What does Matthew 24:13 mean?

Jesus is answering a question from His disciples. They've asked about when judgment will come from God and what the signs of the end of the age will be. He has said that sometime after He leaves them (John 16:5–7) and before the end comes (Revelation 19:11–15), many presumed followers of Jesus will fall away. Moral chaos will increase, and Christian love will seem to fade out of the world (Matthew 24:3–12).

That leads to one of Christ's most hotly debated statements: His connection between enduring and being saved. As with any statement of Scripture, taking this verse out of context leads to misinterpretation. The immediate context of Christ's remark is the state of the world immediately prior to His second coming (Matthew 24:14). The broader framework of His teaching is found in other lessons (John 5:24; 10:28–29).

Interpreters offer three basic possibilities for Jesus' meaning here. One is that those who remain faithful to Christ until death will see eternal salvation—meaning those who fall away will lose their salvation. Second is that lifelong faithfulness is a sign of true salvation. Third is that those who survive the catastrophic events leading up to Christ's second coming will be spared from death and be physically present in His earthly kingdom.

Given the end-times context of this passage, the most likely meaning is the third: that those who survive the tribulation will be "saved" in the sense of being "spared," and will continue to live in the millennial kingdom. The idea that apostasy disproves earlier claims to faith is biblical (1 John 2:18–19) but does not seem to be the point of this exact verse. The concept that one could lose or walk away from eternal life is contrary to other teachings of both Christ and the apostles (1 John 3:14; 5:11–12).