The Salvation of Babies Who Die, Part 2 B

Heaven is the place of perfect reunions. Grace to you with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. You may remember several years back the high-profile case of Lacey Peterson raised a significant legal question. When a pregnant woman is killed, does it become a case of multiple homicide? Do you legally have more than one victim?

And you may be saying the obvious answer is yes. But maybe less obvious to you, where are those unborn children now? What happens to babies who die? In the womb? Or just born?

Or even toddlers? Find out today on Grace to You as John MacArthur continues his study called, What Happens to Babies Who Die? And with that, here's John. They don't deserve to be saved because they are guilty sinners by inheritance. If they are saved, it is by the sovereign grace of God based on nothing that they can do, nothing they can achieve and nothing they can merit. The salvation of those souls then is absolutely consistent with the salvation of adults, which is also based on sovereign grace apart from anything that they can do.

All who die without reaching the condition of accountability are graciously forgiven and saved by God through the work of Jesus Christ, being elect by sovereign grace and innocent of willful rebellion and unbelief against God, and therefore accumulating a life of sinful works by which they would be justly condemned to eternal punishment. I want to go to some supporting Scripture under three headings. I want to go to some supporting Scripture under three headings. I want to go to some supporting Scripture under three headings. I want to go to some supporting Scripture under three headings.

But what is clearly seen to a mature person is not clearly seen to one who is a child. And then a word about ownership in the New Testament, Luke 1, just a brief comment here, Luke 1, that's about innocence, this is about ownership. Luke 1, it speaks of John the Baptist, and it says, to be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. Here again is the same idea that we saw with Jeremiah that when...and with David in Psalm 139, that here is an individual in the womb known to God who belongs to God, who is filled with the Holy Spirit of God, even in his mother's womb. And then over in verse 39, same chapter, Mary meets with Elizabeth and this child in the womb of Elizabeth, John the Baptist, of whom I just read. She hears Mary's greeting.

The baby leaps in her womb. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, cries with a loud voice, said, blessed among women are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb. How has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord shall come to me?

For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. So here is John, a prophet, when he can't speak, he just jumps in there sending messages to his mother. This is simply to point out to us that God has absolute control from the womb of every life. Galatians 1 15 is another one, the Apostle Paul indicating that this is ownership. God owns that little life in that womb, whether it's David or whether it's Jeremiah, or whether it's John the Baptist, or whether it's the Apostle Paul. Galatians 1 15, when he who had set me apart, listen to this, even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, etc., was pleased to reveal His Son in me and so forth. God revealed to Paul that he was chosen by God, he was the special possession of God when he was still in his mother's womb. He was as known to God as every other soul conceived in the womb. He belonged to God, as do all.

And when these little ones die in that condition, I believe they are the special care of the Lord. That's why it can say in Romans 5 18, by Adam's sin, many were made sinners through Christ, many are made righteous. I know it's a narrow road, few there be that find it, but I don't think that's all that are going to be in heaven. Few there be that find the narrow road, but many are in Christ. How can you have few finding the narrow road and many in Christ?

Because the many have come through salvation which God provides for the little ones. Revelation chapter 5 says, verses 9 and 10, that in heaven there were people praising Christ from every tongue and tribe and people and nation. You know that passage, Revelation 5, 9 and 10? Do you know there are tribes and nations that have never heard the gospel?

But there will still be representatives from those tribes and nations in heaven praising Christ because they died in their infancy or childhood without the ability to understand. Two other passages, Matthew 18 and then Matthew 19. Matthew 18, a wonderful passage that I don't often see even used in this discussion. In fact, in everything I read, I never found this passage referred to and I read a lot of books. Matthew 18, 14, thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones...what?...perish.

That's a pretty strong statement, isn't it? You say, yeah, but He's talking about believers. He's not talking about...this isn't a discussion of children, He says in verse 3, He's got a child in His arms in verse 2 and He's using a child as an illustration. He picks up this little baby, Jesus does.

Some say it was probably a child in Peter's family, it could have been in Peter's house. He's got a little baby in His arms and He wants to give an illustration. So He says, you're not even going to come into the kingdom unless you become like a child. And so the child is an illustration, a child is for the purpose of analogy. And if you're going to come into My kingdom, you need to humble yourself like this little child and you need to receive each other like little children and you don't want to cause each other to stumble.

You'd be better off dead than to cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble. So He's simply using a child as an illustration. You have to come like a child and you have to be loved like a child and once you come into the kingdom, you need to treat each other like children.

You need to care for each other and not do harmful things to each other. And when...verse 10, when somebody looks down on one of these little ones, the very angels of heaven are concerned because the Father is concerned. The picture here is of the believer like a child. You come in like a child, dependent, without any merit, without any accomplishment, without any achievement. That's how you come into the kingdom.

You come in naked, as it were, and crying for help like a child. Once you're in the kingdom, you're still a child and you're to be loved like a child and cared like...for like a child and protected like a child. And in verse 12 He says, if one of them wanders away, you go get them. Pretty obvious, if you had a whole bunch of kids and one of them didn't show up for dinner at night, you wouldn't say, oh well, we got six more. You know, and Albert was a pain anyway, never did what we told him, so let him go. Oh, somebody's down the street trying to find Albert.

And that's the point. It's a child. A child will wander. And the picture here is of a child that is analogous to believers. And so when you get to 14 and it says, it's not the will of your Father who's in heaven that one of these little ones perish, the only thing that makes sense is that He's talking about believers, but the analogy is perfect because He doesn't want a believer to perish anymore than He wants the little ones to perish.

Otherwise the analogy doesn't make sense. God no more wants His children to perish, His spiritual children to perish than He wants a little one to perish. You come in like a child, you need to be cared for like a child, treated like a child, protected like a child, rescued like a child, and God is not going to let you perish, be devastated and destroyed any more than He would allow one of His little ones to go through that, like little babies, believers are. The same way that God is concerned about the little ones, He's concerned about His own. So the analogy only makes sense if little ones don't perish.

If little children perish, then the analogy doesn't make sense, right? And then especially Matthew 19, and this is really...this is found in three places, Matthew 19, 13 to 15, Mark 10, 13 to 16, and Luke 18, 15 to 17, it's in all these synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke. And you know the passage, Matthew 19, 13, some children were brought to Him, parents are bringing their little children and He can lay His hands on them for the purpose of blessing and praying over them, and the disciples rebuked them. The disciples hadn't had their first lesson in child salvation.

They're about to get it. Get those kids out of here. Jesus said, let the children alone, do not hinder them from coming to Me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. You say, but He's talking about believers there. But it wouldn't make any sense if the kingdom of heaven didn't belong to them, then it can't belong to us by analogy.

It has to belong to them. So we say, well, this is just an analogy, just an analogy. Well, look, it's a great analogy. A child can do nothing for himself to be saved. A child can earn no salvation. A child can offer no accomplishment, no merit, no achievement, totally dependent on sovereign grace.

That's the way we come. The kingdom is full of people who are just like them, saved purely on the basis of sovereign grace. And I would remind you that according to Mark, Jesus picked those little children up and blessed them. I can't find anywhere in my Bible where Jesus blesses non-believers.

Can you? I can't find anywhere where He blesses the cursed. I can't find any place in Scripture where He pronounces a blessing on the damned, or indiscriminately pronounces a blessing on a combination of His own and the devil's. These were real children He had in His arms, real children. And He said of such as the kingdom of heaven.

That's the analogy. Just as much as the kingdom belongs to those little ones, should they perish? Should they die?

Not perish in the judgment sense. Just as the kingdom belongs to those little ones, should they die? So it belongs to us who are spiritual children. So Jesus said, don't forbid them from coming to Me. And He really rebuked His ignorant disciples who then had their first lesson in the matter of God's attitude toward the little ones.

The disciples were dead wrong. Children do make up the heavenly kingdom. When we get to heaven, it's going to be filled with the little ones who never saw the light of day, who never came alive out of the womb, who came alive out of the womb but never reached understanding, and some who grew up to physical adulthood but whose minds never ever developed to the point of understanding. And the Lord blesses those and gathers them to Himself. John Calvin in his commentary on Matthew, Mark and Luke, Volume 2 said, those little children have not yet any understanding to desire His blessing.

But when they are presented to Him, He gently and kindly receives them and dedicates them to the Father by a solemn act of blessing, end quote. And thus did Jesus demonstrate that they were under special, gracious care. Calvin went on to say, and I quote, it would be too cruel to exclude that age from the grace of redemption. It is an irreligious audacity to drive from Christ's fold those whom He held in His bosom and to shut the door on them as strangers when He did not wish to forbid them, end quote. It was the great 19th century Presbyterian Charles Hodge who wrote, quote, He tells us of such is the kingdom of heaven as though heaven was in great measure composed of the souls of redeemed infants. And the great Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield wrote, If all that die in infancy are saved, it can only be through the abrupt operation of the Holy Spirit who rules when and where and how He pleases, through whose ineffable grace the Father gathers these little ones to the home He has prepared for them, end quote.

It would be hard to find a more noble theological triumvirate than Calvin, Hodge and Warfield. And they affirm the intent of this passage to teach God's special saving purpose which fills His kingdom with the little ones. In conclusion, what age will they be in heaven? I guess another way to phrase the question, will there be strollers in the New Jerusalem?

No. Whatever their limitations here, whatever their imperfections here, whatever their immaturities here, they aren't there. So how do you know that? Because 1 John 3, 2 says that when we get to heaven, we'll all be like Christ, right? That we'll all be conformed, Romans 8, 29 says, to His image. And one thing we know for absolute sure, all the redeemed of all the ages in heaven are going to be occupied doing one particular glorious thing. Revelation 7, 9, after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues. They're all going to be there and perhaps the largest part of that group will be those who were saved in their infancy by sovereign grace.

And another way to say that is all infants who die are elect and heaven will be filled with them from every tongue and nation and tribe and people. They'll all be standing before the throne. They'll all be standing before the Lamb. They'll be clothed in white robes, palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice saying, salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne, around the elders, the four living creatures.

