What About Me?
Deuteronomy 1:39 NKJV — ‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
Knowledge of Good and Evil
Our verse above makes it clear that God does not hold those accountable for their sin nature who cannot distinguish between good and evil. Those who had no knowledge of good and evil were allowed to go into the promised land along with Caleb and Joshua, the only two “spies” who believed God rather than being scared by the giants in the land. Miriam had died by this time and so had Aaron. Moses made one mistake that cost him entry into the promised land. He knew the difference between good and evil. Obviously, the law does not save. Instead, iit condemns and Moses represents the law. But children who did not know the difference between good and evil were allowed into the promised land. Now I know that the promised land can be viewed in different ways, but certainly in this case, it can be viewed as a picture of those who can enter heaven.
David’s Child
When David sinned with Bathsheba, he produced a child that died because of his sin. David pleaded for the life of the child until the child died. Then he quit agonizing. He said, in 2 Samuel 12:23, “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.” David was a man after God’s own heart and was clearly going to be in heaven when he died.
Now it could be assumed that David was referring to the grave when the baby died if his attitude had been the same toward the death of Absalom who had rebelled against Him. With Absalom his wailing began after Absalom died. We read,”Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: ‘O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son (2 Samuel 18:33)!’” Absalom knew right from wrong.
Jonah
When Jonah was despondent over the fact that God had spared Nineveh, a city that would one day be involved in the destruction of Israel, God spoke to him and seemed to have great concern over people who did not know right from wrong. Obviously most would be children. The Lord says, “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock (Jonah 4:11)?”
The Lord’s attitude toward Children
In Matthew 19:14 the Lord said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” The word for little children seems to be the same as that used for the Lord when Herod was trying to find the “young child” after He was born. So this is not a teenager that knows right from wrong but someone under the age of accountability.
Arguments
Some argue that the command to be born again applies to everyone and children who die before the age of accountability are not born again and cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. However, we must remember that the Bible is written to those who can understand and believe it. It is not written to those who have no ability either by age or by inherited disabilities to discern right from wrong. So anyone reading this meditation and understanding it should not be making excuses for their unbelief by saying, “What about the children and what about those who are not mentally able to understand the message of the Gospel?” That is not your case. You should not be asking “What about them?” You should be asking, “What about me?”
John 3:18 says, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” I believe that the condemned person is one who could have believed but rejected the Lord Jesus Christ intentionally.
Yes, the Judge of all the earth will do right. It is time that we all allowed God to be God with regard to those who cannot distinguish right from wrong. If you are reading this, your question should not be, “What about them?” The important question is, “What about me?”
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of March 6, 2022