Does Matthew 24:13 explain that it’s possible to lose your salvation or that if you are saved, your heart will never want to stray?
Matthew 24:13 comes in the context of the hard times in the end times. Jesus describes a time when the entire church is on edge. The world on the outside is coming after the saints to cause tribulation, persecution, and kill them (Matthew 24:9).
Under the extreme weight and pressure of persecution, many will fall away from the faith and from Christ (Matthew 24:10). Christian brother will turn on Christian brother and betray each other to the world. There will also be false prophets leading believers astray (Matthew 24:11).
It’s in this context of extreme persecution in the end times at Jesus says the one who perseveres and endures will be saved. So it is possible to lose your salvation. Even in the most extreme circumstances, any one of us without a vibrant relationship with Jesus and a firm trust in the faith could lose our salvation.
We must stand firm and endure until the end, as Jesus says in Matthew 24:13. In the same instance that persecution can cause us to fall away from Christ, it can also cause great trust in him to face whatever trials and persecutions come our way.
I must point out that there are other Scriptures in the New Testament that point to the possibility of falling away from Christ. The word used in the original language is equivalent to her word, “apostasy.”
The most commonly referred to reference for falling away from Christ is Hebrews 6:1-4. The author of Hebrews makes it very hard to discount the possibility of falling away from Christ. He also talks about the terrible consequences of walking away from Christ after having tasted the blessings of a relationship with him.
He uses stark language to show that this would be the worst possible thing to happen to a person. It’s hard to understand why anyone would walk away from the blessings we have in Christ. There are other warnings throughout Scripture.
I think especially of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. Each one of them says that it’s possible to fall away from Christ. One church has lost its first love. Other churches have active false prophets and false teachers among them, allowing them to persist, and believing them instead of the truth of Scripture and Christ.
The whole book of Revelation was written to show that there are two sides to the spiritual battle. We must remain on the side of Christ instead of giving in to the intense persecution and tribulation of those days.
Paul was afraid that the church he founded in Thessalonica would revert back to their former ways. He had to leave town before he could complete their training and understanding in doctrine. He was afraid that the intense persecution would push them away from Christ.
Peter is left in the lurch after denying Christ three times. But Jesus restored him in the same three steps he took away from Christ in his denial. In John 21, Jesus restores him by asking him if he loves him, and then tasking him with feeding his sheep.
So you see there are other passages that also talk about the idea of falling away in the faith or losing your salvation. This is why we must be all the more diligent to maintain our faith in Christ and abide in him with an ongoing relationship that is not tested by the circumstances of life.
