“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalm 51:5. Frequently I’m asked to give an answer to what many perceive to be a very difficult question. “Will the innocent children be caught up with the rest of Christ’s Church at the rapture?” First we must reconcile the concept of children being innocent. David recognized that even at conception, he was a sinner. In the discussion regarding the age of accountability we must first understand that there is none without sin, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” Romans 3:10. Children, no matter how young, are not “innocent” in the sense of being sinless. Adam’s sin condemns us all from the time we are conceived.

 

Should the flood of Noah’s day be our guide to determine whether or not children will be included in the rapture? This would be a faulty concept indeed and can in no wise determine the rapture status of children today. How can the children who existed just prior to the flood of Noah be compared to today’s children? In regards to what went on previous to the flood that destroyed the world there is certainly much more explanation needed concerning most of earth’s inhabitants including the children who perished at that time.

 

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:11-13. There’s no doubt that the whole earth, save Noah and his family, were corrupt. That means the children also. It must be understood that there were very evil things going on in those days which many theologians refuse to come to grips with. The intense pure evil associated with the days of Noah prior to the flood cannot be overstated. Are we currently living in evil times? Absolutely. But nothing we’re currently witnessing can compare with what transpired before the flood.

 

Over the years, many Bible teachers have corrupted the text of Genesis 6 by adding their own flawed interpretation of those verses. Nowadays believers are taught that the mingling of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” were simply two different people groups. They try to tell us that the decedents of Seth are the “sons of God” and the daughters of Cain are the “daughters of men” and that these two groups of humans are responsible for all the pervasive evil that occurred prior to the flood. How? Just through co-habituation? Apparently, according to those who corrupt of the text, the sons of Seth were these perfect human men and the daughters of Cain were sinners, and through the union of these two people types we’re to conclude they corrupted the entire world and God had to destroy it. Huh?

 

Come on people, humans when matched up with other humans give birth to more humans and sometimes through these unions little monsters are brought forth, but they are not monstrous. Since all people are sinners and sooner or later sinners marry other sinners we can deduce that more sinners will be created through the union of two sinners. The translation of Genesis 6 using perfect Sethite descendents and the imperfect daughters of Cain is most assuredly a corruption of the text. Moreover, anyone who teaches this corrupt doctrine is a false teacher. Be careful who you follow; if they are wrong here in Genesis 6 undoubtedly they will err in other areas of the Bible.

 

Naturally people weren’t very receptive to angels taking wives of all they chose so it was inevitable that some tickling of the ears had to take place. God did not send a flood to rid the world of sinners but to rid the world of the evil seed created by these fallen angels. Because of their intrusion into the world, and ultimately what they did with human women, humanity had to be destroyed. The seed of these angels created a race of something so horrifying and evil and so completely pervasive that God had no choice but to destroy all of that corruption. The children that were produced from this angel/human sexual activity, if you can even call them children, were gigantic monstrous creatures the Bible refers to as the Nephilim.

 

Today we’re witnessing children born into families who have no concept of morality. Certainly we’ve seen at least some of these little monsters growing into adulthood oblivious of love and compassion, many endeavoring to seek out a “whatever feels good” type of existence. The path that leads to evil is the easiest, widest, and most traveled path and we can see many a young folks sprinting off in that direction. Many children turn to a life filled with evil and many are bent on carrying out horrible acts of destruction, but as the old saying goes “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet”. 

 

The evil seed planted to corrupt humanity prior to the flood of Noah will come again in the last days and is very probably at its inception even now. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Matthew 24:21. As already mentioned Noah and his family were spared, but why? Why did God spare Noah and his family? The text tells us that “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9. The Bible tells us that Noah’s gene pool was not corrupt but it does not say anything about the women other then God telling Noah to bring them along.  “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.” Genesis 6:18. Anything I would say to answer this question would be sheer speculation and so I’ll leave it like this, God knew exactly what He was doing.

 

“But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 20:16-18. God commanded the Hebrews over and over again to completely wipe out whole cities and societies sparing none that breathe (men, women, and children) everything right down to the last animal was to be destroyed. Why would God want even the children and the animals wiped out? Because the same evil incursion that had transpired prior to the flood was once again raising its ugly head. 

 

“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that...” Genesis 6:4. Even after the flood of Noah, Satan continued with his attempts to sow a “virus” among the genetic pool of mankind. The Bible refers many times to other occurrences of giants in the land. One such occurrence is the story of David killing Goliath, others include Numbers 13:33, Deuteronomy 2:11 & 20, 3:11 &13, Joshua 12:4, 13:12, 15:8, 17:15, 18:16.

 

The various people groups mentioned above had allowed themselves to become corrupted once again, just like in Genesis 6, and thus God saw all the evil that threatened humanity before the flood occurring again and He knew He had to act to once again sideline Satan and disrupt his evil plans.

 

Chuck Missler www.khouse.org and Jack Kelly www.gracethrufaith.com both have great studies on the Nephilim and the corruption that took place which is referred to in the book of Genesis chapter 6. What happened to the offspring of the evil union of angels and human women has nothing to do with children today who are born from normal human parents, especially in regards to the Rapture.

 

Christ’s death is sufficient for all of mankind. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” John 2:2. This verse is clear that Jesus’ death was sufficient for all sins, not just the sins of those who specifically have come to Him in faith. The fact that Christ’s death was sufficient for all sin would allow the possibility of God applying that payment to those who were never capable of coming to a believing faith in Christ, such as children who died before reaching the age of accountability.

 

This is, of course, conjecture on my part because the Bible does not specifically say that He does this. Therefore, this very subject falls into a category of things we aren’t told and which we can’t know for certain this side of Heaven. God’s applying Christ’s death to those who cannot believe would seem consistent with His love and mercy. It is my position that God applies Christ's payment for sin to young children and those who are mentally handicapped, since they were not mentally capable of understanding their sinful state and their need for a Savior, but we should not be dogmatic. Certainly, God is loving, holy, merciful, just, and gracious. So anything He does is always right and good.

 

Therefore it is my opinion that all children who have not reached the age of accountability prior to the Rapture of Christ’s Church will not be left behind. The parents, if they are believers, will go in the Rapture along with their children. But those parents who aren’t believers in Christ will be left childless and heartbroken because when the Rapture occurs their children (who have not yet reached the age of accountability) will instantaneously disappear along with the rest of the raptured believers in Christ.

 

The following verse is to me the qualifying verse that alludes to children who have not reached that accountability age going to heaven. “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.” 2 Samuel 12:23. The story of David’s son by Bathsheba dying is sad indeed, but what does David say to his servants who ask him why, after the boy died, he no longer mourned? You can see from David’s answer that he was sure that he (David) would see his son again in Heaven.

 

“And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2-4. Jesus puts a lot of emphases on little children in these verses. Although He is referring to our need to humble ourselves, He uses a child to demonstrate His message. We can learn a lot about the nature of our Savior God from these three verses.

 

God is gracious and just, He will not allow the children who are still under the age of accountability, and who He plainly lifts up as an example to us in the scriptures, to be left behind and to go through the horrible time of the Great Tribulation.

 

The question remains, will you be caught up with your children? Think about it.

 

God bless all,

 

Ron Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com

All scripture is from the KJV