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Do Babies Go To Hell?

A number of years ago I was recruited by an outgoing youth pastor to join the transition team. My role was to mentor/advise the younger people on the team who were actually running the Jr/Sr High Youth Groups as well as to run the grade 6-12 Sunday School. It was one single class and so required some experience to wrangle.

Anyhow, on my first day I did a get-to-know-you exercise with the 80+ students where they had to tell me their first name, favourite movie, and give me one question they have always had about God, church, or faith. The questions were mostly outstanding. But one in particular has been asked many, many times before.

“Do aborted babies go to hell?”

As soon as the question was asked, the whole assembly demanded I answer it. I initially said that the Bible does not address this topic directly, so we can’t say definitively how God judges this group. You could almost FEEL the tension in the room! But I went on to say that what we know of God’s character as revealed in the Bible leads me to say that there is an ‘age of accountability’ (which is likely different for different people). And before that God will extend grace. I think that those babies will be in heaven with God.

The reason I share this story is because of what we read today. There are two applicable passages:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those that are revealed belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we might obey all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NET)

Gather the people—men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages—so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law. Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Deuteronomy 31:12-13 (NET)

We can see that there are things that God has not revealed to us, the implication is that we are not accountable for those things because we are ignorant of them. Moreover, God asks that the law be read every seven years “so [the people] may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God”. God wants people to choose to give their lives to Him. So, while He extends grace to those who are unable to understand, He also holds accountable those who have seen/heard/had-access-to the truth. Whether that is the General Revelation of His creation or the Special Revelation of His Word.

In summary: No, I do not believe babies will go to hell. That said, I think we underestimate BOTH God’s Grace as well as God’s Justice.

Deuteronomy 29:2-31:29 | 079/365

Does God Delight in Destruction?

Today’s devotional is a brief apologetic note.

It comes from the blessings and cursing section. The the blessing that is pronounced features some pretty noteworthy warnings, and the curse the is pronounced is… long. Very long. And quite descriptive. And both the blessing and the cursing are conditional on the actions of the people. And before I get to the apologetic note, I want to point out that God is not a blustery wind-bag. He means what He says. So we should expect that if Israel is disobedient in the ways described, the consequences described should come to pass. Moses himself said that this is how you will know a true prophet, right? So let’s keep our eyes on Deuteronomy 28 as we continue to read through the Old Testament together.

It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. 

Deuteronomy 28:63(NASB)

Does the Lord really DELIGHT in the destruction of the disobedient? Most people will cite Ezekiel and say that this cannot be true:

Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?

Ezekiel 18:23 (NASB)

It’s worth noting that these are two different words in Hebrew, even though they are the same English word. The word in Deuteronomy means “to be glad or rejoice“. The one in Ezekiel means “to be pleased in or inclined toward“. The latter is indicative of God’s will, desire, or preference. The former shows that God is pleased when justice is done. A worker earns his wages (1 Timothy 5:18), so the question is this: what are you earning? What wage will be paid to you?

It is God’s desire that all should be saved, but He will still rejoice when justice is done. We were told earlier in Deuteronomy to “have no pity for the guilty”. God won’t.

Deuteronomy 26:1-29:1 | 078/365

Excluded from the Kingdom?

If you read Deuteronomy 23:1-8 and are NOT a Biblical savant you probably scratched your head and thought… wut? Seriously. What does this even mean? I’ll put the whole section in here for context:

23:1 A man with crushed or severed genitals may not enter the assembly of the Lord. 2 A person of illegitimate birth may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. 3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so, 4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changedthe curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves you. 6 You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come. 7 You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner in his land. 8 Children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

So our list of people who are not allowed to join the assembly of the Lord are 1) eunuchs, 2) a person of illegitimate birth (or their descendants), 3) Ammonites & Moabites (or their descendants, and 4) Edomites & Egyptians (for a little while).

We CAN make sense of this, but it requires a little background knowledge. So let’s look first at what the “assembly of the Lord” is and then why these groups might be excluded.

