Will Children Be Raptured?

Message Description:

When a child passes away, our hearts are broken. But Scripture gives us insight into our Father’s love for children and His plan for their future.

• Innocents
• Dr. Jeremiah’s message – “Will Children Be Raptured?”
• One last word from Dr. Jeremiah

When we entered the new millennium 23 years ago, millennium became a popular word. The United Nations came up with its Millennium Development Goals. Chicago boasts its Millennium Park. Numerous businesses have included this word in their titles, such as Millennium Records, Millennium Bank, and Millennium Media.

But the real Millennium is coming—a thousand years of world peace when Satan will be bound, Jesus Christ will reign, and righteousness will rule. The Bible teaches that after the Tribulation, Jesus Christ will physically return to this planet. He will defeat His enemies and set up His Kingdom on earth. And He will reign on the earth for a thousand years. During this time all the promises of the Old Testament concerning the Kingdom will be fulfilled with the redeemed Jews living in their homeland in peace and prosperity.

Too often we overlook the first verses of Revelation 20. But we should long for that day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God!

On a number of occasions in the Bible, god refers to children as innocence, I n n o c e n t s, innocence.
Jeremiah, 234. Also, your skirts is found the blood and the lives of the poor innocence.
Jeremiah 19 4, I have filled this place with the blood of the innocence.
Now, they were sinful creatures, like all of us. Babies aren’t, babies aren’t perfect. They’re not sinless.
And if you haven’t had one lately, you should have one and you will find that out.
Babies are selfish, aren’t they?
They want what they want when they want it, and they don’t care if you sleep or not.
Bible tells us they’re born into sin.
We inherit the sin nature of Adam all the way down to our present situation.
They are sinful creatures, just like all of us, but they are not responsible in the same way as those whose sins are willful and premeditated.
And god understands the difference.
The character of god lays the foundation for the realization that children who cannot understand the gospel are in developed within the grace and mercy of the lord.
On them, god has a tender heart. On them, his compassion reigns.
I read a story about Ashley Erwin, who was slightly amused and slightly alarmed when her young son, Wyatt, asked her to pull down his Marvel themed Duff bag, and he told his mom, I’ve got a big trip tomorrow.
At first, Ashley thought her son was talking about church because this was all happening on Saturday night, but Wyatt had bigger goals in mind.
He had a higher destination. He told his mom, I’m going to heaven.
And that moment actually understood because her husband, Tyler, had passed away almost 2 years before, and Wyatt missed him desperately.
And he was planning a to visit his dad, asking no more questions.
Ashley handed the duffel bag to her son and allowed him to pack in private.
Later when he was asleep, she went through all the stuff that he had put in his bag, and it was quite an assortment.
First was a superhero mask in capes, then a whistle, 2 baseball gloves and a ball, a collection of foam darts, 2 wallets, one belonging to Wyatt, and the other to his dad.
Both wallets were stuffed with family pictures, And last of all, Ashley found a bottle of her husband’s cologne tucked deep inside Wyatt’s shoe.
Wyatt’s desire to see his father in heaven raises an interesting and important connection with the subject of the rapture.
Namely, what will happen to young children on the day the rapture happens?
What will happen to those little ones who are too young to make a decision about eternity when eternity crashes into their world?
Does the Bible offer any clarity for parents and grandparents any hope?
Thankfully, There are 4 solid reasons in scriptures for believing that children who die and children who are living when the rapture occurs.
Will go straight to heaven. Listen up and be encouraged.
First of all, the character of god The Bible is full of information about the nature of God.
It tells us about his personality, his attributes. A scripture calls him father.
I mean, that’s a good place to start. He isn’t simply a distant force in the universe.
As Jesus put it, he is our father in heaven.
And there’s a tender passage that describes him in the book of deuteronomy tucked in the old testament.
You wouldn’t find it unless you were looking for it, but here’s what it says.
Do not be terrified or afraid of them, the lord your god who goes before you, he will fight for you, According to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness where you saw the lord your god, he carried you as a man carries his son.
In all the way that you went until you came to this place.
The Bible teaches us that God is so full of compassion and tenderness and mercy that he carries us through tough places, like a father carrying his son when he’s no longer able to navigate himself.
This is a consistent theme, and if you read the Psalms, you will see it everywhere.
If you look for it, it’ll jump out at you Psalm 8615 says, but you, oh, lord, are a god full of compassion and gracious and long suffering and abundant and mercy and truth.
And Psalm 145 verse 9 says the lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all of his works.
How many of you know God is a good god?
He is a good god, and he’s good to all.
And that would that would certainly include children He knows that little children cannot comprehend the truth of the gospel, yet god loves them deeply.
He loves the pre born and the newborn. He loves the infant. In the toddler.
And there are some incidents in the Old Testament to help us wrap our minds around all of this.
