There's no doubt that the death of a baby or young, innocent child is a devastating occurrence, but it's amazing how many believers see it as a "punishment from God", or some other "carnal" viewpoint. The bottom line is, we must remember that life on this earth is only temporary; we are not guaranteed years, months, or even days. If, as adults, we're "saved", then we have nothing to worry about! But, because babies and young children are still innocent from willful sin, the Bible tells us that they automatically go to heaven.

Life is a gift from God and every life conceived is a person.

Psalm 22: 9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. 10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. (NKJV)

The Bible does speak about how God views the death of infants and children. He refers to babies as "innocents" in Jeremiah 2:34 and 19:4 because these babies have not willfully chosen to follow in sinful actions by rejecting God. (NKJV)

Jeremiah 2: 34 Also on your skirts is found The blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But plainly on all these things. (NKJV)

Jeremiah 19: 4 "Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents. 5 (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind), 6 therefore behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. 7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. (NKJV)

If God called pagan babies innocent they are innocent and not guilty of sins committed. These babies are the safe in the arms of God.

Jonah did not like that God had forgiven the repentant Ninevites. God said to Jonah:

Jonah 4: 11 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 left­and much livestock? (NKJV)

Those who could not tell their right from their left hands were babies, children, and mentally challenged adults who had not reached the age of accountability before God. God alone knows when we reach the age where we are accountable for our sins. When God calls babies innocent He means it. Notice, God even took pity on the animals in Nineveh. Scripture teaches that children in a heathen culture are innocents.

Babies are not held responsible for the sins of their parents. Consider what happened to King Jeroboam and his baby boy:

1 Kings 14: 9 but you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molded images to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back - 10 therefore behold! I will bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, bond and free; I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as one takes away refuse until it is all gone. 11 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Jeroboam and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field; for the Lord has spoken!”’ (NKJV)

God’s judgment fell on this wicked King and all of his family who followed his evil ways. He spared the infant son of evil King Jeroboam:

1 Kings 14: 12 Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

This infant son died a natural death, was properly buried and mourned and was safe in the arms of God. Those individuals who followed the evil ways of King Jeroboam were under God’s judgment and experienced dishonorable deaths.

Children who die in infancy experience a better life in God’s eternal presence; far more enjoyable than to live as an adult in sin, unbelief and die and enter Hell for all eternity.

Job speaks about the death of a still born child:

Job 3: 11 "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest 14 With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves, 15 Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; 16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master. (NKJV)

Job describes a still-born child living in Paradise - no longer tormented by the cares and trials of this earthly life.

Job 19: 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Job believed in eternal life for himself and the babies who had died, there is resurrection hope for both. Job believed there was a better life in God’s presence for a still-born child:

Job 3: 16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest. (NKJV)

Job 19: 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

Job believed God could redeem him and the still-born or miscarried child.

King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived believed that babies who die experience the blessedness of God’s paradise:

Ecclesiastes 6: 3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he ­ 4 for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice ­ but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?

The baby that dies has a better existence after death than a full grown man who rejects God while living and then dies!

Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) who loved and blessed the little children said:

Matthew 19: 14 But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (NKJV)

Mark 10: 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. (NKJV)

Luke 18: 16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. (NKJV)

Matthew 18: 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

God does not desire to damn an innocent baby or child to hell. There is no record of the Yeshua blessing unbelievers in the New Testament. There is no place in the Gospel where the He blesses the curses or the damned. Many of the blessed that enter the Kingdom of God are redeemed infants and children, redeemed by the grace of God. No place in Scripture teaches infant damnation; little ones are incapable of judging between the right or wrong, or perceiving the consequences for their actions.

Babies go to heaven because God is gracious.

The Refiner's Fire would like to thank our friend, Pastor Joseph, for his valuable input into the above article.