I will never forget that day. A nine-month-old daughter of one of our church members had fallen victim to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I was asked to perform the funeral. As I looked into that tiny casket, I suddenly saw the face of my own nine-month-old son. I had to step out of the room and gather myself. My sons are my greatest treasure. I cannot imagine the unspeakable pain of burying one. But death comes to all--some late, some early. What happens to those who die so young?

The great miracle of the Incarnation is not that God would enter the world he made. As Creator, he had every right to visit his creation. The great miracle was that he would do so as a baby. Rather than appear among us in his heavenly status, the Lord Jesus chose to become one of us. And not first as an adult, but as a fetus, then a newborn, helpless infant. The hands that held the stars were sheltered in a mother's arms. Christmas tells us what God thinks of children.

King David said of his deceased newborn son, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Samuel 12:23). He believed that his child was already where he would one day be, and trusted him to the God who made him.

Jesus made clear his feelings on the subject when "he called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said, 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'" (Matthew 18:2-3). The "greatest" in God's kingdom is the one who is most like a child. Later he added, "the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (Matthew 19:14).

Sin breaks our relationship with our holy Father (Romans 3:23) and leads to spiritual and eternal death (Romans 6:23). Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin, so we could be forgiven and receive eternal life. But what of those too young to understand and receive this gift? It seems to me that a child who is too young to understand salvation does not yet need it. He or she has not yet committed that willful, deliberate disobedience which is biblical "sin." Such a child is still in a state of innocence, as with Adam and Eve before the Fall. And an example for us of the innocence and trusting faith which receives the Kingdom of God and loves the King.

So, if you have lost a child to death, know that your child is not lost at all. He or she is in the arms of our heavenly Father. Let his arms shelter you, his child, as well. Your Father knows what it is to lose a Son. Turn to his strength and grace, and trust him as a child trusts his Father. And his hope will be yours until you are with your child forever.

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