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February 3, 2022 12:00 am
What happens to babies who are aborted or stillborn? What happens to toddlers that die before they ever even speak a word? God doesn't tell us specifically, but He does give us a significant thought to ponder in 2 Samuel 12.
What does God's word actually lead us to believe all of you at the outset of this marathon message okay that it doesn't allow us one needs verse one easily interpreted packaged text that clarifies for us that the death of the freeborn miscarried the aborted or even the mentally disabled call perpetual children that they immediately are ushered and have babies inside their mother's womb's are fully human. And if that's true, that means that those babies have sole so that leads to this important question.
What happens to a baby who dies while still in the womb.
Or what about a child who dies after being born babies really go to heaven when they die. This important question is our theme today here on wisdom for the hearts stay with us as Steven David takes us to God's word to bring help hope and comfort to parents. We arrived today at a most interesting text and heart rending and its implications, and I want us to take enough time to deal with what could easily be skipped over because it's difficult to address following Nathan's confrontation you are with us. Our last study tells David the discipline of God will, among other things bring about the death of their child through sickness. Ultimately, the purposes of God will be fulfilled in this manner. So David for 16 were Toles jumped there sought God on behalf of the child and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground and the elders of his house stood beside him to raise him from the ground he would not did eat food with them. On the seventh day child died in the service of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead for this, the whole of the child was July we spoke to him and he did not listen to his house and can we sit him that he made arm. When David saw the service were whispering together, he perceived and understood that the child was dead and he said it was services the child dad and they said he is the David arose from the earth, washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes and he went into the house of the Lord in worship. He then went to his own house and when he asked, they set foot before.
Many ate the servants said to him, what is this thing that you've done fasted and wept for the child while he was alive when the child died euros in a food he said while the child was still alive, I fasted and wept for. I said, who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me and the child may live. Now he is dead. Why should I fast can I bring him back again rhetorical question, assuming it will be no, I shall go to him, but he will not return to me in the death of their child. David and Bathsheba.
Irrespective of the discipline or the mystery of the purposes of God in this manner, they entered a community of suffering a community that has grown by the millions, a community that you may be included in today, regardless of the fact that their babies death was uniquely part of God's purpose in disciplining their immorality. The Lord could have discipline them in a number of ways and evidently according to his plan. In our last study I mentioned the mercy of God, this boy is not allowed to grow to take the brunt of what will ultimately bring about the loss of David's kingdom, but the text raises this heart rending issue, an issue which millions of parents moms and dads who know firsthand the language of suffering through the loss of a baby, infant mortality is determined technically used to refer to the death of a baby before its first birthday. I found it interesting that the state of North Carolina is one of the top three states with the highest infant mortality rate in the country nearly 8 babies out of every 1000 live births die which means then in the last year. Out of the 120,000 babies that were born 900 or so died before their first birthday. If you add to that the number of babies that are miscarried. Number skyrockets. In fact, if you work off global statistics outside our own state.
The numbers are frankly astronomical one world health organization reports that in one year alone, more than 4 million babies die on average in countries like Afghanistan, for example, the rate of infant mortality is 100 times greater than the state of North Carolina. Experts in the field as they research the data globally placed the actual figure of infant mortality at somewhere around 10 million babies a year you add up all of the years is your mentally, perhaps thinking years of human history begin the stagger under this thought that you thought that certainly came to me at this juncture in the biography of King David and a question that arises from it that I don't want to gloss over. There are millions upon millions of babies who enter eternity without ever reaching maturity.
The weeping of mothers and fathers sheds rivers of tears.
In this regard, and maybe you have shed your own, but in the aftermath of it. The question you're left with its surfaces. Sooner or later are where are they all now known as text. David clearly states that he and his baby are going to have a reunion in the future. Some would say that David is merely talking about the grave. My baby died a minute die to it doesn't make much sense though if that's his perspective that he all of a sudden gets his appetite back. Just upon the knowledge that I'm gonna die to sell go eat now is more to it than that. I think others would insist, and I would be within the David is saying that his baby is now in the father's house.