Put on your thinking cap and join me for just a moment as we try to explore this.
When the children of Israel were denied entrance into the promised land because of the unbelief of the people, the children were not held responsible and god allowed them to enter.
Do you remember that? Here you see the principle of god applying his grace to those who cannot believe.
Here you see god treating children in a unique manner Duteronomy 139 says moreover, your little ones, and your children who you say will be victims who today have no knowledge of good and evil They will go in to them.
I will give the land, and they shall possess it. Did you get that?
They were defined as children who had no knowledge of good and evil, and they were allowed to go into the promised land, even though their parents were disqualified.
One of the reasons God gave to Jona, for instance, for having pity on Nineveh was the huge number of children who lived in this city who could not discern between the right hand than the left.
You remember, Jonah didn’t wanna go to Nineveh.
He didn’t like the Inuvites, and you can understand why they were a cruel bunch to those people.
But god said to Jona, should I not pity Nineveh that great city in which are more than 120,000 who cannot discern between their right hand and their left.
In other words, god understands that there’s a special quality about children different than the total population involved in the things that he has said.
Did you know that in the Bible, the word children is found nearly a hundred times just in the gospels alone.
The Bible teaches that god knows children, and that he loves children with special care Our heavenly father in his justice provides for children who are not old enough to comprehend the gospel.
In fact, ezekiel says, moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to me, Words of God, we bore our children to god.
These children belong to god, and the character of god provides a special grace for these children.
Who cannot believe on a number of occasions in the Bible, god refers to children as innocence, INNOC E NTS, innocence.
Jeremiah, 234. Also, your skirts is found the blood and the lives of the poor innocence.
Jeremiah 19 4, I have filled this place with the blood of the innocence.
Now, they were sinful creatures, like all of us.
Babies aren’t perfect, but they are not responsible in the same way as those whose sins are willful and premeditated.
And god understands the difference The character of god lays the foundation for the realization that children who cannot understand the gospel are enveloped within the grace and mercy of the lord.
On them, god has a tender heart. Number 2 is the condition of salvation.
There’s another reason why children go straight to heaven when they die.
And why they will be raptured into Jesus arms if they are living when he comes back.
This second reason has to do with condition for salvation. So let me ask this question.
What must a person do to be lost?
And the answer is they must refuse the free offer of god’s saving grace. That’s how you get lost.
You hear the gospel. Somebody explains it to you, and you refuse it. One writer expresses it this way.
Little children have no record of unbelief or evil works.
There’s no basis for their deserving and eternity apart from god.
They are graciously and sovereignly saved by God as a part of the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah, the prophet speaks uh, such a period in the moral innocence in the life of a child.
Isaiah 716 says, before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
I say, I said there’s a time in a child’s life before they know how to choose evil and accept good.
In the Bible, infants, little children, and any others who cannot believe are neither told to believe nor expected to do so.
They are not classified as wicked evildoers and rejecters of god’s grace.
It’s always the adults who are described like that, either directly or indirectly.
And so the Bible teaches us that because of the character of god and the condition for salvation, our children are in a special place, but I’m not done.
There’s 2 more. The compassion of our savior. Listen to this.
When we read the stories of Jesus in the Gospels, we discover that Jesus had an incredible love for children.
Listen to this, Matthew 1913 14.
Then little children were brought to Jesus that he might put his hands on them and pray.
But the disciples rebuked them for bringing these children to Jesus. You can see there are Jesus handlers.
You know what I mean? Don’t let these children mess with Jesus.
But Jesus said, let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for such is the kingdom of heaven.
He said, children are the kind of people that are in heaven. Don’t don’t keep them away from me.
We also have a wonderful passage in Matthews Gospel, that is as definitive as any verse in the Bible on the eternal love that Jesus has for children.
This is Matthew 1814, And here’s what it says.
Even so, it is not the will of your father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
I put that in big print in my Bible. I underlined it. That’s one of the key verses.
The Bible says that it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
There you have the strong unambiguous statement of the savior.
He’s not willing that one of these little ones should perish.
And if that’s all that I had, I’d build my hope on that alone.
The lord Jesus has compassion for little children and infants, and he’s not willing that even one of them should perish, not one.
Perhaps this is a good time to answer the question concerning the unborn.
What about babies that are never born? Because of miscarriages or abortions.
Listen to me, because of his mercy, that little one now lost will be waiting for you in heaven.
