When Babies Die...
So many people have asked me the question, "What happens to babies that die? If Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father but through Him, and faith alone in Christ alone is salvation, how do all babies (who have no profession of faith or understanding of it) go to Heaven?"
This is an extremely delicate subject and one I do not address lightly. My wife and I have been through 5 miscarriages now and have gone to the word of God as we have sought to make sense of it all. Meanwhile, we have heard (unbiblical) things like, "God just needed another angel," from well-meaning people, but when there is no truth supporting the statement, it is only shallow, causing more pain at the realization that it is just empty words. We wanted the comfort of God from His word.
On the one hand, it is wrong to tell people what they want to hear, simply to make them feel better. As a doctor, you wouldn't tell a terminal cancer patient that everything is okay and they have nothing to worry about. In the same way, we can't say that babies go to heaven simply because it "feels right." We believe it only if the word of God affirms it.
Now, before you get angry, know that I am not saying babies do not go to heaven, but we must know what God's word says about the matter and stand firm on it.
First, we must address the problem of sin. Sin has been passed down through the seed of man since the first man, Adam. Before we even begin to make our own sinful choices, we are set on a course toward death and hell. This is why you do not have to teach your child to lie when caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Your child lies because it is his nature to lie. You do not have to teach a baby to hit when she is angry, it is her nature to be vengeful and wrathful.
So if we are born into this sinful "body of death," as Paul describes it, how then can a child be delivered unto salvation from it, through Christ, while not even being able to understand it?
There are several passages that give us a very good indication of the salvation of infants and young children, but first I would ask a few questions:
Q1. For which sins did Christ die?
A. All of them (except one which was unforgivable).
Q2. What was the unforgivable sin?
A. rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit, named as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:22-30)
Q3. What does it mean to reject the work of the Holy Spirit?
A. it is to reject his moving in your heart to have faith in the finished work of Christ as our "propitiation (payment, 1 John 2:2)."
This is why, in Matthew's gospel, when people stand before Christ, some will hear, "depart from me, for I never knew you." Notice Jesus does not say, "depart from me because you lied, or stole, or murdered."
See, sin was paid for and "he who knew no sin became our sin (2 Cor. 5:21)." No one is going to Hell for murder, rather they will go because they reject the work of the Holy Spirit in the work of their salvation.
We are told that we are born with a longing for heaven in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This is important, because, if all sin (except one) was paid for, then the one thing that will keep us from heaven is rejecting Christ. A child is born with a longing, a desire for heaven. An infant has been covered in all of his sin by Christ's atonement. He has not yet rejected the work of the Holy Spirit as he is not yet able to do so.
Many call this the "age of accountability." I think "age" is the wrong word. If there is an age in which the child is responsible then what about a mentally handicapped person who lives beyond that age but does not have the mental capacity to understand and reject that longing for heaven and reject the Holy Spirit's working? Christ is still this child's way, truth and life.
Here are some more passages which, I believe, affirm the child's eternal destiny:
In 2 Samuel 12:23, king David has just lost his baby boy and says he will go to be with him in heaven one day.
We see how God can reveal His Son to others before they are even born as we look in the first chapter of Luke's gospel, as John the Baptist, while in his mother's womb, leaps for joy because he recognizes the presence of Jesus who is in Mary's womb at the same time.
And the weightiest passage on the subject that comes to mind is in Job 3:11-13. Job asks why he could not have died at birth so he would be at peace with God rather than suffering here now.
It is important that we search out truth as found in God's word; not merely responding with what "feels right," as our heart is deceitful (Jer.17:9). We must study the word and trust what God says, even when it confronts what we believe. Even when it seems hurtful, malicious, or wrong. God has a plan that is working together all things for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose, and we must trust His goodness in all things.