Your Questions Please
QUESTION:
The promise, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it", is so positively written that it admits of no other possibility but success. It gives us the definite assurance that, if the child is rightly trained, he will never turn away from God. Mistakes he may make, sins might mar his record, but he will never reject the salvation of the Lord.
But, if this is so, how is it that Lucifer, the multitudes of angels, and Adam and Eve all fell away from God? Surely no one had a better preparation than Lucifer who was personally trained by God Himself? If he and his followers could fall as they did, then surely our children, no matter how well trained, can also fall!
ANSWER:
It is quite true that Lucifer was educated by God and that, when he was old, he did depart from the way in which he should faithfully have walked, and was able to persuade millions of angels to join with him in his revolution. These facts seem to cast a doubt over the certainty of the promise made in Proverbs 22:6.
On the other hand, we find a very different picture in the cases of those men who were definitely born again from their mothers' wombs, and were rightly trained thereafter. The Scriptures positively name only three in this category, though enough information is given of several others to indicate that they too shared the same blessing.
First and foremost there was Jesus Christ of whom it is written:
"And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.' " Luke 1:35.
Before Him was John the Baptist of whom it is testified that:
"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." Luke 1:15.
Still further back was Jeremiah of whom the Lord said:
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5. There is strong evidence to the effect that Jeremiah taught the parents of Daniel and his three companions the principles of child salvation. The lives of unblemished righteousness which they lived testify to an early new birth and subsequent proper training. Of this training it is written:
"The instruction these Hebrew children had received in the homes of their parents, made them strong in faith and constant in their service of the living God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth." Prophets and Kings, 428.
Another who was born again from an early age was Joseph though we cannot say with certainty that it was from his conception. It is certain though that he was born again as a child. The following words confirm this.
"There was one, however, of a widely different character--the elder son of Rachel, Joseph, whose rare personal beauty seemed but to reflect an inward beauty of mind and heart. Pure, active, and joyous, the lad gave evidence also of moral earnestness and firmness. He listened to his father's instructions, and loved to obey God. The qualities that afterward distinguished him in Egypt--gentleness, fidelity, and truthfulness--were already manifest in his daily life." Patriarchs and Prophets, 209.
No doubt there were others down through history who were blessed with deliverance from the sin nature while still unborn, and who were thereafter correctly trained by their parents. If there were, we have no record of them and therefore cannot refer to them as examples.
So, we have before us every person of whom there is a positive record of their having been trained in the way they should go, and, with unvarying consistency, they prove the truth of the promise, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." So fully did each of them walk in the way they should go, that, in the Scriptures, there is no record of sin against any of them.
Some have suggested that the promise did not hold good in Samson's case, because he did not faithfully adhere to the ways of righteousness. But, to be an example of God's assurance in Proverbs 22:6, we would need clear Scriptural evidence to the effect that he was born again from his mother's womb. This I fail to find. What would tend to make one think that he was, is the special instruction given to his parents before he was conceived, but this seemed to be limited to the matter of temperance. There is no record that I can find assuring us that the Angel told them how to bring the new birth to the child. It is possible that, because of the dense spiritual darkness then prevailing, they were unprepared to understand the truth on child salvation.
So then, there are two situations to be considered. The first involved Lucifer, the angels who fell with him, and Adam and Eve. The second concerns those who were born again and rightly trained after the plan of salvation had been implemented subsequent to the fall.
Lucifer's training did not save him from rebellion. The education received by Christ, and the others listed, did.
Lucifer's fall proves that under the conditions then prevailing, there was no absolute certainty that a created being, rightly trained as he certainly was, would always walk in God's ways. On the other hand, the lives of those listed above prove that, under the conditions prevailing since the fall, if a child is truly sanctified from conception and rightly trained, he will not depart from God's ways.
This must lead one to conclude that there is a difference between conditions as they were before the fall and those in effect after. This is so.
Before sin appeared, there was no knowledge of evil and its horrifying effects on sinners. There was only the knowledge of good. Therefore, when pride began to manifest itself in Lucifer, he had no idea where it would lead him or what it would do to him and his followers. To him and his supporters, it appeared as a fascinating, new realm of study, offering the prospects of wonderful rewards, and total emancipation from the restraints that his perverted mind imagined had confined him. So he embarked on his search into the knowledge of evil, a field of learning he could have better done without.
Of course, God warned him of his peril and pleaded with him to abandon his quest. One would think that, in this kind of situation, the word of the Almighty would have been all that was necessary to settle the issue forever, but it proved otherwise. That which could not be settled by declaration, must be forever cleared up by demonstration. So, the great controversy has been permitted to rage on to its final conclusion when the knowledge of good and evil will serve to cure the further risk of rebellion forever. See God's Way in the Sanctuary, 231-253.
This means that, whereas the kingdom was not totally secure from sin before Lucifer fell, it will be when the terrible experiment is ended, as it is written:
"Satan's rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages, a perpetual testimony to the nature and terrible results of sin. The working out of Satan's rule, its effects upon both men and angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine authority. It would testify that with the existence of God's government and His law is bound up the well-being of all the creatures He has made. Thus the history of this terrible experiment of rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy intelligences, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to save them from committing sin and suffering its punishments." The Great Controversy, 499.
So, the training given to Satan, which did not include a knowledge of evil, while really adequate enough to keep him from going into rebellion, lacked the absolute security which is being included in the education being given to every child who is truly being trained in the way that he should go.
Being taught the knowledge of evil does not require an experience in sinning. Instead, it involves the development of the capacity to recognize and hate iniquity for what it is, and to learn to shun it, while gladly choosing righteousness instead.
This is the most effective education ever offered to created beings. It is of such excellence that the Lord can say with confidence: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Remember that it is to fallen human beings that this promise is made, not to spotless angels before the knowledge of evil appeared. Rejoice then in the certainty that the promise is true. Your children can be so well trained that, when they are old, they will not depart from the way in which they should go.
