Question on FB: “What happens when a young child dies? Does the Bible answer this question?”

Christian response,

Yes, the Holy Spirit responds concerning the eternal destiny of a child who dies before the age of accountability.

When a child dies not having attained an age of reason sufficient to differentiate good and evil, right and wrong, God’s will concerning the matter of obedience v. disobedience, there is no condemnation awaiting this child as our Lord has told us that where there is no Law, there is no sin.

14 For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. Romans 4

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. 13 For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Romans 5

So then, God, in His mercy, does not hold the mentally ill, the child, culpable for disobedience as their lack of cognitive acuity and immaturity prevents them from fully understanding the consequences of their behavior; therefore, they are innocent before God because the Law is absent, impotent, as an arbiter of their free will relevant to the immature and cognitively impaired.

King David also confronted this question when his child died. King David made the following statement,

21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.” 22 And he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ 23 But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him, but he will not return to me.” 2 Samuel 12

King David, a man after God’s own heart, knew that his child was secure in the presence of our Lord and that he would, one day, go to be with that child in God’s Kingdom. The Holy Spirit working through King David has revealed this truth for us and may we have peace in this knowledge when the innocent youth die among us?

Jesus also responds in this way…

Why does “sin” remain a relevant issue for the Christian subsequent to the imputation of Messiah’s righteousness?

First of all, sin, a violation of God’s moral law, results in enmity, seperation, between man and God as God is Holy and perfect in righteousness…God will not tolerate the destructiveness of sin in His presence or in His Kingdom (Revelation 21:27). Sin in the unsaved and disobedience in the saved in Jesus is a problem until the redeemed in Jesus rid themselves of this flesh, this body of death…please allow me to explain…

The struggle in the human condition is sin or violating God’s moral law because we are born from an earthly father, Adam, that introduced sin into human kind and through federal headship that sin is transferred genomically to every human being from Adam forward (Romans 5:12); theologically, this is referred to as a “sin-nature” (Romans 7:14-25) and the moment we attain an age of reason/accountability before God, the moment we are aware of our sin and our rebellion against the moral law infused within us and arbitrated by the conscience, we become culpable before God for our own sin (Deuteronomy 24:16; Jeremiah 31:30).

Combating the ramifications of sin is why Jesus Christ came into the World through the womb of the virgin woman; that is, to circumvent the sin-nature of Adam (Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:23) as Jesus entered the Realm of Time to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8b). Jesus walked this Earth in flesh for 33.5-years and fulfilled the moral law of God with absolute perfection (Matthew 5:17) thereby qualifying Himself as the ONLY acceptable atonement for our sin (Hebrews 10). God the Father, by Covenant, agrees to forgive the sin of and redeem anyone who will sincerely believe that Jesus is Lord who died to pay their sin-debt (John 3:16-18; Romans 10:9-10); furthermore, God the Father agrees to impute the perfection of Jesus into the life of the one who believes in Jesus as Lord (2 Corinthians 5:21) and subsequently Gift them the Holy Spirit to live in them and guide them in obedience to God’s will through the daily process of sanctification (Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:16).

Though the redeemed = the faithful in Jesus Christ are “born again” by faith in Jesus as Lord and seek to walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit, the redeemed in Jesus, though they have a new nature that HATES sin (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:16), the redeemed remain beleaguered with a sin-nature in the flesh that wars against the new nature in the Spirit (Ephesians 6; Romans 7; Galatians 5:16-26). It is this OLD sin-nature that, at times, causes us to behave in a way that interrupts intimacy with our Lord and the sin-nature will be a struggle until we exhale our last breath and rid ourselves of this body of death. Sin has been “the problem” beginning with Satan and his rebellion in the Kingdom; sin and free will are the foundation for God’s Law as Moral Law is the arbiter of free will.

Jesus’ mercy and grace is mocked on FB relevant to Luke 19:27: “But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.”

Christian response,

Jesus is speaking in parabolic form concerning the Judgment of the Condemned that will manifest subsequent to His Millennial Reign; truly, there is a Judgement for sin that is coming (Rev 20:11-15) when the man or woman who has rejected Jesus our Messiah as Lord and Mediator for sin will stand before Him and be adjudicated guilty for sin and ultimately die the “second death” in Hell; this judgment is not Jesus’ will as Jesus suffered and died to provide us an alternative to Hell by faith in Him as Lord, a salvation earned for us by Jesus through the forgiveness of sin but God will remain true to His words and the soul that sins shall die and NOTHING impure will be permitted to enter the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:27); therefore, if a man or woman does not repent of their sin and trust exclusively in Jesus as Lord for the Mediation of that sin, they will die in sin (John 8:24) and die the “second death” in perdition (Revelation 20:11-15).

The problem with legalism, it destroys the soul in Hell: “It was not legalism for Jesus to do everything the Father commanded; neither is it legalism for us to do likewise.”

