The phrase “endure to the end” echoes Mathew 10:22, but is certainly included in the Old Testament concept of faithfulness to God. It embodies the idea that we are to continue walking the narrow path until we reach the end. That end was not defined as clearly in the Book of Mormon as it has been in modern times, but the end result is that we are to become as He is.
The English translation of the New Testament Greek can leave some misperceptions of the nature of the command to endure to the end. The word translated as endure means more to persist that to suffer. There is no supposition that we are to painfully walk the path, but that we are to consistently walk it. Second, the word translated as end is not only something distant, but implies something completed. It is the same word that, in the phrase “be ye therefore perfect,” is translated as perfect in Matthew 5:48.
Understanding that perfect means completed makes more sense of the nature of our journey. We persist until we have completed the purpose for which the earth was created, that we can become more like our Savior, and thus more like our God.