Yesterday
we saw 16 verses in the OT that address the issue of what happens to
little children who die. I hope you saw that the OT lays the groundwork
for a category distinction: there are two kinds of sinners who die.
There are those who die because of their sin nature, namely infants. And
there are those who die because they love sin, and actively embrace it;
namely, adults. This distinction is important to grasp because the NT
does not reestablish it from the ground up but rather Jesus and Paul
both teach in such a way that the distinction is reinforced.
Again, if any of these verses trouble you, simply skip them, and let
the weight of the full list be enough to convince you. The numbering
picks up where yesterday left off.
17) Jesus blessed little
children. There are no examples of Jesus blessing anyone who was in
open rebellion to God. Again, much like Jonah 4, Jeremiah 19, 1 Kings
11, this (at the very least) creates a category distinction between
sinful adults in rebellion against God, and the childlike innocence of
children (Matt 18:3-5).
18) In Matthew 18, Jesus not only blesses the
children, but uses them as an earthly analogy of childlike faith. He
says that “unless you are converted and become like children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself
like this child– this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Everyone is free to debate what exactly Jesus means here, and there are
Christian answers all over the spectrum. But at the very least, Jesus
has to be implying that children in their current state would go to
heaven if they died. Consider this statement: “my car is as fast as a
cheetah, and unless your car is like a cheetah too, it can never be
fast.” Everyone can debate what it means to be fast, or how fast my car
really is, or if your car even should be fast. But the entire analogy
would break down if cheetahs were not indeed fast to begin with. That is
the assumption that makes the analogy make sense. Whatever Jesus is
saying Matthew 18, it only makes sense if the destination of children
who die is an enviable one. Continue at Jesse Johnson
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