This is what David said he'll end up eventually in that classic Psalm 23 in verse six he says I'm the dwell in the Lord's house forever. So that's where I know I'm going and so in order for beat me to be reunited with my baby will be there in the father's house, but that passage is clear enough or unclear enough to raise the bait and it opens the door to that most profound of questions do babies go to heaven. What about the millions of miscarried babies annually.
Shall we include aborted babies as well. Certain around 1 million a year in this country alone were literally talking about millions of babies entering eternity annually since we as believers believe the record of Scripture what it says about an eternal future.
We have to be honest enough than to admit that either hell is receiving millions of babies every year, or heaven is receiving them, or may be some of both. And, upon what would we base that is a pastor, I can tell you I have been involved in difficult situations. Heart wrenching moments in ministry.
In those moments I've been, but I would say would be the most heart-wrenching of all those moments would have been called to a delivery room to hold a stillborn baby or a baby born with a defect that brought about death within a matter of minutes and I can tell you that it moments like those the question that is greater than any other question, even beyond the why question is did my baby go to heaven. Now it might be easy to put our hope in something sentimental something befitting Hallmark something optimistic to sort of sue is the hearts kind of ignore the issue and you know in your own heart. It hasn't been soothed has what does God's word actually lead us to believe. Let me tell you at the outset of this marathon message K that it doesn't allow us one needs verse one easily interpreted packaged text that clarifies for us that the death of the pre-born the miscarried the aborted or even the mentally disabled. What we could call and I believe would fit the category of perpetual children innocent that they immediately are ushered into heaven by the way, there isn't a verse that tells us to go to hell either, so you're going to have to study. I would give you some things and perhaps will simply launch you into deeper greater study and a hook to steer you in the right direction.
In order to answer the question biblically were going to have to compare a number of texts with each other and we don't have to tie theological truths together as well to begin putting the biblical clues together. We need to actually answer several questions. The first question to deal with is not our freeborn or infants going to heaven. The first question we have to answer is when does a babies life actually begin is then that would answer the question, perhaps with the aborted or the miscarried when does a babies life actually begin. Fortunately, we have a lot of information on that subject. In fact, turned the Psalm 139.
You can leave second sample I'll probably go back there in an hour or so, make a few comments with Psalm 139 David is gonna take us via divine revelation into a mothers womb. He didn't have the sciences, we have, but he did have the spirit of God, informing him of things we've only recently discovered I want you to look at in verse 13 he says for you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb not David pictures God sitting in the sewing machine or in his day, a weaver's shuttle and is informing us that from the very moments of conception that God is involved in choosing the thread, so to speak. The color, the pattern style and creatively weaving it together all yet he's getting your stuff you gave him as a daddy or mommy. They may look like you have your chin, your nose, whatever, but David is is giving the creative working out of that pattern to the knowledge and purpose of God so that you are different from your mother and your father those similar notice verse 14. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully crafted, or made door. David uses the translated fearfully can be translated amazingly limited in a much deeper study of this in our Sunday evening sessions in the Psalm and touched down a few words that were translated wonderfully.
I am fearfully and wonderfully made could be rendered uniquely. I am uniquely made and so are you give a thumbprint.
Nobody else on the planet has.
God simply hasn't run out of ideas. You are unique in that and a million ways. Mark and David is boasting in God is Creator he says I am amazingly and uniquely created by God who formed the time he asked Rand of my being at the very moment of conception. God was there.
God was at work. Time magazine named Peter Singer to the list of 100 most influential people. He probably heard his name is, unfortunately, is on the list but he's a professor of bioethics at Princeton University and he was recently awarded by his home country of Australia for his work in bioethics philosophy is created a firestorm. If you read any of his close you know why he has a rather brutal and yet I must add logical, ethical system, it's an ethical system devoid of any moral absolute without any creator God and for this, our world applauds him, but he takes his evolutionary belief system where others would hold back.
