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| WHEN INFANTS DIE, WHAT NEXT? - Page 1 |
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| Written by Rev. Peter Bloomfield | ||||
Page 2 of 2 Secondly, are there any infants whom we can be sure do have this saving grace, this new birth? In essence, the answer is yes, elect infants whom God chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Infant death does not hinder the sovereign purposes of God. But we cannot know who these elect infants are. It is strange how parents cling to "too young to do bad things" in order to assume a child is in heaven, while ignoring the equal reality of "too young to do good things", those good things being the precise things God insists upon before anyone gets to heaven (like believing in the Lord Jesus Christ with a humble, repentant heart). So how can an infant get to heaven? He is too young to respond to the normal means of grace ("faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God"). Infants have no intelligent notion of self, the world, their parents, their sin, God, Calvary, judgement. So for elect infants who die, God must use extraordinary means of saving them in these extraordinary situations. Here we should note some excellent sections in the Westminster Confession, as it sums up the Biblical teaching. "God, in His ordinary providence, maketh use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at His pleasure ... Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth. So also are all other elect persons, who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word". (WCF 5.3 and 10.3). In other words, God normally makes use of the ordinary means of salvation (faith upon hearing the gospel) but He is quite free to use other means. God is not limited by His own tools! All whom He has elected in Christ will be united to Christ either by the Spirit enabling them to respond to the outward call of the gospel, or, by the Spirit working inwardly, when, where, and how he pleases. The only way around this is to deny the doctrine of Sovereign election, but that raises massive problems with many Bible texts, Romans and Ephesians included. If it be asked who these elect infants are, we cannot tell or presume. It is tempting for Christian parents to presume that their dead infant assuredly goes to heaven simply because the parents are in covenant with God. But this presumption is not endorsed by Scripture. As long as the truth of Jacob and Esau stands (both children of believers) we must leave absolute freedom in God’s sovereign choice of which sinners He will save and not save. "For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose according to His choice might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "the older will serve the younger". Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." (Rom 9:11-13). If I can confidently assert as a believer that my child dying in infancy is definitely going to heaven, then I am a wise man to ask God to take the child from me as soon as it is born, because the stark reality is this: if they grow old enough for the seed of sin to manifest itself by their rejection of Christ, and they die like that, they most certainly will be lost. Such an absurd ethic should prove that election is the secret will of God. Here we come to the bottom line, the crux of the matter. Is God sovereign in running His universe or not? Does God decide whom He will save in mercy, or is it man? Does God decide who goes to heaven and what the terms are, or is it man? Does the potter determine what shall be made, or is it the clay? The Bible is unambiguous: "For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" ... So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy ... So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires ... who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing moulded will not say to the moulder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honourable use, and another for common use? (Romans 9). We must let God be God. Human pride must give way. God is absolutely sovereign in all things, especially in His greatest work, saving sinners. If He is not sovereign there, sovereignty is a myth. But God is not capricious, arbitrary, unjust, or unloving. He rules according to the entire perfections of His nature. In the grief of losing infants we can do no better than abandon ourselves to the God of all grace. We need to humbly accept that His ways are higher than our ways. We need to confess again with Paul: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counsellor?". If we ask for His strength to enable us to cope, and seek His son Jesus Christ, and ask for the grace to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, we will not be disappointed. God is on oath to satisfy all who genuinely seek after Him. |
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