BY TONY HOSS
Question: What happens to children when they die?
Answer: The Bible teaches the eternal security of children when they die. Consider the example we find in an Old Testament account.
2 Samuel 12:15-23 KJV: And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. (16) David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. (17) And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. (18) And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? (19) But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. (20) Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. (21) Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. (22) And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? (23) But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
It is interesting that David stopped weeping after the child died. While the child could never return to his father and mother it is true that the child had a future. David knew the child was safe in the care of God. This child was in a place that David could join him in the future. If we consider another child of David, Absalom, it is evident that David had no such hope for him (II Samuel 18:33; 19:4).
So why do so many have no hope for a child that has died? The reason is simple. The truth has been perverted by many religious errors. When we understand that inherited sin is not a reality, then it is easy to conclude that each person is saved or lost based upon their response to God’s Word. The Bible teaches us that, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Ezekiel 18:20). According to I John 3:4, sin is a transgression of the law. Infants, who do not have the ability to reason right from wrong, do not have the opportunity to break God’s law. Furthermore children are safe, because they exist in an age where they do not have the knowledge of good and evil (like Adam and Eve before they ate of the forbidden fruit). “Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it” (Deuteronomy 1:39). While they are without the knowledge of good and evil, they are not held accountable for sins.
(Tony Hoss is minister at Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton)