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This is two parts about what the Bible teaches on where children go if they die at a young age.
Psalm
25:8-13 NKJV Good and
upright is the LORD;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, And
the humble He teaches His way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, To
such as keep His covenant and His testimonies. For Your name's sake, O LORD,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is
great. Who is the
man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself
shall dwell in prosperity, And his descendants shall inherit the earth. Dear Father
God we ask in Jesus Christ name that with the coming of cold wintery months, the
homeless, those that have had, and will have their homes foreclosed will be
able to find shelter and warmth. Amen!
WHAT ABOUT
THE CHILDREN?
In this lesson we learn what happens to children
who die before the age of accountability.
There is no grief as deep as that of a parent
who loses a child at any age. But when a child dies as an infant or at a young
age, how does God view their eternal destiny? The Bible gives assurance to all
parents who lose a child prior to the child being able to place faith in
Christ.
I can't think of anything more agonizing
than the death of a child.
Someone has said that
the death of a child is like putting a period before the sentence is even
finished.
http://www.backtothebible.org/bigquestions/bq_bigquestions.htm
If the loss of a child isn't grievous
enough, then comes the question of that child's eternal destiny. There are four
reasons for believing that all infants and small children who die go straight
to heaven.
THE CHARACTER OF GOD: The first reason is the character of God himself, not the least
of which is the fact that He is called
"Father" in the Bible (Romans 8:15). That is an initial
clue as to how He regards the helpless and innocent among us.
God is compassionate, gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in mercy and truth (Psalm 86:15). He is also "good to all, and His tender mercies are over
all His works" (Psalm 145:9). These traits of God tell us He would never judge anyone
unjustly, such as children who don't have the ability to understand the Gospel. Some say this should also exclude
adults who have not heard the Gospel, but Romans 1:17-21 and Psalm 19 tell us that the evidence of God in
nature surrounds us and holds all men accountable. But babies are different they
cannot understand language, reason, or
the evidence in nature.
Interestingly, when the people of Israel were held accountable
for not trusting God to give them victory going into the Promised Land, their
children were not. Deuteronomy
1:39 NKJV 'Moreover your little ones and your children,
who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they
shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. The adults were
penalized for their unbelief, but the children were not.
Another example is the 120,000 children of Nineveh Jonah 4:11 NIV But
Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell
their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be
concerned about that great city?" Though the Ninevites were a cruel people, deserving of
judgment, God had mercy on the city because of the large number of children "who could not discern
between their right hand and their left." God's justice accounts for those
not able to believe.
In (Ezekiel 16:20-21 NIV
"'And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and
sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed
them to the idols.), God refers to children as “His”, and in Jeremiah 2:34 and 19:4 refers to them as
"innocents." Jer
2:30-34 NKJV "In vain I have chastened your children;
They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a
destroying lion. 31 "O generation, see
the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of
darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are lords; We will come no more to
You'? 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet
My people have forgotten Me days without number. 33 "Why do you beautify your way to seek
love? Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways. 34 Also on your skirts is found The blood of the
lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But
plainly on all these things. Yes, children are born into sin just like everyone else, but
their sins are not willful and premeditated. Thus He calls them "innocents."
God is compassionate and merciful and does
not judge children who lack the ability themselves to judge.
THE CONDITION FOR SALVATION: Small children don't have the
ability to understand that an affirmative response to the Gospel is the
condition for salvation. They don't know what they must do to be saved (Act 16:30-31 NKJV And he
brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.").
Galatians
gives a long list of the behaviors of those who are
in rebellion against God; (Gal 5:19-21 NKJV Now the
works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and
the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that
those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.) and Revelation 21:8 has a similar, but shorter list. The point
is that you cannot go to heaven if you choose to live this way; you cannot go
to heaven in your sin.
As Ezekiel 18:20 says, "The soul who sins shall die .... And the wickedness of the
wicked shall be upon himself." The problem is, children don't understand this.
John MacArthur has
written, "Little children have no record of unbelief
or evil works, and therefore there is no basis for their deserving an eternity
apart from God .... They are graciously and sovereignly saved by God as part of
the atoning work of Jesus Christ."
