Things You Never Think about;
Hello Beloved, Here I am, late on a Sunday night (too late really) but I feel I must at least begin to try to gather up the scattered thoughts that have been dancing in my head for days. My mind in not a comfortable place, I am forever reaching, forever seeking for answers to the ever increasing jumble of questions that dog my footsteps on my journey home.
Do you ever get the feeling that we don't really have a good grasp of what's really going on? We are like children making do with just a few playthings, doodling along with our solitary toy flute while a symphony of music breaks forth above us.
God is doing something. The question is what? We understand his cosmic plan about Christ and the cross and redemption from sin. I am not talking about that. The Bible makes that crystal clear..it is essential. We also understand that we must confess our sins and accept Christ or face the consequences for our unpaid debt, a debt we cannot pay ourselves but that He paid for us. Romans 10:9,10, We got that.
But there are other things I wonder about. Like what is God doing with the angels? They are created beings, and they have free choice just as we do though they are many times wiser and more powerful than we. (At least that is the way I understand it). They have different stations and different tasks. They weren't redeemed like we were but those who stayed with God after Satan's fall play an important role in the grand scheme of things. Who are they? Soldiers? Messengers? Baby sitters? All of these things I think at different times. Will they be rewarded for a job well done? I certainly hope so. I wonder what sort of arrangement they have with God.
I think a lot about the children, I have spent my whole life working with children. I suppose in some ways I am still a child myself but I consider that a gift. It was a necessary part of my ministry through the years when I served as a Children's Pastor. I believe in a loving God who would never condemn the innocent. Yet there are still questions.
People spout pat answers, but things are not always so simple...the small children of believers are covered.. Psalm 22:10 says "from my mother’s womb you have been my God".
But what of the millions of children of the heathen who have died since the beginning of time? What of the millions of aborted babies from around the world? Ezekiel 18:20 tells us "The soul who sins is the one who will die". But then He says.. "The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous Man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him". So no one has to answer for his parents sins..that's good to know. And these children weren't old enough to have sins of their own so they go to Heaven. As King David said when his baby died, "they cannot come to me but I shall go to them" (2 Samuel 12:23).
So it would seem that innocent children, from any culture of mindset are included in the Kingdom of God. Cart Blanche, that makes sense to me, "The kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these" (Mark 10:14). I have always been taught that God is loving and fair this bears that out. It doesn't seem like a little thing like infant Baptism would keep a child out of Heaven when he had no say in the matter whatsoever. Or even the fact he was sacrificed to a Crocodile god to ensure next year's crops or simply for the convenience of his parents. Children are innocent, trusting and loving, they are to be our examples. In Matthew 18:3 Jesus said, "Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." And in Matthew 21:16 Jesus said "Did you never read,"Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise" How could such be condemned ? We should immediate their trusting, loving spirits."In malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature" 1 Corinthians 14:20.
There will be several categories of folk in heaven. The Trinity of course, the source the power behind it all. Then there are the angels, a designation that takes in all sorts of creatures from those who look much like us to creatures with multiple faces and many several pairs of wings. These stay continually before the throne of God, praising Him.
There seem to be a lot of Angels.. Revelation 5:11 says "Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands"
Old Testament saints will be in heaven too even though many of them could only dream of the plan God had for Mankind. The Bible tells us in John 8:56 that "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." And (Luke 13:28,) talks about a time.."when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God"..
Christ sacrifice was enough, he paid for us all his sacrifice on the cross extends through time to pay humanities debt past and future. (Hebrews 9:25-27) (Revelation 13:8).
Then of course comes the Church, the long procession of believers that begins at the cross and continues until today. Things changed at the cross, the rules changed. Acts 17:30 tells us "The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now He commands that all people everywhere should repent". The innocent babies and children who die whose parents are part of the Church will be in heaven, they are covered by their parents faith and are part of the Church, and are classed under the heading of the Church, the bride of Christ. Psalm 22:10 . . . "from my mother’s womb you have been my God". I have two children who fit into this category and I look forward to seeing them one day, they died before they had a chance to be born but because I am a part of the Church I believe they are also, with all the benefits that come with being a part of the bride of Christ. I have a Granddaughter there too, a child my daughter named Treasure...now we can take the Scripture quiet literally in Matthew 6:21 that says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
But there are others, the millions of deceased children from past ages, what of them? I believe the innocent dead from all generations will be in Heaven, as their own group, loved and cared for by God.
Dr.Luis Palau in "Where is God when Bad things happen?" addresses this "since the loving Lord of the impossible knows precisely how each person will live, every life is a complete life" This thought brings order to the chaos and grief of our lives today. Nothing is wasted or thrown away. Sometimes we may not understand how things play out but God has everything under control and our best interest at heart.
In the U.S. as many as twenty percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage each year. Another nineteen percent in 2014 ended in medical abortion. So you see nearly 40 percent of pregnancies just in the U.S. are never carried to full term. Add to that infant deaths due to SIDS, abuse, neglect, drug use and disease and the rate surely soars toward 50 percent.
In his book "Destined for the Throne" Paul Billheimer writes that "the redeemed are innumerable (Rev. 7:9) The terms "small group" and "tiny minority" are uses comparatively of those who exercised, or will exercise, freedom of choice during the day of salvation. If the untold millions who died or will die in infancy and prenatally are included in the redeemed, as we believe, it is true as has been said, "that ultimately the lost shall bear to the saved no greater proportion than the inmates of a prison do to the mass of the community."
In his commentary, John Calvin said "when infants who were too young to desire Jesus blessing were presented to Jesus, he tenderly received them and dedicated them to the father "by a solemn act of blessing".
I sit here at the shoreline tooting random notes on my little toy flute, while the torrent rages and the thunder and lightning dance across the sky. We are part of something very big, something we might never get a chance to understand (at least in this life).. But we will walk in out bit by bit over the fathomless eons of Eternity. I leap into the dark with little understanding except for the fact that my God will be there to catch me.
But there are times when we feel small, voiceless, and forgotten. In such times you can take comfort in the knowledge that you are not alone and that a multitude of other voices of like mind and heart will join with you in praise..when at last we all go home.
Revelation 7:9-11 "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, saying "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and unto the lamb". And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces and worshiped God."