If you die when you are a baby, how can you know Christ?

Wow! That is an awesome question and one that has caused a lot of people to think, discuss and argue for an answer. And to be perfectly honest, the Bible does not tell us directly. I cannot find any Biblical scripture, either in the Old Testament or the New Testament, which addresses this issue directly.

So, we should probably start with a look at the character of God. What do we know about God? Well, the Bible teaches us that God is loving. The Bible teaches us that God is just. The Bible teaches us that God cannot sin or do evil. So what happens to a baby in the hands of our God when that baby never even has a chance to know God?

Part of the good news is that it’s not just about us knowing God but also God knowing us. And He knows us better than we know ourselves! In fact, we were known even before we were born!

Look what Psalm 139:13-16 says:

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

See how the psalmist says we are fearfully and wonderfully made! He emphasizes that God’s works are “wonderful.” God knew us while we were still being formed!

That’s not to say that once we are old enough to know Christ ourselves that we aren’t accountable to Him to make our own decision to accept Him as Lord and Savior, but if we are not yet old enough to know Him – and no baby is – then He covers us by His intimate knowledge of us. Amazing, isn’t it? Our God is great! Based on this scripture of God’s intimate involvement with your creation (and there are certainly other scripture passages as well) and knowing God’s loving and just character, we can say with some assurance that babies that die will go to Heaven and will know Christ.

Why are some people born with problems and God doesn’t help them?

That is a huge question and one that is asked by a lot of people. We really don’t know why God does some of the things He does…we just can’t comprehend His infinite mind or see the “big” picture. We can’t understand it because we’re limited in our thinking. Why does God let babies die? Why does God let earthquakes, tsunami’s or hurricanes kill hundreds of people? Why do some children have to be born with a disability? I honestly don’t know the answer to those questions.

But, I can tell you with one-hundred percent certainty that God is good. He can do no evil. He cannot sin. Not only is God good, He is good all the time. So, when God allows certain things to happen, it is in His good and perfect will. We may never understand it but we have to trust that God had a divine and righteous purpose for it.

Why do people have to die?

That is a very awesome question! And, to find the answer, we have to go all the way back to the first book of the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis. Here’s the deal, when God first created the earth and created Adam and Eve, they were in a perfect relationship with God and they had no fear of dying. Life was fairly simple back then with very few rules…except one BIG rule:

“And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)

Well, we all know what happened. Eve was tempted by the serpent and took a bite of the apple and then Adam took a bite of the apple and sin entered the world. And God was not happy about it. In fact, God puts a curse on the serpent and on Adam and Eve. To mankind God says this, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you are returned to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)

Our perfect relationship with God was broken and we were condemned to die. Even the New Testament reaffirms this curse in Romans 6:23 when it states, “For the wages of sin is death…” BUT, and here’s the good news!!! The rest of that verse says, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.”

Even though our physical bodies will eventually die, we are promised eternal life in Heaven WITH JESUS by accepting God’s gift of grace and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Probably one of the most quoted and well-known Bible verses is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son and whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish (die) but have eternal life.” But don’t forget the next line, which to me is just as important, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Even though every person will eventually die a physical death based on the sin that came into the world, those of us who are saved will have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. While no one wants to die and we don’t want to see loved ones die, I want you to know that I am not scared of dying because I know where I am going. I just want to be able to stick around for a little while longer so that I can see my kids grow up, get married and maybe become a grandpa someday.

I want to tell you a funny story. A friend of mine’s grandmother loved Jesus so much and she knew, without a doubt, what awaited her when she died. So, when she was on her deathbed she was so happy that she was going to see Jesus soon that that’s all she could talk about. The she fell asleep, a little catnap so-to-speak, and then woke up. Here’s the funny part: She looked around the room, looked at my friend and actually said, “Oh, darn! Still here!” Can you believe that???

You know, even though he was sad when she eventually died, he knew that she was in heaven with his grandfather and with Jesus and it made him happy and gave him great comfort to know that she was there.

Why did only certain people go on the cross?

Wow, awesome question! First of all, let me be clear about crucifixion…it was basically a death sentence. Crucifixion wasn’t intended to be a punishment with set time. It wasn’t like the Roman judges said, “You will be crucified for a period of three hours.” The act of crucifying someone was meant to kill them. Not only that, but it was meant to kill them in a very slow, painful and tortuous way. Roman crucifixion was also meant to humiliate and dishonor a person.

