But the one who endures to the end will be saved. [Matthew 24.13]
First off, there is no way a person who is ignorant of God's Word can understand Jesus' description of the last days...
We can be sure that those "who endure to the end" are one and the same as God's "chosen ones."
In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones. [Matthew 24.22]
No matter what our understanding of the last days is, two things are certain: 1) we must prepare to endure, and 2) we must be chosen.
How do we prepare to endure? We learn and know God's Word more than we learn and know anything else. In a day where there is no lack for materials to occupy God's people otherwise (even "Christian" materials - yes, and even this author's writings), God's people are spending less and less time directly in God's Word for themselves. They read books, watch videos, and hear every imaginable opinion-laced sermon and teaching, but they do so with only a minimal diet of reading the Bible for themselves. The most complete library of Christian books and media in the world does nothing to prepare a person to endure the last days. Only the direct truth of God's Word - an intentional diet of the Bible - can prepare a person to endure what lies ahead.
Furthermore, it must be understood that non-Christian books and media - no matter how much intelligence (or entertainment) they impart - are absolutely useless for the time Jesus describes in Matthew 24.
How then are we God's chosen ones? We simply live by faith in God alone. God does not (never has, never will) "choose" idolaters - He instead blatantly rejects them. When we prepare to endure, making God's Word the priority of our lives, we come to the understanding that God fully intends to be God ALONE to us. The Bible is clear that God's provision (in whatever form) is unavailable to all except those who singularly trust God ALONE. When we learn God's Word directly from the Bible, we will "see and hear" the truth about the timeless role of idolatry in man's demise that started in the Garden of Eden and continues right up to this day. The knowledge of God found in His Word illuminates the damning nature of idolatry thus inspiring intentional faith in God ALONE in all who heed it. God "chooses" those with this undivided faith. God preserves those with this undivided faith. To make this intentional act simpler for man, God sent His Son, Jesus, Who preemptively and exhaustively disallowed idolatry in His demand:
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24]
Enduring is intentional. If God's people do not intentionally "feed" on God's Word and subsequently reject every idol so that they might be "chosen," they will be woefully unprepared for the last days and Jesus' return. Any person who gives up his own way, takes up his cross, and follows Jesus has intentionally and specifically prioritized God's Living Word and has rejected every form of self-preservation in so doing.
Father in heaven, may Your Word occupy our lives and may we be found giving up our own way, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. In this, may we be found watching and waiting for His return. So be it.
