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Is Eric Safe
and Not Condemned?
Funeral Meditation for
Eric Nathaniel Larson
December
23, 1992
Why I address this issue?
Hugs and tears are needed first, but then one needs
some answers.
Water is first for those dying in the desert, but
then some solid food.
Eric is not the first Larson to be lost.
Salem was also one of their children, though much younger.
Now Eric.
Patty wrote me a letter last September asking me to
address this issue. Little
thinking it would be in this context.
Glen, as all of us wonders:
Eric had a rebellious streak already visible.
What I am not going to say.
-- I am not going to say that Eric was not
contaminated by sin through his connection with a fallen human race.
Psalm 51:5, "Behold I was brought forth in
iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Eph. 2:3 We were all by nature children of wrath.
-- I am not going to say that the wrath of God was
not upon Eric because of his sinful nature.
-- But I will not say that wrath is the only state
of God's heart toward Eric, nor toward any person (since Jesus speaks of
God's loving his enemies in Matt. 5:45). But wherever there is sinfulness there is God's indignation.
THEREFORE: Eric was sinful by nature, and he was
therefore the object (like all of us outside Christ) of God's wrath and
God's compassion.
I do not solve the problem of Eric's destiny by
saying he was without sinfulness, or depravity.
-- Nor am I going to say that being sure that Eric
is safe and uncondemned is the most important thing to be sure of.
The most important thing to be sure of is that that God is good
and trustworthy.
"The Judge of all the earth will do
right" (Genesis 18:25).
"Good and upright is the Lord" (Psalm
25:8)
"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his
steadfast love endures for ever" (Psalm 107:1).
"Praise the Lord, for he is good; sing to his
name for he is gracious" (Psalm 135:3).
THE QUESTION: Does God condemn children to hell
because of their sinfulness as part of Adam's offspring, or is there
evidence that final condemnation is based on actual sinning and that God
finds a way to cleanse infants who die of their depravity -- their bent
to evil, which they have not yet acted out?
One could begin to answer this question by
reminding ourselves of the way Jesus treated children:
He was indignant when the disciples thought Jesus
too busy for children:
13 And
they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the
disciples rebuked them. 14
But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them,
"Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such
belongs the kingdom of God. 15
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
like a child shall not enter it."
16 And he took them
in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.
He raised some children from the dead out of
compassion -- the ruler's daughter and the widow's son at Nain.
He healed children of sicknesses -- the
Syrophoenecian's daughter, the boy with epilepsy, the official's son.
But this would not take us as far as we want to go.
We want something more solid than the leap from this kind
treatment to the assurance that infants are safe and not condemned.
We could go to 2 Samuel 12:23 where the sin of
David's sin with Bathsheba dies, and he says, "I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me."
But we would be troubled perhaps that David only
meant that he would go to the grave where the body of his son lies, or
that he would go to Sheol, the general place of the dead without
reference to paradise or heaven.
We want something more firm.
The firmest ground for Eric's safety
So I take you to the firmest ground I know for
saying that Eric is safe and not condemned.
It may not be beyond dispute.
But for the tortured soul it is the second best place I know to
go. I'll mention the first-best in closing.
Romans 1:18-21 -- it is an argument for why people
who have never heard the gospel are still without excuse before the
judgment of God -- that is are accountable at the last judgment.
So here we learn what the grounds of accountability are.
The text is not about children, but the same
principles of justice apply.
18 For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has
shown it to them. 20
For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature,
namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the
things that have been made; therefore they are without excuse; 21
for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give
thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their
senseless minds were darkened.
The point is this: to be held accountable at the
judgment you need two things: 1) available knowledge of the glory of God
you should have adored and thanked; 2) the physical capacity to know it,
to perceive it.
Paul implies that if this knowledge were really not
available then there really would be an "excuse" at the
judgment.
Infants who do not reach the age of accountability
do not have this connection with the knowledge that makes accountable.
Therefore they have an excuse and God in his justice will find a
way to absolve them of their depravity.
It will surely be through Christ. But beyond that we would be guessing. It seems to me that the most natural guess would be that
babies will grow up in the kingdom (either immediately, or over time)
and will by God's grace come to faith so that their justification is by
faith along just like ours.
That is the second best place to rest your soul.
The best place to rest your soul
The first best place is simply this: Psalm 119:68
-- "Thou art good and doest good."
This was George Mueller's funeral text when his
wife Mary died of rheumatic fever in 1860.
His three points were:
The Lord was good, and did
good, in giving her to me.
The Lord was good and did
good, in so long leaving her to me.
The Lord was good and did
good, in taking her from me.
He did not start from Mary and move to God's
goodness. He started with
the unshakable confidence in the goodness of God rooted in Jesus Christ,
and he interpreted his life and his loss in view of that goodness.
That is the bottom line is the goodness of God --
that is the hope for us all, and the only hope.
Our final song is a plea for God's Spirit to wean
us away from everything in the earth that would tempt us not to believe
that.
Copyright by John Piper 1992, Desiring
God Ministries. |
