A walk through the old grave yard in New Cumnock, there lies amongst the many headstones the remains of one, incomplete, on which reads the following:
their 3 children who were born on the 13th March 1870
and died a son at birth
a son aged 29 hours
Mary Craig aged 20 days
James Craig their son born 27th October 1878 died 28th October 1883
Mary Craig their daughter born 13th March 1877 died 1st October 1888
Bessie their daughter born 7th May 1889 died 19th April 1890
Robert Craig their son born the 8th January 1885 died 28th June 1900
The above
Richard Gilbertson Herbertson
Physician and surgeon
who died Bradford aged 72 years
One family, not by any ways unique but the echo of whose grief can still be heard amongst the decaying memorials of a now almost forgotten generation.
Triplets, a naturally rare event, born on the 13th March 1870 all died – not perhaps surprisingly, they would have been born early and would have been below average weight, 2 boys who died so soon after birth they weren't even named and only the daughter received a name – Mary, surviving for only 3 weeks.
Why did they die? Their only fault was to have shared a womb with too many others!
The story continues from tears to tragedy, for 7 years to the day, on the same date - 13th of March another child is born and named after the Mary who died 7 years previously, but this Mary too will die, still in child hood, almost an echo of Jarius daughter, at 11 years of age.
Bessie will die at 1 year old
Robert will die at 5 years of age
A tragic story indeed, but tragedy turns into irony for this is the family of one Richard Gilbertson Herbertson, physician and surgeon, the man who 140 years ago was doing my job here in New Cumnock!
As Dr. Herbertson was busy about his duties delivering children, dealing with measles, whooping cough, diptheria, meningitis, small pox and flu his own family were dying around him!
Was there an even more bitter pill to swallow than this for Dr Herbertson, why were his children all dieing so young? Was it due to one or some of the many childhood killer diseases of the Victorian period? The same ones he was seeing in the village week by week?
Was he doing his best, committed to his duty and calling of tending to the sick and dying in the village of New Cumnock whilst all of the time he was bringing back those very same infections to his own family?
Why the story?
Well it touched me, for obvious reasons.
It challenged me, for this record presents the Christian message of the gospel and our studies in Romans in 2009 in New Cumnock, with a very real problem. We need a faith that can come up some kind of answers to that kind of suffering and problem – real answers – robust answers
It encouraged me! Encouraged you? Yes I did say that, for not only does that story present me with a big problem it presents me with an almost greater paradox. Why? This story, better recorded than most, was not unique in those days and in this village, this was part and parcel of lifes common experience for our forefathers, and yet just a few feet away from that broken grave stone lies another 2 pieces of broken grave stone, wether it belonged to this head stone or not I do not know, but lieing by itself amongst the death, disease, sorrow and suffering of a by gone day are 2 small fragments of stone, on the one is engraved these words: “thy will be done” and on the other: “until He come.” Here is the paradox; at a time when our sorrow and suffering was at its greatest, nationally Christianity, at least professing Christianity, church attendances and the promotion of Christ in our land was at its most vigorous! 1851 census – 40% UK population attended church, 2005 – 7 % attended church. That kind of suffering may have killed off many of our children but for many it did not kill off their faith, in fact if the remnants of those stories are left to tell their own tale in the midst of their greatest grief, many found an even greater grace!
Just in case you make the mistake of regarding that hope as simply the product of sentimentality and superstition, I will make it clear that I make one assumption about the grief of a bygone day, the sorrow of the parents of a previous generation, namely that their tears were every bit as wet as ours, their sorrow was felt every bit as deeply as ours, their cots were every bit as empty as ours would be and that their need for answers was every bit as real as ours!
Did you notice that when it came to recording the deaths of those triplets in 1870: “a son died 29 hours” - not 1 day, or 2 days, or shortly after birth but each hour was counted, precious to the heart of a grieving mother and father!
Do not be tempted to assume that sentimentality was the pattern of a previous generation whereas intelligence and sensibility is the preserve of our generation! Many of those who lie their in those graves were men and women brought up and taught in the Scottish Presbyterian tradition, in a day, unlike today, when many of their ministers were God fearing men who knew Christ and who taught and preached the word of God.