He forages on and he literally says delivers those chilling practical conclusions logical conclusions of an evolutionary world view. For instance, he's gone. Record any isn't alone to say the simple simply because were were nothing more than highly evolved animals is morally acceptable for a baby to be put to death by his parents, birth it should be left completely to the will of the parent or guardian.
By the way, when Paul was writing Romans to those Roman believers their culture believe that it was legal for you to literally put your child to death or leave it on the doorstep. It might be taken away by wild animals. The church of which begin a process of rescuing and raising these babies, we may get there ourselves. But again, why not animals abandon their young, you're an animal you can to and you should be able to without any legal recourse against is also publicly stated that parents ought to be allowed to kill their children up to one year of age, of the evidence any kind of mental or physical disability. Of course, based on his evolutionary system of ethics. He really doesn't have any grants to stop at age 1 Desi so he's not willing to go even further. But he stopped at age 1, which is inconsistent in his own thinking. But at any rate he he he states that killing children specifically to harvest their organs for the benefit of older, physically ill children is morally acceptable simply argues with other philosophers and and it is true as one stated that without God, anything is permissible. Any moral, no matter how chilling argument. So if you forget the biblical declaration of a moral lawgiver, a creator, it is in fact simply the survival of the fittest animal singer gets it that when he says this and I quote him. We cannot base our ethics on the idea that human beings follow this are a special form of creation made in the image of God and singled out from all other animals. That's the evolutionary worldview and others forget the biblical declaration of origins in the concept of a creator God crafting you in the womb. In fact, forget the idea is were given in Genesis chapter 1 that at the call of creation at the tentacle of creation. There is this eternal unique self-aware spiritually capable, morally self-conscious human being different from the animals, but of God had nothing to do with her creation.
Anyway just animals to our ethics can then change and they are changing fact singers effectively concluding simply because of the fact that we are evolved. Animals want to keep our young are not. If you want to kill our young if we effectively want to feed their organs to other siblings there is anything wrong with that God had nothing to do with who you are.
You just got lucky enough to be at the top of the food chain and to have invented something that shoots bullets.
Dr. Singer is not singing David's lyrics is David Singer is singing something entirely different when verse 15 my frame was not hidden from you, God. When I was being made in secret that Hebert talks about the womb being the secret recess that place where God develops. In fact, the word for frame refers to bone our skeletal structure is saying here that God was also involved in determining are very skeletal structure that means if you have big bones and minor getting bigger all the time God had something to do with look further in verse 15 he says we are intricately woven or embroidered in the depths of the earth, a metaphor for the womb, God the Creator is at work then not just in times past, but in every mother's womb embroidering you buys creative design that same word for embroidered is used by Moses to talk about the embroidering of the curtains that will hang in the temple understood properly, then every ability that you have every disability that you have was designed uniquely by God. We are uniquely crafted by God, so that in our own unique way. We will learn to trust in God for grace and for strength.
We will learn to surrender to his sovereignty.
We will learn to give him trust and honor and glory in your unique way that will be different in some ways than my. We will depend upon God based on the uniqueness of his own crafting of our lives and and and and don't miss this and we all uniquely go along for the blessing of the perfection of our glorified body in heaven and were going to praise God for areas of that perfected body that those around us won't even think about praising God is good be unique to you and to be looking for 16 your eyes saw my unformed substance in your book. They were written. Every one of them.
The days of reform for me before there was one at sea. We tend to forget that the that a man or woman.
Don't create life. We give ourselves way too much credit for that we call labor as secondary causes in the plan of God in the bringing together of sperm and egg but God actually is, given the credit for creating from that life for every creation of sperm and a dozen regular life. God determines that conception is given to him for in his hand, is the power of life acts chapter 17 goes into detail on that. David writes here you ordain our days even before there is one event.