And you will enjoy an eternity of loving fellowship with that precious child Jesus loves you, and he loves every child from conception.
In fact, he loves us even before time began.
John MacArthur wrote this, he said, I can’t imagine that the same savior who blessed little babies, instead of such as the kingdom of heaven, secretly intended to deny them that mercy.
We know from the character of god, from the condition for salvation, and from the compassion of Jesus, but little ones go to heaven when they die.
But I’ve saved the best reason, the best proof of that, until last.
There is an incident in the life of King David that is fundamental to answering this question.
And if I had nothing else to say to you today, I’d go right to this passage in 2nd Samuel 12.
Let me tell you the story.
This section of scripture records the events that happened in the life of David after he was confronted by the prophet Nathan.
As you remember, Nathan was appointed by god to confront David concerning his adultery with bathsheba and the murder of her husband, urea the hittite.
And when Nathan confronted David, among other things, he told David that the child that he and bathsheba had brought into the world would be taken away from them in death.
And let’s pick up our reading of 2nd Samuel, and it’s really told better in the description than I could ever tell you.
2nd Samuel Twelve 14 to 23. I’m reading the scripture.
However, because by this deed, you have given great occasion to the enemies of the lord to blaspheme the child also who is born to you said Nathan shall surely die, and Nathan departed and went to his house.
And the lord struck the child that youriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill.
And David, therefore pleaded with god for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.
So the elders of his house, Rosen went to him to raise him up from the ground, but he would not nor did he eat food with them.
And on 7th day, it came to pass that the child died.
And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the was dead.
For they said, indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, he would not even listen to us.
How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm.
When David saw that his servants were whispering, he perceived that the child was dead.
Therefore, David said to his servants, is the child dead? And they said he is dead.
So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes and went into the house of the lord and worshiped.
And he went to his own house, and when he requested they set food before him, and he ate and his servant said to him, What is this that you have done?
You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, But when the child died, you arose and ate food, they couldn’t figure it out.
And David said, while the child was alive, I fasted and wept for, I said, Who can tell whether the lord will be gracious to me that the child may live?
But now he is dead and listened to these words Can I bring him back again?
I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
What a tremendous what a tremendous story that was.
The last sentence in that passage is arguably the greatest sentence in the Bible on the subject of what happens to a child when they die or when the rapture happens.
It was this thought of a reunion with his dead child, which cheered David But where did he think the reunion would be in the grave in hell, in heaven?
He believed that he himself, David believed that he himself would go to heaven after death, and consequently, meant to express the belief that his child had gone on before him to that blessed place.
And the idea of meeting his child in the unconscious grave could not have rationally comforted him, nor could the thought of meeting him in hell have cured his spirit But the thought of meeting that child in heaven had, in itself, the power of turning his weeping into joy.
What a story. Here’s a few things that we have to collect toward the end of this message.
What about the age of accountability? People ask you about that.
Are little children innocent until they reach a certain age? I mean, is it 9?
Is it 11? Is it 5?
In our attempt to bring comfort to those who mourn, we must not deny the truth of god’s word.
No one is truly innocent. Jesus statements about children being innocent. Doesn’t mean that they are without sin.
It means that they were not responsible for their sin, The Bible teaches that all of us are sinners.
Psalm says it clearly behold, I was brought forth in inequity and in sin, my mother conceived me.
From the beginning, we’re all sinners. And Psalm 583 says, The wicked are strange from the womb.
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. There are no exceptions. Nobody is born perfect.
All of us are born with a sin nature, even though we have not yet done anything wrong, our nature is sinful.
And every baby needs a savior, just like every adult does.
But at what age does a child become responsible for his relationship with god?
Is there an age of accountability? Isaiah refers to such a time in the life of the child.
Remember, he said, before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good The important thing to remember here is this.
The Bible does not make any reference to an age of accountability, and that’s not in the Bible.
That’s that phrase. But there is a time in the life of every child when they are able to understand god’s love, and when they comprehend what it means to be a sinner.
Somebody says, well, okay. How old are children gonna be when they’re in heaven?
That’s an interesting question, and I’m not sure I can give you a definitive answer there are differing views about this, and there’s no absolute answer in scripture.
Some believe that when we are in heaven, we’ll all be mature in body mind and spirit.
The thought is if babies cannot fully enjoy this life, how could we expect them to fully enjoy eternal life with god?
Others hold that children will be allowed to grow up in heaven.
That’s what I believe in support of this view is the reference to the conditions in the millennium.
If you know prophecy, you know, let me just give you a little picture. There’s the rapture.
There’s 7 years of tribulation.
Jesus comes back in the 2nd admin, and then the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth takes place, the millennium, And the millennium, believe it or not, there’s more in the Bible about the millennium than any other subjects written about in the whole Bible.
The Bible is full of information of what’s going to happen on earth when King Jesus is reigning, David is his vice regent, and this earth is under the control of a righteous king.
How about that? Well, during that time, the Bible says in Isaiah, you remember this passage?
And a little child shall lead them.
The nursing child shall play on the cobra’s whole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
In the millennium, there will be children. Doctor.
Jay Verde McGee, one of my favorite people in all the world said this, I believe with all my heart that god will raise the little ones such that the mother’s arms who have ached for them will have the opportunity of holding them And the father’s hand, which never held the little hand, will be given the privilege.
I believe that little ones will grow up in heaven in the care of their earthly parents if they are saved.
So you may think your parenting days are over, but when you go to heaven, if you got little ones up there, you’re gonna have to bring them up, but you have to bring them up in a perfect environment you don’t have to do anything.
Just show up in there. So on the basis of god’s character, and salvation’s condition and Jesus’ compassion and David’s child, I could say with authority that little children, infants, unborn, when they die, they go straight into the arms of Jesus in heaven.
There was a family whose baby boy had died, and their little girl came to the mother and asked her where her baby brother had gone the mother said to be with Jesus.
A few days later, the mother was visiting a friend said to this friend, I am so grieved to have lost my baby.
And the little girl overhearing her mother came to her and said, Mama, is something lost when you know where it is?
Of course not, replied the mother.
Well, how can baby be lost when he’s gone to be with Jesus? Not lost.
Isn’t that a wonderful truth to remember? Little ones are in heaven.
You know, I when I got out of seminary, I went to the Henn Heights Baptist church in New Jersey, to be, I know you’re gonna laugh at this, the youth pastor and the Christian director.
And I wasn’t there very long before The pastor came to me, and he said, I’m gonna take a little time off 3 or 4 days, and I want you to be in charge while I’m gone.
I wasn’t ready to be in charge of anything, and I was definitely afraid that while he was gone, something would happen that I wouldn’t know what to do I was absolutely right.
In the second day, he left, I got a call from the secretary.
She said, you need to go over, and she told me the name of the couple to their house something really tragic has happened.
So I went And, uh, when I walked in, they were in tears. Their little girl had died.
It was a crib death. We used to have those all the time a long time ago. Remember that?
And so I had to go and minister to those people, and I had the funeral for that little one.
The first funeral I ever had and it was the hardest funeral I’ve ever had in 50 years.
Children are not supposed to die before their parents.
Someone once told me that a death of a child is like a period in the middle of a sentence.
But here’s the good news.
If if you can just believe it, even if that happens as tragic as it may be, god has got you He’s got your back.
He’s got your heart. He’s got your soul, and he’s got your future, and you’ve got something to look forward to.
One day, you will see that little one again.
And if you know people that have gone through this struggle, you tell them that. You remind them that.
You tell them the story of David.
That’s the best thing you could ever and you let them know that god is a gracious, compassionate, loving god, who cares for your children and mine.
Can I get a witness? Amen. Wow. And
with one last word for today’s program, here is Doctor Jeremiah.
You and I are privileged to stand on the questing waves of prophecy.
To live in a time closer to the return of Jesus Christ, than any other generation in the history of If you know Jesus as your lord and savior, you can look at these signs and be hopeful instead of fearful.
But if you find yourself feeling anxious today, it just may be that you do not know the hope that only comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
So I invite you to take your 1st step of faith today.
And to help you, please allow me to send you 2 resources from Turning Point.
1 is a booklet called Your Greatest Turning Point, which will lead you into a hopeful future of knowing Christ.
And the second is my monthly devotional magazine turning points with articles and daily evolutions to encourage your relationship with Christ all year long.
I will gladly send these resources to you free of charge if you will simply contact us here at Turning Point If you realize Jesus is coming back and you don’t wanna be embarrassed when he comes back, live your life in such a way that you will be proud to meet him when he comes because you’ll be walking in the light.
Thank you for being with us today.
Join Doctor Jeremiah next time for his message, live like you were dying.
Here on Turning Point.