblical record fit together like a hand in a glove. They complement and confirm each other. As such, we have a pretty clear understanding regarding what Jesus meant when He said "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" in the aforementioned verses.

So then, while we have now discussed the First Jewish-Roman War and how it affected Believers of First Century Israel, that is NOT the only thing which they had to endure. Even before that war arrived about thirty-six years after Jesus had been crucified on a Roman cross, the Lord's followers were ALREADY enduring other troubles, namely persecution from both the unbelieving Jews, as well as from the Roman authorities who kept control of the situation throughout Israel during that time.

As many of you will know, the Romans crucifying Jesus at the behest of the wicked Jewish religious leaders was only the beginning of the troubles to come. As I mention in some of my other articles, those unbelieving Jews did not stop with just murdering Jesus. It wasn't before long that they began going after the Apostles and Disciples as well. That is why following Jesus' death on the Cross, we find the Apostles hiding behind closed doors, as we can clearly determine by the following verse:

"Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you."


Prior to His death, and during those three years that Jesus trained them, He warned His followers of the trouble that they would encounter if they followed in His footsteps, and openly preached the Gospel as He had instructed them to do. He told them that they would be hated, despised, betrayed, persecuted, mocked and even killed. Not only that, but Jesus warned them that the persecution would continue right up to the end of the age. In fact, the Prophet Daniel also wrote of a coming time when God's people would be persecuted by the beast of Rome.

Furthermore, in their own writings, the Apostles described how the Lord's Church was enduring great tribulation at the hands of both the unbelieving Jews themselves, at the hands of the iron-jawed Romans, and likewise at the hands of the unbelieving people of other nations who rejected the Gospel message. Consider the following group of verses which offer ample evidence of this. By the time you are done reading all of them, you will have a very clear picture regarding how much they were willing to endure, so that we can hear the Gospel message today and be saved:

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: BUT HE THAT ENDURETH TO THE END SHALL BE SAVED. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come."


"All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. BUT HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTO THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."


"BUT BEFORE ALL THESE, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls."


"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."


"Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison . . . And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name."


"When they [the Jews] heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him [Stephen] with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison."


"But the Lord said unto him [to Ananias], Go thy way: for he [Saul of Tarsus] is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my names sake."


"Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people."


"And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks."


"For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:"


"I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities."


"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."


"For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christs sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day."


"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:"


"But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;"


"Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."


"As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ."


"For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;"


"That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know."


"So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;"


"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe."


"Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."


"Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elects sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:"


"But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."


"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body."


Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

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