Question...Answer #1

Back in my January 12th blog I gave each of you the opportunity to enter into the discussions for my blog. I thought I would get some questions right away but for a while none came. Now, here we are in March, and I finally got a question. Thanks Rachel!

Rachel said...

"John 14:6 "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

What happens to children who die as infants or were stillborn or aborted? Or those people who have truly never had the opportunity to hear the Jesus died to save us from our sins? Are they condemned to hell?"

These are great questions! I will do my best to answer them to the best of my ability. As we look at these questions, we have to answer some very basic questions and then look at the two situations presented here. 1. What happens to children who die as infants or were stillborn or aborted? 2. What about those people who have truly never had the opportunity to hear about the Messiah, Jesus, who died to save us from our sins?

Before we dig into these questions I want to look at a couple of biblical principles. These principles will help us understand the questions a little better.

A. The first thing that we need to ask is why do people go to hell? This question above all is foundational when it comes to answering these questions.

As we read the Bible we will quickly learn that every person, apart from Jesus Christ, is guilty of sin. Romans 3:23, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We also know that the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.") This death is eternal separation from God in hell. Revelation 21:8 says, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

While we are reading the Bible we will also read passages like these:
Romans 5:6 "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."
Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Romans 10:13 "for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
These verses, as well as many others, talk about the simplicity of the salvation that we have through Christ Jesus. Jesus died for the sins of the world. He paid the price for every sin - past, present and future. As John the Baptist proclaimed, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

So, why do people go to hell? As I study the scriptures and draw ever closer to God I find that God doesn't send people to hell, people choose hell by rejecting God's free gift of salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

B. The next thing we need to consider is the nature and person of God. We often want to limit God by our own standards. We want an all loving God of mercy and grace but we want to leave out that He is holy, righteous, just, and perfect. We want to ignore the fact that God will accept no place in our lives but 1st place.

To expand on this, lets examine the person and nature of God. (This is by no means an in-depth study. I am making this as simple as I can.) God is Holy. Because He is Holy, He is righteous in all He does. In His righteousness God is without sin and perfect. In His perfection He will not associate with sin or allow sin in His presence. Because God is perfect, His standards is perfect and we as fallen people continually miss the mark. Because God is just, there must be a penalty for our unrighteousness. The only penalty that is acceptable to His Holiness is physical and spiritual death which is eternal separation from God.

This is where God's love comes into play. God doesn't just love us but He is the very essence of love. 1 John 4:8, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." Because of God's great love, He paid the penalty to satisfy His own justice by sending Jesus to the cross on our behalf. Through the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus God gives us mercy and grace. Mercy is not giving us what we deserve (We deserve hell). Grace is giving us what we don't deserve (We don't deserve heaven).

C. The last thing I want to look at is the "Will" of God. We must quickly look at the three wills of God: His sovereign will, His perfect will, and His permissive will.

God's sovereign will (sometimes known as His Ultimate Will) is how God achieves His ends, given man’s choices, be they good or bad. He works all things together for the good of those He called, who love Him [Rom. 8:28]. This means He can ultimately get His good in spite of man’s bad.

God's perfect will (or intentional will) is the desires of God's heart. This is the ideal plan flowing out of His goodness. 1 Timothy 2:3-4, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

God's permissive will (or allowed will) is when God allows things to happen that isn't what He truly desires. For example God didn't desire for David to cheat with Bathsheba but He didn't stop it from happening.

Now lets look at your questions.

1. What happens to children who die as infants or were stillborn or aborted?
What makes this a great question is the fact that the Bible never deals with this question directly. So to answer this question we have to look at how it applies to the the three things (a, b, and c) that we looked at above.

The first thing we must look at is the sinful nature. The Bible says in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" A lot of people use this passage to say that babies and young children are guilty and therefore deserving of death and hell, however I'd like to look at this passage a little closer.

Romans 5:12-19 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

A few things we need to notice in this passage.
1. From the time of Adam to Moses, death reigned. This is referring to the cursed state of man. That from the moment of birth we are in constant movement towards our death. Yet we know of some great patriarchs of the faith that lived in fellowship with God and were redeemed through God. The easiest examples to look at would be Abraham and Joseph. The key to this passage is "sin is not taken into account when there is no law" These men and woman will be judged on what the did with God's general revelation (we will look at this a little more later).
2. With Moses, God gave His law. The purpose of the law is to teach man of his sinful nature. (see Romans 3:19-20) The law cannot save anyone - it's purpose is to make us see our need for a savior.
3."how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" Christ's sacrifice on the cross is greater than death, greater than the law and satisfied God's wrath.

When we look at children who die as infants or were stillborn or aborted we must ask are they deserving of hell? My answer is no. Here is why: 1. They never rejected God through the personal choice to disobey God. They could not know the law, so they can't be judged by the law. They only know their needs at a very basic level. 2. As we looked at earlier God is just. Would justice condemn a small or unborn child for being born? (Or, in the case of abortion, for being conceived?) No this is not the child's choice or action. God is also a God of love and who needs that love more than a helpless baby. 3. God's perfect will is that all people will come to salvation.
1 Timothy 2:3-5, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus"

The last thing that I want to point out is the words of Jesus when referring to the salvation of adults in Matthew 18:3, "And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." We must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven!

Based on these things and many more I think we can see that these children will be with God in His kingdom.

Question 2: What about the people who have truly never had the opportunity to hear the Jesus died to save us from our sins?

This is a great question, this is where we will look at the general revelation of God. And we must look at the judgment that they must face before God.

The general revelation of God is what God has shown us about Himself through His creation. Romans 1:20-21, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."

God has made it possible for all men to know Him and worship Him without a complete knowledge of Him. The Bible also teaches us that, outside of Christ, all men will be judged according to there actions. Revelation 20:13, "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done."

It is not my place to assign judgment to people, it is for God alone. Each person will give an account for their actions to God almighty and the only guarantee of salvation comes through Jesus Christ. For those who have never herd of Jesus Christ, I pray they will. I also know that God's judgment will be the right one.

I do want to share this quick story. When I was in Bible College a missionary shared a story of when he was in Africa and he saw a man looking at the ocean. He asked the man if he knew God. The man told the missionary "I know there is a mighty and powerful God who is bigger than all creation. A God of love, mercy and hope. I know this God has a son because of my own love for my children." The missionary asked the man if he would like to know about God's son, and told him about Jesus.

This story shows that it is possible for people to know about God through what God has created. Psalm 19:1-3 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard."

The fact is Jesus said that the road to heaven is a narrow one. Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
Again Jesus says, (John 14:6) "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

We must remember it isn't our job to judge where someone spends eternity. I'll leave that up to our perfect, holy, righteous, loving God. Our job is to be the hands, feet, and mouth of Jesus to a world that is as messed up as we are, yet doesn't know the forgiveness that is available through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21, "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

We need have a sense of urgency in our daily lives as we realize that we may be the only opportunity that people have to meet Jesus.