ASSEMBLY OF THE LORD — I don’t want to belabour this, so let’s do a 10,000-foot overview here. But this does NOT refer to the general Hebrew/Christian/faith community. We see multiple examples of this in Scripture. Not to mention that this passage would then contradict things written both before AND after this passage. Also, while arguments are made for various interpretations of this phrase, I believe that the following is the superior explanation. This “assembly” is a guiding/governing assembly who will direct Israel (cf: Num 16:3; Jud 21:5,8; 1 Ki 12:3; Jer 26:17; Eze 16:40, 23:45-47; Mic 2:5).

So why would these people be excluded from that group?

EUNICHS — There are two primary reasons this group might be excluded. self-castration was closely related to paganism AND since Eunuchs could not have children, I can see why there would be concerns about how they might govern in light of that.

ILLEGITIMATE BIRTH — This was a person born of incest, adultery, or prostitution. These people are from broken homes. God would never exclude these people from his family, He cares for them. But having come from a broken home myself and despite having a dedicated mother who cared deeply about me, I still didn’t understand what made a good father or a healthy family. These people are not in a position to lead a nation. They need to focus on getting themselves straightened out.

AMMONITES & MOABITES — This group proved themselves to be enemies of Israel (as it says in the passage) so they clearly could not be trusted with positions of national leadership!

EDOMITES & EGYPTIANS — Edomites came from Esau, Jacob’s brother and the Egyptians (the people, not the abusive government… always worth remembering that the government ≠ the people) hosted them as sojourners.

Hopefully that helps you understand what I think is the best theory as to why this prohibition is in place AND what it actually IS.

Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19 | 077/365

Under My Own Power

I often see people cite Deuteronomy 17:17 when talking about David and Solomon, both of whom had multiple wives. And in the case of Solomon (who neared 1,000 when you factor in concubines) we see the direct statement in 1 Kings 11:3 that this did indeed result in his heart of hearts being led astray. But God never addresses Polygamy head-on as a perversion of marriage even though it is CLEARLY in contravention of Genesis 2:24 & Matthew 19:5-6.

But I actually don’t think this passage (17:17) addresses the king having more than one wife any more than the previous verse addresses the king having more than one horse (17:16). These two verses are about how Israel is to run itself as a nation, and not really about the behaviour of the king specifically. At this time there still was no king. Nor would there be for a while to come. They have the reign of Joshua still ahead of them, then the Judges… then the Kings. No what’s happening here is the establishment of a new nation with guiding principles. And God recognizes that how the king (or queen or whatever head-of-state) conducts himself will signal to the people how things ought to be done. The king is accountable for what he models for his people.

All of that to say, let’s look at what each of these prohibitions means.

  1. The king may not acquire a great number of horses — God doesn’t care how many horses the king has. God is not telling the king to be a one-horse man. Rather, the horse was a symbol of military strength. God didn’t want Israel to hoard weapons of mass destruction because they were to rely on Him! He says as much in 20:1! Amassing military strength demonstrated a lack of trust in the God who brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Solomon did this in spades (1 Kings 10:26)!
  2. The king may not send to Egypt for horses — Egyptian horses were considered to be the best horses in the Ancient Near East, taller and larger than the northern breeds. So you can see why the temptation to buy some of those sweet Egyptian studs might have been large. But the problem here is that God delivered the people FROM enslavement in Egypt, so to turn BACK to the enslaver for protection rather than the God who showed his might against them is a slap in the face to God. Solomon, of course, did this too (1 Kings 10:29). And was called out for in Isaiah 30:1-5.
  3. The king may not take many wives — This was less about marriage and more about treaties with other nations. It was common to make a deal with the king of another nation and secure it with a marriage. A son from one side would marry a daughter from the other. This was — essentially — using children as a sort of contract signature. To highlight the strength of the bond between the two nations. Why did this matter, though? Because it was a sign of political strength. Why would Nation X try to attack me if I have the support through treaties with Nations A, B, and C? And, of course, Nation E cannot attack because we have a treaty between the two of us. Once again, God is our peace and protector. We should not be trying to do his job! God doesn’t like it when we sit on His throne. And of course, these close bonds lead to adoption of worldviews, ideas, and beliefs — all of which can (and do) draw us away from God. And yes, Solomon did this as well (1 Kings 11:1-13).
  4. The king may not amass silver and gold — This is monetary strength. Having a “war chest” of sorts. Riches and opulence give us a sense of security. Confidence. Importance. Again, this is a distraction. We shouldn’t seek to acquire money just for the sake of having the money. God is our provider, not ourselves. We need to be good stewards, we need to work hard, we need to make the most of the gifts & blessings God has given us… but that doesn’t mean we bask in it, embrace it, and love it. In fact we are warned quite sternly that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). And yes, Solomon also fell into this trap (1 Kings 10:27).