Now, having said that, crucifixion was reserved only for the worst criminals, basically your murderers and thieves. In the Bible, we only have two instances of crucifixion mentioned. The first involves Jesus and two thieves, the second is when the Apostle Peter is told he will be crucified as a martyr (John 21:18-19).

Since the second instance is vague and has been debated by many Biblical scholars, let’s go to the first instance, which we know to be true. Here we have two thieves and Jesus who are being crucified. Do you remember what Jesus did to warrant death by crucifixion? According to the Jewish leaders, He blasphemed by claiming to be God. Even Pontius Pilate couldn’t find a reason to crucify Jesus so he handed Jesus to the Jews who had Him crucified by the Roman soldiers. So, Jesus, who was perfect and without sin and who had committed no crime, was crucified along with two thieves.

As unfair and unjust as that seems, it fulfills Old Testament prophesy about the Messiah. Jesus had to die on that cross. But, here’s the glorious and wonderful part about his death on the cross: when Jesus died He took the sins of world past, present and future with him and redeemed us. And because Christ died for us, we can have eternal life with God, the Father, in Heaven.

So, even though the cross was reserved for certain criminals, Jesus’ crucifixion was necessary to fulfill God’s unstoppable plan.

Why does God have to choose for people to die?

I will do my best to answer this question for you. This a very tough questions AND the answer is also tough!

Death is one of those things that is really bad, isn’t it? At least it seems that way to us, doesn’t it? Even though we know that death takes us to be with God forever, to a place where we can know God better and better, it still scares us. It scares us because its unknown. Death is one big unknown.

From God’s perspective, though, it’s a little different. It’s actually a time when we go to be with God forever! God welcomes us! It’s still tough, though, isn’t it? This is especially true when the death of someone is a surprise to us – like when a child dies of cancer, or a parent or someone from school dies in an accident.

Even the fact that EVERYONE dies doesn’t make it any easier, does it? So why does God chose one person on one day, and somebody else many years later? You and I will not get to know the answer to that question. Sorry, but only God knows!

I can think of a dad and mom who’s child died, and they can’t understand why it happened? How could God have taken their child to heaven so soon? It hurt them very much, but they learned to trust that God still loved them, that God still cared for them, and that God had not abandoned them … but it HURT! Sadness and pain like that happen everyday to people. Right now all of God’s creation is hurting. That’s the bad news – death and pain and suffering will continue. We can trust God, though. And the good news is that things are going to get better! God has a plan. Check out Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

The good news is that we can trust God. Even though we can not know why God chooses who he chooses, or even when or why he chooses, we can know that we are loved by him!

How do we know what God's plan is for us?

Excellent question!!! There are many references in the Bible as to what God’s plans for us are but my two favorites are John 10:10 and Jeremiah 29:11-13.

John 10:10 simply reads, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” That is how the NIV states it; some Bibles say that God came to give you life and to give it to you abundantly. That shows how much He truly cares for you. His plan for you is to have a life that is full of His grace and mercy!

In fact, in 2 Peter 3:9, it is written, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” So, you see, God doesn’t want anyone to perish (eternal death) but he wants them to have eternal life with Him in Heaven!

Jeremiah 29:11-13 reads, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Wow. The Lord of all creation loves us all so much that He wants us all to prosper and to be protected. He also wants to have a relationship with us through prayer! You see, if you seek God with all your heart He will never, ever abandon you or forsake you!

Why did Moses die when he was leading the people into the promised land?

Wow, that is an awesome question! And I can see why you are confused because we both know that God specifically chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and the life of slavery they had been subjected to and to lead them to the land promised to them during God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was described as a land that flowed with “milk and honey.”

Well, unfortunately, Moses was a man and because he was a man, he sinned. God says to him in Deuteronomy 32:51-52, “This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel."

Ouch! That stinks, doesn’t it? Moses did a lot of great things for God earlier in the Bible. But, because he sinned against God, he had to suffer the consequences of that sin. BUT, I want you to understand something important here…even though Moses sinned and was punished by not being allowed into the promised land, Moses did make it into the Promised Land! Notice the capital letters? Moses, even though he sinned, was forgiven and went to Heaven!!!

So, why did he die? He died because he was a man and could not live forever. He died at the ripe old age of 120! And here’s another little bit of trivia: God, Himself, buried Moses somewhere in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor. But, to this day, no one knows where God buried Moses. Pretty interesting, huh?

How old was Jesus when he died?

