Bible Reading: Genesis 38; Job 4; Mark 8; Romans 8
Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Job in his suffering wished for death. He even bemoaned the day he was born. He wished that he could have simply been born and died before he was able to nurse. Have you ever wondered what happens to babies when they die? Christians have many different beliefs on this. Some hurriedly pour some water on their heads thinking this will cleanse them of original sin. This is an error perpetuated by Roman Catholicism. Some live in fear until they trust in Christ thinking if they die they will go to hell. Let's see what Scripture says.
Here are some of Job's conclusions about his state had he died as a baby.
Job 3:13-14 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, 14 With kings and counsellers of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
Job says he would have been quiet and been at rest with kings and counselors of the earth.
Job 3:15-16 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver: 16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
The still born infant and the prince will both be there.
Job 3:17-19 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Here Job does bring in the wicked in the place of the dead. They will be in Hades while the righteous would have gone into Abraham's bosom.
Job 3:20-22 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; 21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; 22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
Why would Job talk of rejoicing when a man finds the grave if he knew that a baby would go to hell? Why would he wish to be like an infant that only lived a few days or a stillborn child? He believed the same thing David did about infant death. When David's baby died, he knew that he would go to be with the child.
2 Samuel 12:23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
Take heart if you have lost a little one. Jesus said: Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
In Christ,
Rody