So then, should we marry as many people as we like? No. Of course not. But we also need to remember to trust in God’s provision and protection. This is not a call to recklessness or a vow of poverty, but it is a call to put every decision before the Lord and allow Him to make use of what you have been given. Don’t make and execute a plan then invite God to tag along. He’s not your kid brother. Go to God and ask Him to guide you through the planning process. Stop along the way and listen for his voice/leading.

Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9 | 076/365

Death to the Infidel!

Right at the top of chapter 13 God tells us that false prophets and dreamers of dreams can be tested. We can know if they are the real deal or if they are trying to lead us astray. How? When they tell you to follow their new god… It’s kind of hilarious in its simplicity, isn’t it?

Prophet: Hey, come and follow me! I’ll introduce you to a newer, better-er god!
Me: Honey, I think this guy may not be on the level.
My wife: Agreed.

But the interesting part to me is rather the parts that follow; 1) God is doing this to test you, and 2) the prophet or dreamer must be executed for encouraging rebellion.

1) What does it mean that God is testing you? I’ll be honest, at first blush — to me, at least — this seems like a very convenient excuse. God gave this false prophet the power to foresee the future or speak a word of knowledge just to test us… but then we have to kill him/her? But of course this objection is short-sighted. Why? Because — unlike what so many people believe (Seriously. So. Many. People.) — our God is not one of blind, unquestioning faith. He is, and has always been, an evidential God. He doesn’t say ‘follow me because of what I say I can do’, but rather He says, ‘follow me because of what you have SEEN me do!’ God reminds the people continually of how He rescued them from Egypt. How he provided in the wilderness. How He protected them in battle. Then some new guy comes along, knows that your great aunt Ethyl was a Scorpio and you’re all “take my hand, we’re off to never-never land”? Madness. Why would anyone abandon a faithful God to follow a lie? Usually? Because it feels good.

2) The false prophet is to be executed. This is where the “death to the infidel” title came from. A touch extreme, no? Is there no avenue to redemption here? This was a life-or-death matter. Remember the “hearts of hearts” we talked about yesterday? Here we have a person (in the prophet/dreamer) who has seen what God can do, and has been imbued by God with a gift of prophecy, but attributes it to not God? The author of Hebrews warns us:

For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. (Hebrews 4:4-6, NLT)

This is a person who cannot be brought back to repentance, and so he (or she) must be made an example of to all would-be apostates. His death is judgement for unrighteousness. And moreover, his death is protection for others whose “heart of hearts” might be corrupted to their own damnation through the work of the apostate.

We no longer summarily execute apostates… at least not in the west. We are called to obey the laws of the land. Back in Moses’ day it was near anarchy. Small city-states were ruled with an iron fist and life was exceptionally hard. Again, no country in the western world operates as a Theocracy. But we can still apply these principles. How?

We need to keep those who are apostate at arm’s length. We cannot allow them to influence our “heart of hearts”. And, of course, we pray. We pray that even though we may not be able to win them back (as we read in Hebrews), there is nothing impossible for God. There are people I deeply care about who have turned their backs on God. And it is my sincere prayer that one day I will be standing side-by-side with them, arms raised in worship of our God again. Praise Jesus.

