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Question:
What happens to babies that are stillborn or aborted, or die within a short period of time after birth?
This was a question I am happy to share how Jesus explained it to me.
At first, there will be children and adults in appearance because there will be no chronological age as we experience now. The appearance of a child in Heaven and the New Earth will be that of the age of the child when they died. In the case of a stillborn or aborted baby, they will be that of a newborn. The child will mature slowly, physically and spiritually, until reaching their individual age of perfection.
Jesus explained that even if an infant or child has not committed a personal sin, all people, including infants and children, are guilty before God because inherited sin,(original sin) is passed on from our parents at birth, (Psalms 51: 5 [NIV], “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”). Inherited or original sin relates to our internal qualities or character. Infants, like all people, die, demonstrating that even infants are impacted by Adam’s sin, with physical and spiritual death being the result of Adam’s original sin.
Jesus shared with me that the concept of the “age of accountability” is not a chronological age, but rather
if a child or person, because of age or other mental capacities, is truly incapable of understanding and making an intellectual or morally accountable decision about God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature or rejection of Jesus Christ.
Prior to reaching that age or point in their life they are “automatically” saved by God’s grace in Christ. God’s reasoning is that, if someone is truly incapable of making a decision for or against Christ, then God will extend His grace and mercy to that individual.
Romans 1:20 NIV states, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” According to this, a person's guilt before God is based, in part, on intellectual or moral accountability and a conscious rejection of what can be “clearly seen” of God’s existence, eternality, power, and or belief and acceptance of Jesus paying the price for all mankind sins on the cross and accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Therefore, if a child or person, because of age or other mental capacities, is truly incapable of understanding and making an intellectual or morally accountable decision for or against Christ, then God will extend His grace and mercy to that individual.
If a child is aborted, or the mother suffers a miscarriage, or the child is stillborn, that child will, by the grace and mercy of God, be granted entrance to heaven as a newborn baby.
However, once a child is born, if he or she should die before reaching their individual “age of accountability,” that child will, also by the grace and mercy of God, be granted entrance to heaven.
Jesus does all things out of Love, and His handling of the early separation of child and mother is no different. Jesus said that when a mother dies and enters heaven, her child will be waiting for her. She will still have the same relationship of mother-daughter or mother-son of the child who died earlier.
In heaven, parents will have restored, the love and joy that they never were able to experience, watching their child grow up and mature to the age of perfection and do so in an environment of perfect peace, joy, and righteousness of Heaven and the New Earth. This should be an extremely comforting thought for parents who have lost children at an early stage of life, miscarriage, or abortion.
Jesus pointed out that His death was sufficient payment for the sins of all of mankind, including the whole world. We are to remember that the entire world is under the curse of sin, including animals, plants, trees, and every living creature
Jesus pointed out that His death was sufficient payment for all sins, not only the sins of those who come to Him in faith. The fact that His death was sufficient for all sin allows God to apply that payment to those who were never capable of believing or never had the opportunity.