John MacArthur, Safe in the Arms of God
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003),81.
Before a child knows how to choose between good and evil, he or she is
protected from judgment for sin by the blood of the Lord. If one cannot reasonably accept or reject
the payment for sin made by
Christ, that person is accepted by God.
"In the Bible,
infants, little children, and others who cannot believe are neither told to
believe or expected to do so."
Robert Lightner, Safe in the Arms of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2000),15-16,25.
Since the condition for salvation is accepting the
Gospel, the inability to do so spares one the judgment for not having done so.
THE COMPASSION OF THE SAVIOR: Jesus' love for little
children is seen on more than one
occasion in the Gospels. Indeed, the references to Jesus' interaction with children also include the adjective "little," as if to
highlight His tender compassion toward little ones (Matthew 19:13-14; Mark
10:13-14)
.. In Luke 18:15-17 the reference is to
infants, or little babies, who are brought to Him.
Perhaps the most meaningful reference is (Matt. 19:13-14 NIV Then
little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and
pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus said, "Let
the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of
heaven belongs to such as these.") where Jesus says, "Even so it is not the
will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should
perish." It could not be more clear from this verse that Jesus is not
willing for little ones to be lost.
What about children lost through
miscarriage or abortions?
Couples that have lost children by
miscarriage, is heartbreaking. I believe these children are in heaven and will
be reunited when we get there. I believe the Bible is clear that life and personhood begin at conception. Therefore,
any persons conceived but not born are persons nonetheless and are taken to heaven
when they die from miscarriage or abortion. All women who have suffered either
of these experiences should expect to be reunited with these precious ones in heaven, provided they are true believers of Jesus
Christ and have repented of their sins. The same is true for children who, due to
mental impairment, never develop fully to the
point that they can understand and receive the Gospel.
THE CHILD OF DAVID: In 2 Samuel Chapter 12, we find the story of the
child of King David that provides compelling evidence for the salvation of children. You may
remember David's story, he committed adultery with
Bathsheba who became pregnant with David's child. After the child was born, God
sent the prophet Nathan to confront David over his sin of adultery and of
having Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, killed.
As part of God's judgment upon David, Nathan told him that
the child born to Bathsheba would be taken away in death. The child became ill and for a week David fasted and prayed for
the child to
live. But on the seventh
day it died. David then arose, washed and anointed himself and went into the temple to worship
the Lord. He then asked for
something to eat. His servants were confused. They couldn't understand why
David was not fasting and mourning after the child died instead of before. David's reply was,
"Now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to
him, but he shall not return to me" (verse 23).
In other words, David was confident that he
would see his child again. David believed he was going to heaven when he died, and that is where he
expected to see his son. Even though the idea of heaven was not as fully understood theologically
in the Old Testament as in the New Testament, David still believed that he and his son would be reunited in the place of God's blessing
where believers went after death. .
David understood then what we now know to
be true: Small children and infants go
to be with the Lord when they die.
This looks like a good place to stop for
this week and next week I will continue with age of accountability, how old
will children be in Heaven, and infant dedication/baptism.
His Mercy Endures Forever!
There Is No Other King, But King
Jesus!
Bill Wiesbrock
Last Week’s Trivia: Did serpents have legs?
Answer: The dictionary defines a
serpent as a snake. How many times have you glossed over the scripture in
Genesis where God told the serpent, “On
your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life” Genesis
3:14? Does that mean that the serpent had legs and walked upright, or somehow
moved on the end of it’s tail in an upright position? I have no idea, but it
amazes me what is revealed each time I read the bible. Every time I read the
bible I have questions as to what a scripture really means and I have to dig
deeper to fully understand. How the serpent moved in the Garden of Eden doesn’t
really matter, it is just one of those little things that caught my eye, so I
encourage all to pick up your bible daily for 10 – 15 minutes and see what you can
learn.
This week’s Trivia: When Jesus was with the
Apostles, and when he prayed, did he pray for all mankind?
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