It seems that little has been recorded in Scripture about this topic, but we are told that the sufficiency of scripture is complete as it is presented in the sixty-six books of the Bible—thirty-nine in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament. And Paul, talking with the elders from the church at Ephesus while on his journey back to Jerusalem, declared that he “had not neglected to speak to them of the whole counsel of God” during his time with them (Acts 20:27).

Therefore, is it possible that we can find out the mind of God on such a crucial issue? Or, does God keep that answer hidden away, leaving believers uncertain as to how He has determined—before time began—the provision for those individuals? (The character of God readily refutes this dumb question, of course!)

Behind all considerations in the realm of theological truth must be the overall characteristics of God’s eternal nature. Possibly others have written on this subject, but I am choosing, primarily, to let the “sufficiency of Scripture” determine the answers. John wrote, in John 16:13, the words of Jesus:

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

So let’s commit the issue to Him and carefully follow His guidance into all truth, as He promises.

There are two passages in the Scriptures that are traditionally looked to as support for the redemption of children who have not reached the “age of accountability,” which is not anywhere clarified as a specific point in time of a child’s life. We are not told the ages of Cain and Abel in Genesis when they came with their sacrificial offerings, but they were making their own offerings. It was not done by their parents, thus we can assume they were of the age of accountability.

The first of those two passage is in the context of 2 Samuel 12:20-23 where the death of David’s first son born to Bathsheba did not survive a sickness. It was a judgment of God upon David for his ungodly and evil deeds regarding his claiming Bathsheba for his wife.  While the child lived, David was fasting and praying in repentance for the boy, but when he died, David ceased his activities and made this declaration to those who wondered why he did not continue fasting:

 “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; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:22-23).

Now, let’s think out of the box and look at the whole counsel of God. When a believer dies, where does he go? To the grave? 2 Corinthians 5:8 tells us this:

“We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

In January, 2016, when my wife of forty-six years passed away, her last words were, “Help me, Jesus,” and I am sure she—her spirit and soul—went into the arms of her Savior, and her body, her tent, as both Paul and Peter called their bodies, gave up its mortal existence to return to the dust of which it was formed. Not once while Marge’s remains were with me and as we of the family gathered around the grave site and deposited those ashes there did I think of her being there with us. She had moved out of her tent to a more permanent place.

As an aside note, we chose cremation which may be to some a problem area. However, the end result is the same as time passes for the mortal body is destined to return to dust. It may be a bit more gruesome to think of how Job looked at his future situation, yet he, at that early date, some 1900 years before Christ, could say this:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26).

He spoke with confidence that in the latter days he would appear before God in a resurrected body that had been destroyed and returned to the dust of the earth.

So if the argument is that David would go to meet his son in the grave, it is a clear contradiction of contributing Scripture on the subject. No, David believed he would go to his son who was now in the bosom of the Savior. If that is true for David and his son, and God is no respecter of persons—that is, He does not treat one person above another in matters of justice and mercy—then we can be assured that this would apply to all babies and youngsters who have not reached their own knowledge of their sinfulness. We will come back to obvious questions that now arise when we look at the situation of the unborn later in the article.

Another passage is found in Mark 10:13-15 that addresses this issue because Jesus broadens the topic to include the eternal kingdom of God:

“Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’”

That is a very exacting statement, not meaning that adults should act like little kids, but that the simple faith of a little child is the desire of God for those coming to Him.

In this setting the responsibilities of parents are extremely magnified. The requirement to bring children up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) would be the foundation which could determine when a child’s knowledge reaches the point of accountability. Many times a child understands in the simplicity of the gospel of Christ and accepts Him by the age of five years.

That same verse in Ephesians 6 lays out a great responsibility to fathers before coming to the nurturing and admonition of the Lord:

“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training (nurture) and admonition of the Lord.”

Several years ago a morning news report told of a man who was to be executed in Florida that day for murdering someone. He was asked if he had any last words that he wanted to say, and he replied, “Well, my daddy always said I would never amount to anything, and I guess he was right.”

Another morning several summers ago a man and his son came to work on the apartment next door, and all morning long I could overhear the father belittling his son continually for being “worthless and unable to do anything right.” No doubt that young man would grow up hating his father and somehow it would most likely convince him that he really was worthless and undesirable. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger” is a warning that has great impact in a parent-child relationship. It is a heart-breaking reality.

Finally, what about the unborn, those who are conceived and later miscarried or aborted, or are still born, as well as those who suffer mental disorders and cannot rise above it? The so-called “Pro-Choice” faction would like for people to believe that that conceived entity the mother is carrying is merely fleshy tissue and does not have a life of its own. What God says about that is recorded in Psalm 139:13-16 as David acknowledges these truths:

“For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

^“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them.”

According to this Scripture from the Holy Book of Truth, when does God start paying attention to that new person in the womb? Is it when once out of the womb and the doctor has swatted the newly born on its rump? Or, is it when you can hear that first heartbeat? That Scripture says it is when that moment of conception happens. He is right there, then, we are told.

In the record of David and his son we recognize that his son is in heaven because that is where David will go and meet him there. But we do not know how and why the son gets there, do we?

