(music) - One of the most difficult
questions both personally and pastorally is what happens
to infants when they die? And then we think, not just of infants, but just to be precise, we can think of people who've miscarried or of abortions. We think of how many individuals
are in that category. The numbers are staggering. And I think we should begin scripturally, first by saying, are infants innocent? Well some people might say, Well, of course. All infants, everyone
miscarried, everyone aborted, they're saved because they're innocent, they haven't sinned. But I don't think that's a
right reading of Scripture. You look at Romans 5:12-19, and Paul's very clear that all of us, as sons and daughters of Adam. All of us enter the world as sinners by birth, by conception, and condemned, judged for our sin. So every person conceived deserves judgement. All of us are born as sinners. So the answer isn't, well, we're innocent, and therefore of course
we're all going to be saved. I think the answer, however, is yes, infants will be in heaven, infants will be saved. And we don't have a
direct Scripture on that, so we have to argue theologically. I would say maybe three things about this. The first thing is, Genesis 18:25. "Shall not the judge of
all the earth do right?" That's what Abraham says when
he's praying to the Lord. And of course the answer is, of course He'll do what's right. So we can say about anyone who's died as an infant, or has miscarried, or aborted, we can say in every case, God always does what is right. I want to settle there first, Will God ever do anything wrong? So I think before answering
the question directly, I want to just linger
on that for a moment. I hope that builds your trust in the Lord to recognize that God
always does what is right. If we don't believe that, we
need to grow in our understanding of the love of God, and the holiness of God, and the justice of God. He
always does what's right. A second text that I think is interesting, and I think indicates
that infants are saved, the miscarried are saved,
the aborted are saved, is in 2 Samuel when the son of David and Bathsheba dies. And David says, that the son will not return to me, but I'll return to him. If we reflect on that verse,
is David simply saying? I'm going to die as he did. Is that returning to him
in any meaningful sense? I think he means something more than just, I'm going to die as he died, I think he has a hope there in that statement, I think
there's a hope in that statement that there will be a personal reunion, and a happy reunion. You're clearly not saying, we're going to be together in hell. So I think David is anticipating there a future reward, for him and for his son. So, I think that verse is helpful. And then thirdly, I think Romans 1:18 and following is helpful. There we're taught that God's wrath is revealed from heaven against the sin of human beings. God's wrath is revealed against
those who have not received special revelation, that is those who have not
received the Scriptures, but they've received the revelation of God through nature,
though the natural world. They've received that revelation,
and what does Paul say about every single person
who receives that revelation of God being God, and God being powerful through the natural world, Paul tells us, everyone rejects that revelation, everyone turns away from it. Well, of course that's not
true for infants is it? Infants of course, can never understand or grasp that revelation that comes through nature. And so they never have that opportunity to express in their person that rejection of God's
general revelation. So I'm arguing theologically from that, that because they don't
have that opportunity God extends mercy to them as a result of that. So I'm not arguing infants go to heaven because they're innocent, they're not innocent, they're born into the world as sinners. So He could justly judge them, but because they haven't had
the opportunity to express the guilt and sin they have as sons and daughters of Adam, God shows them mercy and grants them eternal life. You may think hearing the
answer to that question, well I still have questions, that doesn't answer all my questions. But that's not surprising, because as I said at the beginning, we don't have any particular text that resolves this clearly. So I come back to where I started, "Will not the judge of
all the earth do right?" We can trust our infants who die, to the Lord. He will the right thing with them, I think that means, he'll show them mercy. - [Narrator] Thanks for watching, you can submit your questions by email, Twitter, or in the comments section below. And don't forget to subscribe, to find out the answer
to next weeks question. (music)