We have a pretty good idea of the year Jesus was born and the year he died, so we can have a pretty good idea of how old he was when he died. The deal, though, is that people back then weren’t concerned with EXACTLY what time it was, the way we are today. They didn’t have wrist watches; they didn’t have clocks in every room of their homes; they didn’t have paper calendars and computers to keep them accurate. They simply weren’t as concerned with writing down the EXACT times and dates like we would.

But the Bible does give us some information about the date of Jesus’ birth. Read Matthew 2:1.

Also, ancient records exist that show that King Herod died in April of 4 BC. There was certainly some amount of time between Herod’s command to have all the baby boys killed and his death. So how old would that make the infant Jesus in 4 BC? Well, Jesus was probably born within the last three years of Herod’s rule - making his birth somewhere around 6 BC.

Now let’s look at Jesus’ death. Again, while the Bible does not clearly and exactly tell us, evidence does exist in the records of the kings and governors of that period, and this information strongly supports the Bible. From those records, we know that Pontius Pilate was removed from office late in the year 36. Since it was Pilate who order Jesus’ crucifixion, 36 is the latest year we can use to figure our how long he lived.

So if Jesus was born no later than 6 B.C., and was crucified no later than 36 A.D., then the oldest he could have been was about 42 years old.

Now because the dates are not exact, he could have been younger. Many people will argue that he was about 10 years younger than that. Well, maybe. Again, ancient people (and the writers of the Bible) weren’t as concerned about time as we are, and the Bible doesn’t exactly say. It is safe to say that Jesus was between 33 and 42 years old when he was crucified.

Why does God take loved ones away?

That is very good question! I’ve had people in my family pass away and it’s always a sad thing. You know what, though? It’s okay to be sad about stuff like that. Even Jesus wept when Lazarus died and he saw Mary and Martha crying at his tomb. It really touched His heart. In fact, Jesus has been called, “a man of sorrows.” He knows your sadness when loved ones are taken away. And, He knows your pain and is there to comfort you when that happens.

But, you know what? That’s an unfortunate part of the consequence of the sin that was passed down from Adam and Eve. The truth is that someday all of our bodies will get old and we will die. Even the psalmist wrote that our life is but a vapor here on earth. But, here’s the good news…in fact, it’s GREAT NEWS!!! We have an assurance that, when we believe that Jesus came to this Earth and died on the cross for our sins and we repent those sins, that we have eternal life with Him in Heaven. Isn’t that an awesome and comforting thought?

It’s a hard concept to understand because we see death as being so final. But, it really isn’t. It’s really the beginning of an eternal life with a glorified body (for me that means I won’t need contact lenses in Heaven! Woohoo!!!), in a place where there is no sin, no evil, or no sadness. Heaven is such a beautiful place too! Jesus even described it as “paradise.” If you ever want to get a picture in your mind of what Heaven looks like, read Revelation 21.

I know it’s hard when loved one’s are taken away. But know that Jesus is your comforter and that He will NEVER leave you in your time of need. He loves you too much. And, know also that someday we’ll all join our loved ones in Heaven if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and repent our sins.

Why do people die if God is good?

I will do my best to answer this question for you. Honestly, this is a very tough question AND the answer is also tough! You may want to ask me some more questions later, and you can, OK?

Death is one of those things that is really bad, isn’t it? At least it seems that way to us, doesn’t it? Even though we know that death takes us to be with God forever, to a place where we can know God better and better, it still scares us. It scares us because its unknown. Death is one big unknown.

From God’s perspective, though, it’s a little different. It’s actually a time when we go to be with God forever! God welcomes us! It’s still tough, though, isn’t it? This is especially true when the death of someone is a surprise to us – like when a child dies of cancer, or a parent or someone from school dies in an accident.

Even the fact that EVERYONE dies doesn’t make it any easier, does it? It is actually a part of God’s design that we all die sometime. So why does God chose one person on one day, and somebody else many years later, and it always seems to hurt those who are left behind? You and I will not get to know the answer to that question. Sorry, but only God knows!

I can think of a dad and mom who’s child died, and they can’t understand why it happened? How could God have taken their child to heaven so soon? It hurt them very much, but they learned to trust that God still loved them, that God still cared for them, and that God had not abandoned them … but it HURT! Sadness and pain like that happen everyday to people. Right now all of God’s creation is hurting. That’s the bad news – death and pain and suffering will continue. We can trust God, though. And the good news is that things are going to get better! God has a plan. Check out Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

The good news is that we can trust God. Even though we can not know why God chooses who He chooses, or even when or why He chooses, we can know that we are loved by Him!

I hope this answer helps you understand this very difficult question a little better.