They fell on their faces before the throne to worship God, all saying, Amen, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. You've got again in Revelation chapter 4 another picture of the redeemed in heaven and chapter 5 another picture of the redeemed in heaven. One thing is very true. When we get to heaven, we're going to be like Christ. The second thing that is very true, when you get to heaven, you're going to spend forever praising Him. Therefore, there must be enough maturity to bear the image of Christ and enough maturity to understand the significance of eternal praise.

Perfect maturity, perfect understanding. You say, well will my little baby that I miscarried, my little baby that died at...paranatal died at birth, my little baby that died at the age of one or two or four or five or six or eight, will that little child know me? Will it be a reunion? What did David say? He cannot come to me but I shall go too. He didn't say I'm going to go to His place.

He said I'm going to go to Him. Heaven is the place of perfect reunions. All your little ones, all those who never developed mentally, they'll be there. They'll be waiting. First Corinthians 13 says, you will know as you are known.

You'll have perfect knowledge, perfect maturity and you'll know everything you need to know and you'll be gathered to those that love you. Now look, this is wonderful news, great news. This is one of those, I guess you could say, in the category of the best thing I ever heard. Why do I say that?

Well, we had a miscarriage, Patricia had a miscarriage and so we have a little one in heaven and you know, that child caused us no problems. I'm telling you, none. Is that good? Is that joyous? The real challenge is the ones that are here. Beloved, I know you feel that, don't you? You feel it for your children, you feel it for your grandchildren because you don't want an Absalom, do you? You don't want a rebellious son. Maybe you've even thought better.

Like Job, there had been a miscarriage. So there's that challenge there. What can you do?

Well, just everything you can. Pray, set an example, expose them to the truth, surround them with godly influence, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It's incessant intercession. Now we face the necessity to be the instruments of God's grace to those who survive. But I can promise you that God is gracious and God is faithful and God will never give you more than you can bear and I do believe that God will honor your prayers. And when you have that broken heart that comes over a wayward child, you can only commit Him to the Lord and look to other points in your life where God's grace is displayed.

But don't give up hope and prayer and be faithful because that is the great challenge ahead of us. Father, thank You again for Your Word, the length and breadth and height and depth of it that touches all the issues of life so greatly and we desire, Father, that You would give us confidence about the little ones and that You would give us strength and wisdom about the grown ones, those that are growing up to understand the issues of law and grace and sin and salvation and may we be faithful to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to raise them in such a way that they will come to embrace the Savior. Give special grace to those parents whose hearts have been broken like David's was. Sometimes in a final way, sometimes it's not final yet, but give grace to those parents to find a place of joy even in the midst of sorrow and disappointment over some children who continue to rebel, continue to pray for their redemption. We thank You for Your great grace, sovereign grace. In Christ's name, amen. That's comforting truth from John MacArthur, pastor, author, chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, and Bible teacher here on Grace to You. The focus of John's current study is, what happens to babies who die? It's an important question to answer, especially for anyone who has been affected by the loss of a little one. John, you said today that in heaven everyone will have perfect knowledge and maturity, and on the subject of heaven, we received a call on our Q&A line that I'd like you to give your answer to. So let's hear that question now. Hi, John, my name is Mike and I live in Maryland, and this question has always been with me. What exactly do you suppose we would be doing when we're in heaven for the entire time that we're in heaven?

Thank you so much. Well, Mike, I know that's a very common question, because when you think about eternal life, you think about it in the sense of time. You can't help that, because we're creatures of time, so we think of a constant flow of time. But that is not what eternal life is.

There is no sense of time. The best way to understand eternal life is that it is a moment, a moment of sheer joy, bliss, peace, love, gratitude, praise, worship, satisfaction, fulfillment, happiness. A moment of that at the maximum level, incomprehensibly full, that never ends. So think of heaven not the way you think of life here, over the passing of time, so that it has a certain tendency toward boredom or toward the same things being repeated as life does here in this world. Eternal life will be timeless. It will be a glorious moment that never ends. Think of the most joy, peace, love, gratitude, fulfillment, satisfaction at the highest level beyond what you can imagine, and you have that, and it never stops.

That's how to understand heaven. That's something that you can long for and look forward to, and that's exactly what we have the right to claim because of what Christ has done for us. Thanks, John and Friend. If you or someone you know has been impacted by the loss of a little one and found hope from listening to these daily radio broadcasts, or if you've simply been encouraged from John's teaching about the glories of heaven, we'd love to hear your story. Contact us today. You can write to us at Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or send an email to letters at GTY.org.

And thanks for remembering to mention this station's call letters when you write. And while you're at GTY.org, let me encourage you to look for the Grace To You blog. There's a series there titled, The Truth About Heaven, and it answers questions like, what will heaven be like?

And what does it mean to be absent from the body but present with the Lord? You'll be encouraged by those articles from John MacArthur and the Grace To You staff. And keep in mind that there are thousands of other resources at our website to help you dig deeper into God's Word. You can download all of John's sermons, more than 3,500 messages, including those from his current study, What Happens to Babies Who Die?

All of it free in MP3 and transcript format. That address again, GTY.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson with an important question. What can give you hope when your child dies? Join John MacArthur for a message you need to hear. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.