Herein lies the problem…you’re a sinner (Romans 3:23) and not capable of doing everything the Father commands; therefore, the Law, which mandates absolute perfection if righteousness is to be attained through same (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10; Deuteronomy 27:26), condemns you and provides you no form of atonement (Romans 3:20-23). But Jesus, Who is God born through the virgin womb (Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:23-26) to circumvent the sin-nature passed to all of humanity through Adam (Romans 5:12), walked among us for 33.5-years and fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law of God (Matthew 5:17) and pleased the Father (Hebrews 1; John 5:19); then, Jesus walked to the horrors of a Roman Crucifixion as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), established a New Covenant in His blood (Matthew 26:28) and shed His innocent blood onto the sands of Golgotha outside Jerusalem to redeem mankind from sin and provide a path to covenant relationship with the Father by grace through faith in Him as our Messiah (John 3:16-18); forgiveness for sin is accessed by believing that Jesus died to pay our sin-debt (Romans 10:9-10) and thereby receiving the imputation of Jesus’ righteousness-perfection into our personal lives (2 Corinthians 5:21) and thereby being made “right” positionally with the Father, forever (John 14:6), and then receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the Guarantor of our covenant relationship with the Father, forever, as the Holy Spirit walks us daily in obedience through sanctification in preparation for life with Jesus in the New Jerusalem (Ephesians 1:13-14; Revelation 21).

Question was asked: “Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?”

Christian response, God annilated Sodom and Gomorrah because they legitimized sodomy, sexual perversion…defiling God’s marriage covenant…much like America with Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) and the murder of 61-million babies via Roe (1973)…this is why America is dying a slow death in communism. This is why our posterity is suffering in Darwin, Lenin, Marx, Nihilism.

What is the purpose of Law in Scripture?

Law has been extant since the creation of the Angels as law is the arbiter of free will (Romans 2:15) and our conscience bears witness to that law infused within us at creation. The Covenant of Law is NOTHING new or special…it is simply a reiteration of the moral law written upon our heart as God codified His Law in stone and scratched it upon parchment through Moses… but this was given specifically to Jacob’s children as they were to be Holy as God is Holy and they were set apart for a special dispensation but NEVER was the Law a means to enteral life as the Law only defines sin void atonement (Romans 3:20).

From the beginning, mankind has found righteousness (a right standing) with God through FAITH (Hebrews 11), NOT works of the LAW because the Law only defines sin void any form of atonement (Romans 3:20). Jesus IS our atonement and Jesus kept the Law in perfection for us and by believing in Him as our Lord we can receive the imputation of Jesus’ righteousness into and over our life, forever, and enter into covenant relationship with the Father as clean vessels in the likeness of Jesus our Savior (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Law, in the New Covenant, is written upon our heart and administered by the indwelling Holy Spirit and obedience to the Law of the Spirit is relevant SUBSEQUENT to our salvation…law cannot save…it simply points us to Jesus as our tutor and schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24) to lead us to repentance.

Question was asked: “Why did God kill David’s son for David’s sin, is not every man culpable for his own sin?”

Christian response,

God took David’s son because to whom much is given, much is expected and God will not be mocked, whatever a man sows this he shall also reap (Galatians 6:7-10) as did the entire World save eight during the Flood. God is Sovereign…life is His to give and take (Job 1:21). David is the King…much was given, much was expected…David sowed and reaped and God punished David in the flesh which led to godly repentance and ultimately salvation. David’s child was secure in the Lord and ushered into the presence of God and David knew this (2 Samuel 12). God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9)…when we understand this and when we believe this with sincerity…we allow God to be God and get out of the way.

A Jewish Legalist declares that Israel is the recipient of God’s grace and the Law is the only path to righteousness-salvation.

A Christian rebuttal…

God’s Covenant concerning Messiah and atonement for sin was ordained before the beginning of Time (2 Timothy 1:9-10) and that Gospel Covenant was initiated by God with Abraham (who was NOT a Jew or Israelite) and that Covenant made with Abraham was oriented toward “all the families of the earth”…not just Israel’s children (Genesis 12:3).

“I will bless those who bless you,And I will curse him who curses you;And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:3

Israel reaping and sowing,

Israel rejected God’s covenants, murdered the prophets sent to them; Israel rejected their Messiah; Israel falsely accused Messiah of blasphemy; Israel conspired with the Roman Authorities to murder Messiah Jesus upon a tree; Israel insisted that Messiah’s blood be upon them and their children; God the Father ordained the Israelite’s to take the Gospel of Messiah to the ends of the Earth but Jacob’s children rejected the Gospel message of grace and continues to cling to a works – self righteousness through Law (Romans 9:31).

Though God entrusted the Law and both Old and New Covenants to Jacob’s children, Israel denied God’s blessing through Messiah; therefore, God gave the Gospel, the New Covenant established in Messiah blood (Matthew 26:28), to the Gentiles (Romans 11:25) and the Gospel will remain in the custody of the Gentiles until such time the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; in fact, it is only the “remnant” of Israel that will escape Judgment in Hell for their rejection of Messiah Jesus (Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27).

Jesus said,

15 just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. John 10 (Berean Study Bible)

Question was asked: “Why didn’t God simply forgive Satan after the Fall?”

Christian response,

Satan, in his pride and arrogance, never sought forgiveness nor did he repent but persuaded one-third of the angelic creation to follow him in a coup against God; this is why Earth was created and why Satan was extricated from the Kingdom and placed here to be dealt with within the Realm of Time partially constrained by physics as nothing impure is permitted to exist within the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:27). Jesus entered Time specifically to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8b).