That generation was a generation which had imbibed the reformation teachings of Calvin and Luther and which mark you had a carefully thought out Theology, not all of which I would personally agree with but which none the less correctly identified within the work of Christ and within the pages of the Word of God, a provision for their children, in Grace, which was greater than their grief.
I want tonight to lay bear the foundations of that hope, that Divine provision in Grace for those who died because Adam sinned but who I trust we will see over coming nights must live again, because Christ has died.
That provision in Grace is perhaps seen nowhere more clearly in the Word of God than it is here in Romans chapter 5.
Not only do I intend to look at Gods provision in grace over coming nights but I would also like to consider:
Provision for the child (Romans 5)
Place of the child (Matthew 18)
Pictures of the child in resurrection – as seen in 3 prominent examples
Prophecies of the child in resurrection
Proof of grace to the child as seen in 3 prominent examples
The Provision for the Child (Romans 5)
Romans 5 does not specifically address the matter of the death of a child, but the chapter is of fundamental and critical importance in addressing this problem because:
Romans 5 does give the reason for the presence of death even in the presence of personal innocence (Rom 5:12-15), it explains the reason behind 'faultless failure'
Romans 5 makes Gods provision in grace for a child a moral and spiritual necessity, by the time we have finished Romans chapter 5 it is completely clear that their must be a provision in Gods Grace in Christ for the 'innocent dead.'
Romans chps 3,4 and explicitly chp 5 explain why it is that it is possible for a person to be saved who is unable to contribute anything to their salvation expect for their helpless need of it and thus it is Romans chp 5 which explicitly removes the most stubborn objection to the salvation of the innocent – how can they be saved they cannot understand and they cannot respond to Gods plan of salvation.
A provision for the child in Gods Grace in Christ is a spiritual absolute necessity because:
Rejoicing: The believer MUST rejoice (5:3). The believer must be able to “rejoice in tribulations also” (5:3) – not only in the smooth seas but in the stormy seas also, in the furnace (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo), in the flood (the children of Israel), and even in the vomit (Jonah). If there were no provision in grace for this frequent and tragic encounter in life, Roms 5:3-5 would simply not be true! I know that this of itself is perhaps not a bullet proof reason for believing in the salvation of children but it is what motivates us on our search. We do not want to believe that a child who dies falls into a pitiless, merciless, cruel, black hole. We are looking for hope, and Rom 5:3-5 assures us that faced with such a hole we have precisely that in Him (5:4-5), “because the love of God is shed abroad...” (5:5).
Reigning: Grace must reign (5:21) – a grace that is sovereign must be a grace that is sufficient and if His grace does not reach down certain cul de sacs of human experience – Gods grace is not sufficient and it is therefore not sovereign – it does not reign.
Reaching: Every soul MUST be reached by the grace of God in Christ (5:18) – the scope of the work of Christ is at least as extensive as the wickedness of Adam.
Removing: Any impediment due solely to personal inability, for being unable to enjoy Gods salvation MUST be and has been removed (Rom5:6) – salvation is by His Strength, in His Season, and by His Son!
We can never use the reason for a soul being lost as having been due to their inability to comprehend or inability to apprehend the gospel.
If personal inability were a real reason for missing out on the blessings of Gods grace, this would mean that personal ability was required to apprehend Gods Grace, in which case Gods grace is not sufficient for the needs of a lost humanity and thus salvation would be partly grace and partly works!
Furthermore if my inability is actually what prevents me from enjoying the gospel then what I am really saying is that personal inability is ultimately far greater, more powerful and of greater importance than Divine ability. Human inability becomes the defining matter and deciding issue rather than Divine ability. I ascribe to my weakness the place of omnipotence and relegate Gods all sufficiency to some place of lower importance!
The problem of infant salvation cannot therefore terminate in a conclusion that they are not able therefore they cannot be saved!
If that is where my thinking concludes there can be only one logical conclusion drawn from that conclusion – that God is not sufficient for the problem.