Deuteronomy 13:1-16:17 | 075/365

A Hostile Takeover of Your Heart

Deuteronomy 11:6 warns us not to let our hearts be deceived, be enticed to serve other gods. The heart always seems to be the vector of deception. Of course, when we think about the heart today we think of the emotional side of ourselves, but the original writers has a wider definition in mind. The word translated as “heart” literally means “inner man”. But we can safely understand it to mean “inner self” or “real you” or possibly even “heart of hearts”.

This is a place deep inside that is the core of us. The centre of who we are. Below all the surface niceties to the person that only God really knows. This is the ‘root’ of each of us. You allow something into this place, you are giving it power and authority. You are giving it a share of control. Anything that goes this deep has a seat at the table of you. Anything that is escorted into this place can make serious, sweeping, and significant changes.

When you ask Jesus into your heart? This is what is meant. Often as preachers we can make this an emotional decision because we don’t really dig into what the Bible means by “heart”. But the truth is that our invitation to Jesus is one that offers Him power, authority, and control over serious, sweeping, and significant changes. At least it is if we understand what we are offering.

But the more insidious participant in this type of scenario is a new member of Board of Governors of [your name here] who enters quietly without being explicitly invited. The guards and security measures around your heart just aren’t as sharp as they should be. Or maybe we are actually telling that guards not to bug this particular would-be participant.

And slowly this fellow, un-checked and un-guarded, takes up space at the table. He starts to make big changes. And before long, Jesus has been evicted from the board and you’re chasing after a new god. The god of self, or money, or prestige, or lust, or whatever. But that’s how it happens. Slowly, slowly, slowly. And like the frog boiling in the pot, we don’t realized what’s happening.

Until we’re cooked.

Guard your heart, friends. Guard your heart.

Deuteronomy 10-12 | 074/365

The Word of the Lord

Just a quick demo for today. The Lord tells us where His commands, His instructions, His words should be. This list is succinct and significant.

  1. In your heart — the heart is prone to deceit (Jer 17:9) and so God’s word must be used to guard the heart.
  2. Taught to the children — Raise up a child in the way they should go and they will not depart from it (Pro 22:6). This is both an encouragement AND a grave warning. If God’s word is important, it must be given to the next generation so they are protected as we are.
  3. Be employed at home — We should centre our lives around God’s good word.
  4. Be employed away from home — A break from our houses doesn’t mean a break from the founding, grounding word of the Lord in our lives. We should not change from here to there, but be consistent in everything.
  5. Be considered at bedtime — We should end our days in God’s word and presence. Committing even our dreams to Him.
  6. Be considered upon waking — We should begin each new day with Him. It is a gift. A day He has made. Let’s rejoice and be glad in it!
  7. Be on our forearms — our hands are used to do whatever we work at, and our actions should be guided by God’s word.
  8. Be on our foreheads — each thought should be subject to God’s word. What is driving and motivating us?
  9. Be on our doorposts and gates — a callback to the passover. God’s word should be serving to protect our homes and families from God’s judgement.

If any of these areas are lacking, it is certainly worth shoring it up.

Deuteronomy 6-9 | 073/365

Old Testament Evangelism

The God of the Old Testament — Yahweh — is an angry, unloving tyrant of a deity. Full of wrath and judgement. But the God of the New Testament — Jesus — is a peaceful, hopeful, loving deity.

Balderdash! This sentiment is so rife among people who are only passingly familiar with the Bible (yes, this does indeed refer to some of my fellow Christians as well) that it is basically a cultural maxim at this point. But aside from the many stories of Jesus speaking harsh truths — and speaking the truth harshly1 — today’s passage highlights how the God of the Old Testament (who is the same God in the New Testament because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever) was also evangelistically minded. Even in the earliest incarnation of the Israelites, He wanted all the peoples of the world to see His goodness shining through His people. Just like he does today.