But we know of God’s character and integrity, and of His perfect justice, that it is never one-sided. That is why the statue of Lady Justice is blindfolded and holding scales that are evenly balanced, showing that the universal understanding of mankind follows that pattern. It is true that God requires repentance, but who can repent of the sin of Adam which is the heritage of every mortal being? When Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), the price for that sin was paid

Man’s repentance of his sin of Adam has to be when he turns to Christ and is born again.  We need salvation because of who we are, and we have done sinful things because of who we are. Those who were unborn for any reason and those not able to know their sinfulness had no acts of sinfulness to require repentance.  We must commit ourselves to the mercy, justice and grace of God that He is able to bring together the loose ends of these unanswered questions.

Our God knows the end from the beginning; He knows our thoughts before we think them, as that Psalm says earlier; He knows our framework before it is formed!

He even writes it all down in His book, along with our history before it is lived. It is a great mystery about the Book of Life and our place in it. Does our name get removed when we refuse to believe?  The Scripture does say, in Revelation 3:5, that “he who overcomes…will not be blotted out of the Book of Life….” And the fact that only those who have Christ in their lives will overcome is fully supported in other passages. It is a vital subject for its own article for exploration.

One thing is sure, and that is that our God gives specific attention to all of those who are created in the likeness of Himself, in His image. It is astounding that He would take on the form of a man such as we are, yet remain God in the flesh for all eternity and have His believers with Him there. After reading through Psalm 139 and relating it to Paul’s explanation of God to those philosophers at Mars Hill in Acts 17:26-28, it is clear that God is much more attentive to His creation than our finite minds can grasp:

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being….”

Our response could be like that of the psalmist in Psalm 119:32, Enlarge my heart that I may run the way of Your commandments (paraphrased).

His mercy is everlasting and He loved us before the foundation of the world. His sovereignty is the foundation of our existence and our sustenance. It is as Psalm 90:2 expresses it:

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com

 

The title of this article comes from the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-15, wherein the king sets up a wedding and a feast for his son and sends out invitations to the expected guests. Somewhat surprisingly, none wanted to come. Moreover, they even mistreated and killed the messengers. The king was furious and when he heard of it, he had those murderers killed and their city burned.

It is a prophetic parable if there ever was one! The “pulls no punches” part of the title comes from the “sport” of boxing where a punch is “pulled” when the puncher holds it back from the fist’s intended target. Otherwise the punch will hit with full force.

To get the full impact of the parable in its prophetic overtones, though lengthy, I must record it in its completeness from Matthew 22:1-15:

“And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, ‘See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’

^“But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

^“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

^“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

^“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.”

It looks like the religious leaders understood that He was implementing them in the parable, based on their concluding response.

Here are the prophetic portrayals in the parable, as I see them:

1. The king represents God, the Father; the son, the Son of God; and the servants who make the invitations, the Holy spirit.
2. The wedding and wedding feast are picturing that coming union of the Bridegroom (Jesus) with His Bride (the born-again Body of Christ, that church) at the marriage supper of the Lamb reported in Revelation 19:6-10.
3. Note that the feast is fully prepared before anyone is invited to it. This depicts the preparation of the gift of eternal life before time began, as Titus 1:2 tells us, as well as many other passages that speak of His activities “before the foundation of the world.”
4. This also depicts the fact that those coming to the supper are not coming to a “short-order affair” where the guest’s meal is made for him as he shows up. That is, the oxen and fatted cattle had been killed already and the dinner was ready for as many as would come. The implication is that they would not run out of food no matter how many would come to the wedding and none would be wasted. That is, the sacrifice of Christ is completely sufficient for all mankind but especially for those who believe, as 1 John 2:2 says: “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
5. The first ones invited, who refused to come and even made light of it, are the Jewish people who have rejected Christ. As John 1:11 says, “He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.” Yet, Paul declares in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
6. God held to the promise of the gospel of Christ being made available to the Jew first, but it was rejected. Therefore the king sent his servants to punish those who rejected him and to destroy their city. This was literally fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and over the next 66 years the Jews were scattered among all the nations of the world.
7. Thus, we have those from the “highways and byways” to whom the king sent his disciples to invite to the dinner, as identified in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
8. But even after the invitations go out and are accepted, the king finds one who is not wearing a “proper wedding garment.” As all parables do, this one does not fully cover the finer details of the particular doctrine it is portraying, for we must realize that no one will ever get to the dinner table with the Lamb and not have the “proper wedding garment.” This part of the parable displays the reality of John 1:13, describing the “wedding garment” of those who do receive Christ, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

    Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” and Paul later confirms the result, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

9. Then the parable gives us this statement: ^“For many are called, but few are chosen.” They are called—invited—to put on a wedding garment, the Lord Jesus Christ, in a new birth experience. In a great mystery of the workings of justification and redemption, God brings it about and draws a person to Himself and then to Christ as John 6:44 and then, 37-40 relate:

    “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; all that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

    “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

    “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

10. That final conclusion of the religious leaders, not part of the parable, is repeated over and over during the ministry of Jesus among “His own,” eventually coming to His crucifixion on the cross. Even that, however, was his design, for He, Himself, is our redemption.

Contact email:  andwegetmercy@gmail.com