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11.05.2008
When Little Children Die, What Then?
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)
Whether it is an international crisis, such as the Tsunami in Asia and Africa, or a local accident or a criminal act, or a disease, the death of a child raises many questions. What happens to those precious ones who are too young to believe in Christ? How does God deal with them?
In the last few weeks, especially after the burning of Budo Junior Girls School, in Uganda, where 50 students of ages around 10, were burnt to death, I have been asked several times; what happens to the lives of the children who are lost in these disasters? Where are they? What is God’s view about these children? What happens to a child when he or she dies?
In Mark 10:13-16 says; And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, "Permit the children to come to me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." 16And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.
Notice that Jesus rebuked his disciples when they tried to hinder the children. He said, ‘let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these’. Notice something else. He used these children to teach the adults some lessons. He said, v15 "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all." He was simply saying that humility and faith are absolutely essential to becoming a part of the kingdom of God.
The scriptures say, in Matthew 18:1-6 1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5"And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
And listen what he says. He gives a very stun warning to those who hinder or in some way, who harm or kill little children. He says:-
6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Here is what Jesus was saying. Anyone who hinders a little child in some fashion, that person is worthy of having a millstone hanged around their neck and drowned at the depth of the sea. Jesus says; “Drown them”.
Are Babies Sinners?
Romans Chapter 5, God makes it very clear. All of us came in this world with a bend-away from God. You might be a mother to a very beautiful little sweet baby. It might be hard for you to believe that your precious sweet beautiful baby has an all-sin nature. What!? He (or she) is just a baby!! And when that baby reaches the age of 2, you will certainly agree with me. The truth is, all of us have something within us, that at times, even though we are believers, we do not want to do the right thing. We know it is the wrong thing, but somehow we want to do it anyway.
A child comes into this world, neither righteous nor saved, but innocent. That is, at some point, there comes a time when that child becomes morally responsible for their conduct in the eyes of God. But in those early years, they are doing exactly what children do at that age. We have to teach them what obedience is and teach them to be responsible.
The question comes; what is the spiritual condition of that child? That child has no understanding of right or wrong, moral or immoral. They are in the stage of such innocence. They have to be taught what is right and what is wrong. Somebody asks; well, is that child lost or is that child saved? They are neither lost nor saved. We hear people talking about the age of accountability. The Bible talks about a time when the child becomes responsible in the eyes of God for their thinking and their conduct. There is therefore a time when God recognizes that young ones and children are not responsible for good and evil, because they do not know to the degree to which they must (Isaiah 7:15-16).
It is one thing to be disobedient to parents. It is one thing to do what you know is not right. It something else when you know you defy God. You rebel against God. You know that you are resisting God. There is a difference between resisting God, rebelling against God, and doing things which we see children do at some early age in their life.
So, what is the spiritual condition of these children? They come to a place in their life before they are spiritually incapable of comprehending. Think about children who grew up in a home where Jesus is never mentioned, God is never mentioned and no Bible. People make fun of the church, make fun of the preachers, and make fun of the Bible. Therefore their children have no comprehension whatsoever. They never go to church, never go to Sunday schools, and when some religious program comes, they switch it off. The children grow in that kind of home with no comprehension, whatsoever of spiritual things.
At some point, however, even in the life of these children when they grow up, they know that what they are doing is wrong. That is so, because God has written on the conscious of every single person. And there comes a point when that conscious says; this is wrong.
Every child growing up knows murder is wrong, rape is wrong, stealing is wrong, lying is wrong, cheating is wrong. Why? It is written on the conscious. It isn’t just a revelation from creation, it is written on the conscious, says God in Romans Chapter 1.
Well, what about children who cannot even reason; who do not know the difference between right and wrong? What about the children who are not morally responsible? Because they are not capable; they have not reached the age of moral responsibility, they are safe until they reach that age of responsibility and make a decision. Many will make a decision to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Many will not.
2 Samuel 12:21-23, referring David. You will recall that David committed sin with Bathsheba and the son died. David is going through a very difficult time.
21 His servants asked him, "Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!" 22 He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, 'Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.' 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
God’s servant about whom God said; he is a man after my own heart. Though he has sinned against God he said; “I cannot bring him back here but I will go to him.
The loving God of the Bible is going to take care of his children. And when they come to the age of accountability then they are responsible. Until then, they go to heaven if they die very early in life. Let’s take for example, a little child of, say five days or six months dies, they do not go to heaven and live in eternal infancy. They go to heaven and they grow up, and are saved by the grace of God. How is this little child saved? By the grace of God.
They go to God in heaven, to a state of blessedness, which even the Old Testament saints had some expectation of. Godly parents have great reason to hope concerning their children that die in infancy that it is well with their souls in the other world; for the promise is to us and to our seed, which shall be performed to those that do not put a bar in their own door, as infants do not. Favours received should produce the hope of more. God calls those his children that are born unto him; and, if they be his, he will save them. This may comfort us when our children are removed from us by death, they are better provided for, both in work and wealth, than they could have been in this world. We shall be with them shortly, to part no more.
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