Terry James | Prophecy Line
My blog article posted last week on my personal blog, terryjamesprophecyline.com, and on raptureready.com—“A Millstone Milestone”—revolved around evil treatment of children. It examined Jesus’ words about punishment for those who “offend” little children. That passage follows.
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:3–6)
I mentioned at the end of the commentary that perhaps very soon the children who are accounted innocent in God’s great economy because they haven’t reached the age of accountability will be taken out of harm’s way when Christ calls the church to Himself. This, of course, will be the Rapture, as given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:51–55 and 1 Thessalonians 13:13–18.
It is that twinkling-of-the-eye instant of time when all believers in Jesus Christ will be removed from planet earth to Heaven.
And those little ones are now in harm’s way as never before, as pedophilia and child trafficking are reported to be burgeoning in America and across the globe. And more than sixty million babies in this nation are murdered in their mothers’ wombs, with the number of abortions continuing to grow. It is one more signal of just how near God’s judgment and wrath must be as the Tribulation approaches. It is difficult to imagine anything more wicked and evil as such satanic activity.
So the Rapture will remove these innocents from the surface of this soon-to-be punished world of God-rejecters—those whom God’s Word calls earth dwellers.
So with that in mind, I wanted to again address children and the Rapture, in order to briefly present why these children will be taken to be with the Lord at the Rapture.
I get opposition to this notion every time I write about it, and the following was an answer to an emailer who had told me how wrong I was about the matter.
Thanks for writing.
You have touched on a topic that is a hot issue with yours truly. On this, I give no quarter, whatever. But, through experience in dealing with the issue, I know that no matter what evidence I offer to the contrary, those who accept 1 Cor. 7:14 as dealing with children and the Rapture consider it a verse that stands alone as proving their point that only children with at least one saved parent will go to Jesus in the Rapture. And, most won’t change on that.
We would appreciate your donation.I no longer debate the matter, but respond one time and one only.
This is a salvation matter. (an eternal matter—not a matter dealing with physical life and death, so far as the soul is concerned.) It is not a matter of earthly relationship and religion or morality.
Children who have died physically and children who will be taken in the Rapture have in common the fact that they were/will be instantly with the Lord. This is because they are seen in God’s economy as innocents, considering the factors as dealt with in this treatment of the subject.
Most importantly, it is an INDIVIDUAL matter—God’s dealing one on one, not collectively, with the salvation issue.
Acceptance of Christ is based upon a decision to accept or reject. If a person doesn’t have the ability to accept or reject because he or she doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand, they cannot accept or reject.
The Bible says that those who know to do good and do it not—to them it is sin—i.e., if one doesn’t know they are lost because of sin, they are not condemned. But, when the knowledge comes (and the Holy Spirit draws them) that they are sinners, they must accept God’s offer of reconciliation.
The very character of God—as presented throughout the entire Word of God, is at stake. All in Christ will go at the Rapture. Paul says “all will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”.
What does this mean? It means “all” in Christ. The child, before he/she is able to understand God’s salvation provision, is in Christ.
One area of Scripture that addresses the position of all in Christ (that is, the saved) as relating to God’s wrath—thus the Rapture—is found here in 1 Thessalonians:
5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.All of the children who have died—before coming to this capability to make decisions—and having heard the message—are now with Christ. All after the Rapture who are born and do not reach the age of understanding—thus accountability—will go to Christ when they die. This is totally in keeping with God’s character, again, as plainly laid out in God’s holy love letter to mankind.
The Scripture that talks about the name being blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life deals with this, I’m convinced. Once the child reaches the age he/she knows Christ is the way to salvation, but rejects God’s way (John 14: 6) their names are blotted out. They are written back in, when salvation does occur in the only way God prescribes.
And, I’m convinced that not one child born after the Rapture will ever reach that age—thus all children born following that event will go to be with the Lord—either upon their deaths, or during the sheep/goats judgments following the triumphant return of the Lord Jesus.
As a matter of fact, read Jesus’ words, here:
24:19 And woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days!
The Lord mentions two age classifications. 1)Those children who are in the womb, and 2) Those who are so young they are still at the mothers’ breasts.
No mention of toddlers—i.e., these children have been conceived, or born during the Tribulation period. And Jesus is talking here about halfway through the seven-year period.
All children below the age of being unable to make decisions on the salvation matter will go to be with Jesus—I have absolutely no doubt, after studying the matter for nearly forty years.
Actually, I was wrong about the time I’ve been “studying” the matter. It has been since I was six years old, when saved at Seventh Street Bible Church in Pekin, Illinois. We were taught that this was the Bible’s position those seventy-plus years ago, and I remember hearing it like it was yesterday.
Those little ones will go to Christ when He calls. And, yes there will be other little ones who will be born during the horrendous seven years that will follow that glorious event.
But I have no doubt that the very character of God will bring everyone of those born during that terrible time of judgment and wrath into His Kingdom that will follow, whether through their deaths, or through surviving that time known as Daniel’s Seventieth Week.
There is but one way to avoid God’s wrath and judgment, whether we are alive when the Rapture occurs or we experience death before that time. That only way is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No person comes to the Heavenly father except through Him we are told in John 14: 6.
Again, here is the heavenly formula for escaping that judgment and wrath:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
SOURCE: PROPHECY LINE
