Matthew 24:22

“And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.”

‘Those days' here probably refers back to all the days described in 4-14. Such will be the troubles that come to the world, which will get worse and worse, that were it not for the fact that God would call a halt to it, no one would survive. The idea of the days being shortened is in order to indicate God's control of time and events. It is because God is in control that any flesh at all will survive, and the purpose of that is so that the elect will survive. So however terrible the situations that come on the world we can be sure that God will ‘shorten the days', otherwise there will be no elect to be gathered when He comes (Matthew 24:31). In all that is coming He will say, ‘thus far and no further'.

Others see this as indicating that the terrible tribulation of the Jews through the ages (or of the Jews at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem) would end in total annihilation were it not that God will cut the time short for the sake of the preservation of Hebrew Christians among them.

Thus the point is that God will constantly be watching over ‘His elect', His ‘chosen ones', His ‘congregation of the righteous' ensuring that they will survive to the end (compare the vivid picture in Revelation 11 where the people of God in Jerusalem are His Temple). We do not need to examine how exactly this will happen, and indeed we do not have sufficient information to be able to do so, for these words are not so much intended to make us analyse history, as to enable us to recognise God's overall control and protection on behalf of His own.

Note the contrast with Matthew 24:28. Here the living flesh is to be saved. It is to be delivered and made whole, so that it may enjoy true life. This is in direct contrast with those who are like carcases awaiting the attentions of vultures. It is the choice between life and death, which is dependent on whom they listen to, the true Messiah or false Messiahs, the true prophets or false prophets.