So the fact that there is something of life occurring at the moment of conception proves that the creative work of God goes back to that very moment that he indeed is involved in these developing according to his divine purposes. In fact, the word David shows here's loaded. He writes you saw my unformed substance that's one word in the Hebrew language. It's a word find something we know now. David did know the David under under inspiration wrote about the Hebrew word translated embryo you saw you were involved. You are crafting my embryo unformed substance, so he saying here that I praise you for the way you design even my embryo substance under formation in the womb substance not yet ready to live outside the womb substance alive, yet developing life begins at conception and and the anything that is viewed by Scripture as death in any death that occurs after the moment of conception is the death of a person, a person, and eternal soul. I want you to listen to a couple of passages at time of the eternal reach of God the father and the references to the personhood of someone in the womb. Jeremiah is is quoting God. God says to him before I formed you in the womb I knew you I knew all about you, even before I started the process of forming before you were born I sanctified you, I set you apart purpose for you to go beyond conception and birth in your life plan. I formed you personal pronouns. I knew you before you were born I sanctified you. The Lord did not view Jeremiah as some lump of impersonal tissue in the womb.
Some anonymous unbelieving appendage to mother's body. A fetus that really wasn't anything more than a massive tissue in the womb.
Both Jeremiah and David are saying God is involved with a living person even in his unformed substance.
They became really clear that God sees you.
By the way, already is perfectly glorified. He sees you already from the from the perspective of eternity already seated with Christ in the heavenly's you are already in the mind of God seated in the heavenly's you'll feel like you're seated in the heavenly's right now. You think you're seated in the stuffy auditorium, but in the mind of God from the perspective of eternity. Keep your nose in his purposes that you will one day and in fact it is my already are seated there by the letter at the wonderful doctrine of security of your salvation, you're already there guarding their but here's the staggering truth and one author John MacArthur's written a wonderful commentary on the subject says this life begins then by the will and power of a creator God. Every person then can see is a God created God love person with a God-given purpose and destiny. Now that's staggering in its implications anything about what the Scriptures have said in this conclusion.
What that means is then for millions upon millions of pre-born miscarried infants. God's purpose for their lives on earth, so to speak. In the mystery of his sovereign will was completed.
Whether it was a matter of moments, seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months completed to means than the God's purposes and destiny for your child, perhaps for your child's life was fulfilled perfectly. Even if the child died. The reality of God's purposes for that person are are are are literally staggering to consider when you think about the context of an eternal purpose for your life and mine, and even these babies to question number one. When does life begin begins at the moment of of a God empowered God designed God ordained God purpose conception apart from that life cannot begin. It's in the power of God to answer another question. Does every person live forever now. The short answer is yes being created in the image of God means, among other things that we have been created eternal once life begins winners than that of conception. It never ends. So the critical question isn't so much will you live forever. It's where will you live forever right is and will you live in effect everybody on the planet until he knows that's true, then they were created. Ecclesiastes 311 says with eternity implanted in the heart.
There's a knowledge and understanding.
This isn't all there is there honest enough the limited, the reason the question about babies in such a big issue for people inside the church and outside any religious system is because the law of God is been implanted on their hearts, and they know there's more out there beyond this brief life as we much more to cover in this message. But we need to stop here and resume tomorrow. You've tuned into wisdom for the heart with pastor Stephen Davey this message is entitled to babies really go to heaven when they die, and it's part of Stephen's series on the life of King David. Last month we offered Stephen's e-book on this topic as our free resource of the month.
If you missed it, it's still available to you to download today.
If you go to our website. We have a page where we offer a free resource each month.
The website is wisdom online.org/offer that's wisdom online.org/offer.
If you forget that.
Just go to our homepage and there's a link there even though we have a new offer. This month the link to this e-book is still there e-book is called babies really go to heaven when they die. That e-book is free. In our store right now. I encourage you to share that link with anyone who has suffered the loss of a child will be back tomorrow with the conclusion to this message. Join us then here on wisdom