Reasoning: Every problem that sin throws up MUST have a reason. We have seen in Romans chp 5 one over arching pattern: “that where sin abounded Grace did much more abound” - that Gods Purposes preceed mans Problems! God is Sovereign over Life's Problems (5:1-5); God is Sovereign over Salvations Plan (5:6-11) and God is Sovereign over Man's Plight (5:12-21). Because the solution precedes the problem I can never ask is their a provision from God in Grace for this problem which sin and self and Satan has thrown up? If there was no purpose, if there was no Divine response the problem would not exist! That is not to say that every sin and every problem and rebellion of sinful man must ultimately conclude with their salvation but that even in the depths of human sin and rebellion God has His purpose and ultimately all will be headed up in Christ. We therefore can search with expectancy to find Gods purposes in all problems of life. Even in Eden as God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, His eye went way beyond the events in that garden, to Calvary and beyond, to a far greater tree! You say – surely that's conjecture Stewart! You're making that up! You mean you don't take my word for it? How many trees were there in Eden? Thousands? Millions? How many were mentioned? 2! The tree of knowledge of good and evil, is mentioned for obvious reasons, it plays a critical part in what is happening there! A second tree is mentioned: the tree of life. Why is this tree mentioned? It plays no part in what happens, does it? Its the tree that is there but Adam can't get! So why tell us about it? Why tell me about the place of a tree that plays no part in the story? Because even in Eden as God planted the tree of knowledge of good and evil, His eye went to Calvary and beyond. It takes us till Revelation 22 to lay hold of the fruit of that tree! But just in case you ever think that this tree has been produced as a reflex or a reaction to man's problems – it has been in Gods purpose since at least Genesis 2! But before you reach that tree you are going to have to work through 21 other trees from Genesis to Malachi on which men hang under a curse: the baker (Gen 40:22); Absalom – David's first son to be called King, the King of Ai (Joshua 8:29), the 5 Kings of the Amorites, amongst whom was Adonizedek (Joshua 10), Bigthan and Tersh the 2 Eunuchs of Ahasuerus (Esther 2:23); Haman and his 10 sons, until we finally reach the 3 trees at Calvary and can pass onto the enjoyment of the tree of life, our sin having been dealt with!
Responding: Gods response to our need is not condemnation, that is Gods response to our sin (Rom chps 1 to 3) but Gods response to our need is His Glorious Provision of Grace (Rom 5:6,8,10), just as in the same way God does not condemn men and women who have not heard the gospel because they have not heard the gospel but God does condemn men and women who have not heard the gospel because they are sinners. It is not our need that condemns us it is our sin! If we conclude that all infants dieing in childhood come under the condemnation of God because of their need please realise that this must be the only time ever in Gods dealings with men when He breaks with the principles of His eternal justice and righteousness to respond to man's need with wrath rather than with Grace! God delights to respond to man's need with grace:
“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” (Ps 50:15 AV)
“In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.” (Ps 86:7)
“He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.” (Ps 91:15)
“Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.” (Ps 102:2)
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (Isa 55:1)
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,” (Tit 2:11)
But grace rejected:
“But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.” (Ps 50:16-17)
“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (Joh 1:11-12)
The final judgement on man in Rev 20 is not as a needy sinner but man as a :
Christ rejecting
God hating
Conscience defiling
Gospel despising
Heaven mocking
Grace disbelieving
Sinner
“This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men preferred darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.”
He rejects us because we reject Him:
Gods Word rejected (2 Sam 15:23,36)
God rejected Personally (1 Sam 8:7)
Gods commandment and law rejected (2Kings 17:20)
Gods law rejected (Jer 6:19)
Knowledge Rejected (Hos 4:6)
Gods Son rejected (Matt 21:42)
This pattern is most clearly seen in the 2 Advents of Christ:
The 1st Advent of Christ – Man rejects Christ
The 2nd Advent of Christ – Christ rejects God
Consider one example of this: A Coat for Adam.
These conclusions from Grace are by the end of chapter 5 clearly non negotiable!
Notes from our bible study teaching series of messages preached systematically, verse by verse, through Paul's letter to the Romans, focusing for these messages on the subject of the death of a child; there eternal destiny and the care of God for the child. Free to download audio mp3 recordings of this sermon and other sermons are available at the end of this blog and on the website page.
Yours by Grace in Christ
Dr J Stewart Gillespie