We welcome you once again to our series, the Bible series, on the topic of predestination. This will be number 85 in that series. And it will be the sixth lesson in the sub-series on the topic of the election of dying infants. The title of the lesson today is Election of Dying Infants, the Painful Testimony. we're using our theme text from Matthew 18 14 which reads, even so it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. In the previous lesson, we addressed the issue as to why the scriptures are so silent on this subject. In so doing, I made the observation that I have never encountered anyone who raised the following question. Why do we not have recorded in scripture one example of a mother going to either Moses, one of the prophets, to Jesus, or one of the apostles, and asking the question, where is my infant who has died? I proceeded to cover the topic entitled The Silent Testimony, last time involving the death of David's infant son, wherein David's grief over his sick infant was removed when his infant son died. And David said that while he could not bring the child back from the dead, he could go to be with his child when he himself died. David did not have to go to Nathan the prophet and ask where his deceased son was. He knew that he had gone to heaven and that he, David, would soon follow him there. Now how could David reach this conclusion? He could only do so with the understanding that all infants who die in infancy go to heaven because they are elect redeemed and regenerated prior to their death. The line of evidence and argumentation comes out of the text in 2 Samuel 12, 14-23. There we find that there's no evidence in that text that God ever informed David in advance of the child's death that his child was going to be an exception and that all other infants might be sent to hell. If God had done so before the child died, that is informing David, then David could have been consoled before the child died, but he was not consoled. Secondly, David did not know the future destiny of his child until the child died. In verses 22 and 23, David clearly says this, quote, and he said, while the child was alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. Thirdly, God said nothing to David after the child has died that he was making an exception in revealing the destiny of David's child. Fourthly, it was only the death of the child that confirmed to David the destiny of the child. And this shows that only the belief that all infants dying in infancy go to heaven could be the source of comfort and hope for David. We then gave a quote from Dr. Kurt Daniel to this effect. Had the baby recovered, David could not know if he would live and become right with God and go to heaven or not. But when he died, David knew at once that he went to the same heaven where he himself would one day go. David knew this, and so is moved by God to realize that all dying infants, including his own, are saved." End of quote. I entitled this last lesson The Silent Testimony. I'm calling the present lesson The Painful Testimony and it's taken from an account in the life of Job as found in Job chapter 3 verses 1 through 26. We look at first the trials of Job that are set forth in this chapter. The third chapter of Job is one of the most sad and depressing chapters in the entire Bible. It's the lowest of several low points in the book. Job has reached the end of his rope. Up until now he has stood up against all his extended trials. Through those severely wounded by the continual onslaughts of Satan against him, Job has witnessed a good confession before God and man. Satan's goal was to get Job to curse God and renounce Him as one who was unworthy of honor and glory. Job has now lost his wealth, his possessions, his family, his reputation, and the support of his wife. Yet he still refused to curse his God. His creed was that found in Job chapter 2 and verse 10. He says there, shall we indeed accept good from God and shall we not accept adversity? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job shines forth as the noble believer which God describes him to be in Job chapter 1 verse 1 and verse 8 and in Job chapter 2 verse 3. But when it comes to the loss of his health, Job collapses under the weight of it all. While he never curses God, he does curse the day of his conception in his mother's womb. and wishes that he had died while yet in the womb. Chapter 3 describes a man sunk in the pit of utmost depression. He utters many things that are unsound and confusing. While they are real to Job, they are not to be taken as models of sound doctrine and practice. They reveal how a true believer can be brought down to utter despair and hopelessness, even to the point of desiring to die. While he desired to die, he did not entertain the idea of taking his own life. In chapter three, he's struggling with the concept of God's sovereignty and mental distress. Many of God's greatest servants are exposed to bouts of indescribable depression. Charles Spurgeon once said, I am the subject of depression so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of righteousness as I go to. Martin Luther said, For more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell. I trembled in all my members. Christ was wholly lost. I was shaken by desperation and blasphemy of God." So Job is now at the point where he's saying, just leave me alone. I want to die. I'm indebted to Stephen Lawson for the outline he gives in his commentary on Job as found in the Holman Old Testament commentary. And for my own purposes, I will add or rephrase some of the words. In verses 1 through 10 of Job 3, we look at Job's weeping. First, verses 1 through 3, he says, let my birthday be abolished. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke and said, may the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, a male child is conceived. In verses four through six, he then says, let my birthday be darkened. May that day be darkness. May God above not seek it, nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it. May a cloud settle on it. May the blackness of the day terrify it. And as for the night, may darkness seize it. May it not rejoice among the days of the year. May it not come into the number of the months. And then in verse 7, Job goes on to say, let my birthday be barren. O may that night be barren. May no joyful shout come into it. Then he says in verse 8, let my birthday be cursed. May those curse it who curse the day, those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. Then in verses 9 and 10 he goes on to state, let my birthday be removed. May the stars of its morning be dark, may it look for light, but find none, and not see the dawning of the day, because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide sorrow from my eyes. Then in verses 11 through 19, the second major division that is given is entitled or entitled Job's Wailing. In verses 11 through 15, he first says, I wish I had been miscarried. Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me, or why the breast that I should nurse? For now I would have lain still and been quiet. I would have been asleep. Then I would have been at rest. with kings and counselors of the earth, who built ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. Then in verses 16 through 19, he goes on to state, I wish I'd been stillborn. Why was I not hidden like a stillborn child? like infants who never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together. They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master." Then we move to verses 20 through 26 and look at Job's woe. First, verses 20 through 22, he asks the question, why is life given to the miserable? Why is life given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, who long for death but it does not come, and search for it more than hidden treasures, who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave? Then in verses 23 through 26, he concludes by asking, why is life governed by God? Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, and to whom God has hedged in? For my sighing becomes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet. I have no rest, for trouble comes. So while Job does not curse God with his lips, he does not hide his pain and his despair. Now let's examine Job's conception of human life. How much could be said about Job's misery, they're not the focus of our lesson. We want to see what his views of human life within the womb involved. and what he believes happens to that human life if it should die within the womb or at birth. Job believed that God created and formed human life within the womb of the mother. He also believed that God has the right and power to take away that physical life in the death of the body. Over in Job 10, verses 8 through 12, we read, Your hands have made me and fashioned me, an intricate unity, yet you would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that you had made me like clay, and will you turn me again into dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, and your care has preserved my spirit. Job believed that his humanity consisted of both physical and spiritual components. He also believed that after the death of the physical body there was to be a resurrection of the dead followed by a judgment. On over in Job 19 verses 25 through 29 we read, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth, and after my skin is destroyed. This I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another. how my heart yearns within me if you should say how shall we persecute him since the root of the matter is found in me be afraid of the sword for yourselves for wrath brings the punishment of the sword that you may know that there is a judgment Now this idea of the resurrection which Job held is confirmed by numerous other sections of scripture. While Job did not possess all the revelation given to us in the rest of scripture, he possessed enough to conclude that God creates life in the womb, that he brings about the death of the body which will occur sometime later as determined by God. and that there will be an afterlife following the death of the body and the body will be resurrected. So did Job believe that life began at conception and progressed in the womb of the mother? Randy Alcorn in an article on abortion published in the April 2013 issue of the Table Talk magazine says this, Job graphically described the way God created him before he was born. Job 10 verses 8 through 12. Now listen carefully. That which was in his mother's womb was not something that might become Job, but someone who was Job. The same man, only younger. To the prophet Isaiah, God says, Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb, and will help you. Isaiah 44, 2. What each person is, is not merely what he might become, but was present in his mother's womb. Read that again. What each person is, not merely what he might become, is already present in his mother's womb. To emphasize Alcorn's statement, I'm going to go back and read this sentence again. That which was in his mother's womb was not some thing that might become Job, but someone who was Job. The same man, only younger. Psalm 139 verses 13 through 16, Alcorn goes on to state. There, this text paints a vivid picture of God's intimate involvement with a pre-born person. God created David's inward parts, not at birth, but before birth. David says to his creator in verse 13, you knitted me together in my mother's womb." Each person, regardless of his parentage or handicap, has not been manufactured on a cosmic assembly line, but is personally formed by God. And all the days of his life are planned out by God before any come to be, in verse 16 of Psalm 139. Then Alcorn quotes from Meredith Klein these words, the most significant thing about abortion legislation in biblical law is that there is none. It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code. All that was necessary to prohibit an abortion was the command in Exodus 20 verse 13, you shall not murder. Every Israelite knew that the pre-born child was a child. So do we, if we are honest. We all know a pregnant woman is carrying a child. Every child in the womb is God's handiwork and part of God's plan. Christ loves that child and proved it by becoming like him. He spent nine months in his mother's womb. Like toddler and adolescence, the terms embryo and fetus do not refer to non-humans but to humans at various stages of development. It is scientifically inaccurate to say a human embryo or a fetus is not a human being simply because he is at an earlier stage than an infant. This is like saying that a toddler is not a human being because he's not yet in adolescence. Does someone become more human as he gets bigger? If so, then adults are more human than children, and football players are more human than jockeys. Something non-human does not become human or more human by getting older or