Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Isaiah 7:16 "For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Isaiah 7:16 "For before the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land (Canaan) whose two kings you dread will be deserted [both Ephraim and Aram]. [Is 7:2] |
Subject: infant death |
Bible Note: Greetings kin! Interesting question! I've thought in depth about this very question many times.. Yes, I believe in an "Age of Accountability".. However, I also believe in "Eternal Security".. So how do I reconcile those two views together, since we all know that not all babies grow into professing Christians by adulthood? Excellent question.. On the surface, it appears that both of these two views contradict each other. But this is how I see it.. The fact that a person does not know the law does not nullify the fact of sin, if indeed a person has committed a sin. However, verses such as Matt. 19:14, Mark 10:14 and Luke 18:16 suggest to me that the Lord Jesus, who knows every single detail of each one of our individual lives, will not focus His wrath upon small children, but only on those who have willfully disobeyed Him. I believe that children can only "willfully disobey" after they have become knowledgable (and accountable) for their own sin. But in that period of development before they know what 'disobedience' is, then I believe that our Lord will protect and be with their little souls, if in fact, they should perish before they develop and grow. However, the point of becoming "willfully disobedient" comes at a very early age in childhood as well, and this is where, I believe, that a child has already become accountable for their own disobedience. So I believe that the love and grace of Jesus would extend also to those very small children who have not developed to the stage of recognizing what willful disobedience is. But once a child has exceeded this stage, then I believe that they are and should be held accountable. And then we Christians can only hope and pray that these children will grow to accept the salvation message of Jesus, which can securely save them from their sins forever, sealing them at salvation and forever keeping them in the Lord's hand forever! And if, at some point after first professing Christ, they become 'entangled' and turn their backs upon the Gospel, then I would conclude that they did not truly and fully receive the gift of salvation the first time. We can only pray that after completely turning their backs once, that they will be truly ashamed of what they have done (if they have merely "tasted" the truth of God's love) so that they will fully and wholeheartedly repent of their sins, turning back to the Lord, so that salvation can actually happen at this point, which did not occur the first time. However, if they do not decide to turn to the Lord (since they had first "tasted" what was in store for them), and if they do not act upon their "shame" (or feel no shame at all for turning from the Lord), then they will be eternally lost, and their public rejection of Christ will sear their consciences irrevocably, with no chance at all of ever getting back to that point of innocence, creating a deep chasm between them and the Lord forever.. This is the greatest tragedy of them all. - Nolan |