Deuteronomy 4:5-8 says:

5 Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in the land you are about to enter and possess. 6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise people.” 7 In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today?

We know that since God began to give these laws He has consistently said that they are not only for the Israelites, but also for any foreigners living among them! Two prominent examples are both Rahab and Ruth; outsiders who joined themselves to the God of Abraham. And both of these outsiders just happened to join the lineage of Jesus Christ! God’s evangelistic heart on full display.

He wants us to obey His commands not merely because it will go well for us if we do, but ALSO because our obedience will set us apart. It will make us shine like Moses shone in a world of darkness. And the people who see us will recognize that we have wisdom and understanding2. And want what we have.

Let’s pray that God would help us to live lives that make other people want what we have.

Deuteronomy 3:21-5:33 | 072/365
  1. Jesus called people snakes, flipped tables, cursed a fig tree, literally called the Apostle Peter “Satan”. Hardly the granola-crunching hippie we paint Him to be. Jesus was a strong leader who was unafraid of upsetting people who should have known better! ↩︎
  2. 128k.ca/2024/01/26/the-physical-and-the-metaphysical/ ↩︎

We Left No Survivors

Deuteronomy 2:34 reads, “At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them under divine judgment, including even the women and children; we left no survivors.”

It seems so shocking by today’s standards. God said to do what?! And why?! The questions seek no answer. They are rhetorical. And more than that, they are an open condemnation. A back-handed rebuke of God. A eyebrow-pumping, denunciation of His character.

We understand “God is Love” to mean that God is only love. Firstly, this is not true. But more than that, we misunderstand what love even means. Love is not unquestioning permission. Love is not a life without reproof or admonishment. When I was a child I got into some trouble with a friend of mine. My mother caught us. She tore a strip off of me, but didn’t say a single word about it to my friend. She escorted him home and I was serving my “sentence” for several days to come. I asked why she yelled at me but not at him.

I will never forget her response: “Because I don’t love him”

Love meant a justified anger and associated punishment for wrongdoing. It meant correction. Like Hamlet trying to dissuade his mother from consecrating a marriage to the evil Claudius by telling her hard truths. He summed up his position this way, “I must be cruel only to be kind.”

We assume that this earthly life is the best possible outcome. And that is understandable because it’s what we know. It makes sense to us. But that is precisely why — as I wrote a couple days ago — we must defer to God and ask Him to shift our perspective so we can see things like He does.

Pray for that perspective, friends.

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:11 | 071/365

Murder, Manslaughter, and Witnesses

It is interesting to me that God explicitly says that if someone murders another person. The definition of murder in the Bible is essentially the same one we use today. This is because the Bible is the basis for the Western justice system1. In this particular passage — Numbers 35 — we deal with the death of one person at the hands of another and how that is to be handled.

Someone could only be convicted of murder if there were at least two witnesses. No one dies on a he-said-she-said. And then, if someone was convicted of murder, the victim’s nearest relative would be responsible for carrying out the execution. And God was very clear, no murder can be allowed to live2.

But in the case of an accidental death, God gave the guilty (yes, they are still guilty, just not of murder) party the Cities of Refuge in which to flee. This is interesting to me. The Israelites do not have prisons per se, but God has created these sort-of minimum security towns where the guilty can serve out their “sentence”. Away from their tribe, their family, and their friends. They will live among the priests for a time. But with a very serious caveat. If they LEAVE the City of Refuge, they are now guilty of murder and are subject under the law to death.

God was deeply concerned with His people taking death seriously. We are made in the image of the almighty. We cannot allow ourselves to be flippant about this fact. Image-bearers of God should be respected and treated with all due care. What image-bearers do we not care about as a society? As individuals?

Numbers 34-36 | 070/365
  1. https://scholarship.law.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2541&context=lawreview ↩︎
  2. This would be vociferously attacked by some today. God is perfect and holy. Not capricious and random. We cannot out-justice, out-mercy, or out-love God. ↩︎