bigger. Whatever is human is human from the beginning, or it can never be human at all. The right to live does not increase with age and size. Otherwise, toddlers and adolescents have less right to live than adults." End of Alcorn's quote and also his quoting of Meredith Klein. So Job refers to himself in Job 3 as a person while in his mother's womb. God brought him into existence the moment of his conception and this involved both his body and soul or spirit. Time will not permit us to address the difficult doctrine of the origin of the soul. I'll only list the views for the reader's information. View number one is known as the pre-existent view of the souls. This view holds that all souls pre-existed before the creation of the world and mankind. And thus, when the parents produce the physical body, it is then that God places the soul in the body. The second view is known as the creationist view. This view holds that when the parents produce the body, God creates the soul and joins it to the body. This may take place at conception, or at birth, or somewhere between the two. Those who hold the view have varying positions on that. Thirdly, there is the Tradition view. That's the view that the parents produce both the soul and body. Now the problem which exists in these various views, they're trying to solve how the original sin of Adam can be transmitted to his offspring. If my readers have not thought in these areas, I would encourage them to investigate these views in a more knowledgeable manner. Time will not permit us to address them ourselves. Now we're ready for the question at hand. What did Job believe would have happened to him if he had died in his mother's womb? Would he have advocated the, well, I don't know view? We simply don't know what happens to infants who die in infancy. No, Job had a clear view of what happens to infants who die in infancy. First, he believed his body would have been at rest from physical pain. In verses 13 and 14 of Job 3 he says that he would have lain still and been quiet. I would have been asleep, then I would have been at rest with kings and counselors of the earth. While the immediate reference is referring to the grave, Job is assured that his body would never again experience pain. This cannot be said about those whose bodies and souls would suffer in hell. Jesus said in Matthew 10 28 and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Secondly, Job believed that his soul would be at rest. In verse 17 he says, quote, There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. Job believed that the soul would survive the death of the body. And in this intermediate state between the death of the body and its resurrection, Job believed that his soul would be at rest. He would no longer be weary. He did not believe that he, as an infant, would be in hell. There are numerous texts in the Old Testament which refer to the immortality of the soul. Samuel made a temporary reappearance in 1st Samuel 28, 7-20, and both Elijah and Enoch, who did not taste death, nevertheless continued to live on after departing this life. Moses and Elijah appeared on the mount with Jesus, Matthew 17, 3. Christ told the thief on the cross that he would be with him in paradise that day, Luke 23, 43. And Jesus gives the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, 23. 24. Ecclesiastes 12.7 describes the death of the human as being the time when, quote, the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Read that again, Ecclesiastes 12, 7. The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Thirdly, Job believed that his body would experience a future resurrection free of pain. In Job 19, 25, and 26, we repeat the text referred to earlier. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth, and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God. Job knew something. He was assured of it. He knew that this would be the case, that his body would be resurrected again one day. This implicit evidence proves conclusively that Job believed that he would have gone to heaven if he had died in his mother's womb. Now how did Job reach this conclusion? Only by one possible way. the same way that David reached the conclusion about the destiny of his infant son. That being that all infants who die in infancy go to heaven. It was a given understanding which the Old Testament saints had given to them. This is why they never raised the question about the future of their children who had died in infancy. Just as Meredith Klein pointed out in his previous quote that it was a given understanding of a Hebrew mother that she was carrying a child in the womb and that abortion would be the murdering of the child, so the same mother would possess a given understanding that the death of her child would assure her of its heavenly destiny. This is why no one in the Bible ever asked the question, where did my child go when it died? Think on that. It was a given understanding. One may search the Bible in its entirety and not find one hint of an infant being cast into hell and suffering forever without understanding why it was even there. So I give now a conclusion and a challenge. The biblical evidence is building up to support the conclusion that God has unconditionally chosen or elected all infants who die in infancy to be taken to heaven. Those who hold to the we-don't-know position must deal with this evidence, if they wish to remain true to the biblical data on the subject. I acknowledge, as I have previously, there are some in this camp who sincerely hold to their position on the ground of desiring to uphold the integrity of the Scripture. They maintain that the Bible does not explicitly tell us what the destiny of dead infants shall be, and thus they believe that we should not add to or take away from that which the Bible does not cover. I wholly agree with this principle of interpretation, but I disagree with the conclusion that the Bible does not speak to the issue, and the evidence is clear which we are presenting If my hearer is truly concerned about upholding the integrity of Scripture, then he or she must intelligently face the evidence which has been presented thus far and give a biblical rebuttal of that evidence." So we have presented then a silent testimony from David's child. And we have just presented a painful testimony from Job. In the next lesson, we will cover a mother's testimony taken from 2 Kings chapter 4 and verse 26. That concludes our lesson today.