You Can Choose For Your Children
(F. T. Wright)
Because Christians are aware that no one can choose to be saved for another, it is generally believed that a child cannot experience salvation until he is old enough to understand its science, and is able to make his own intelligent choice in regard to it. This is why infant baptism is not practised in the true Christian church. The following statements are samples of many which might be quoted to support the truth that no one can be saved on the basis of another's decision.
"The work of purification is an individual work. No one can do this work for another." The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 7:918.
"They should make it an individual work to draw near to God. No one can be saved by proxy, but every man and woman must work out their own salvation with fear and trembling." Testimonies for the Church 4:610.
"'Though these three men Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,' says the Lord God.
"'If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts,
"'even though these three men were in it, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.
"'Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, "Sword, go through the land," and I cut off man and beast from it,
"'even though these three men were in it, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered.
"'Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast,
"'even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.'" Ezekiel 14:14-20.
"Let the youth and the little children be taught to choose for themselves that royal robe woven in heaven's loom, the 'fine linen, clean and white' which all the holy ones of earth will wear." The Adventist Home, 536.
These words are absolutely true when applied within their correct context, though they would certainly tend to lead one to the conclusion that no parents can make the decision to accept God's salvation for their children. However, very fortunately, there is another balancing factor involved. When this is considered, it will be seen that the above statements and texts apply to those who have come to the age when they can make a choice for themselves. Before that time, because the mind of the parent is God's appointed decision-making force in the child's life, the father and mother can and must dedicate the child to God and pledge his obedience to God's laws and principles. The same Almighty and utterly consistent God who declared in the words quoted above that no one can choose salvation for another, at the same time commands parents to make vital decisions on behalf of those children who are too young to make the decisions for themselves.
A specific example of this was the divinely ordained requirement to circumcise every male child when but eight days old as a pledge of that child's obedience to the law, and to dedicate all the first born children at the age of forty days to lifelong service in God's cause. At first glance these ceremonies may not appear to be anything more than rituals, but the real fact is that these services were highly significant.
Consider circumcision. Specifically, it was the actual signature to the covenant of righteousness and obedience. He who understood what he was doing and intelligently entered into the rite of circumcision was making a very solemn pledge of obedience based on his personal decision to do so. The physical rite was required from the days of Abraham till Calvary, while its spiritual counterpart has always been requisite for successfully receiving the blessings of salvation.
To Abram and Sarai, God had made the specific promise that they would be the parents of a certain son through whose line the Redeemer of the world would be born. There was nothing that those two wonderful people wanted more than the fulfillment of that promise. They longed for the arrival of that son, and for the successful building of the kingdom of God. They were totally dedicated to the divine purpose and were prepared to make any sacrifice necessary to achieve these objectives. All this was highly commendable and gave them great favor in God's eyes.
But, many years passed without the birth of the promised child simply because Abram and Sarai had not developed the faith necessary for the promise to be realized. Finally, in their great concern for the prosperity of the Lord's work, and in the face of their mounting fear that if something was not done to ensure the birth of the son, it would be forever too late, they devised the plan whereby through Hagar, Abram could have a son, whom they believed would be the son.
As they put this plan into effect, they fully believed that they were doing what was best for God, the kingdom, and themselves, and were confident that it was all being done in righteousness. The intensity of their devotion to God's cause, their great longing to see souls saved, and the manifest spirit of sacrifice which possessed them, gave a beautiful sheep's attire to the wolf beneath. Thus the real nature of what they were doing was hidden from their sight. What they thought was obedience and righteousness was really disobedience and unrighteousness, and the fact that they could not see things as they were did not alter the iniquity of it for an instant. Nor did their excellent motives and loving spirit transform their iniquity into righteousness.
Specifically, they broke every one of the ten commandments. By falling into the same error so often committed by God's sincere and loving people "...of taking into their own hands the work that God had promised to do", Patriarchs and Prophets, 247 they had usurped God's position. Further, because only God has the power to fulfill His promises, in taking that work out of His hands, they had exalted themselves to God's level. Unwittingly, they had fallen into the trap of making themselves God in the place of God, a specific violation of the first commandment.
They had taken God's name as the head of their church, but their behavior in usurping His position meant they had taken it in vain and most certainly had denied the Sabbath principle which admits of only one Problem-solver, the Lord Jehovah. Ishmael then became their graven image set up in the place of true worship.
Their supposed justification for bringing forth Ishmael was that God was not doing what He had promised. This was bearing false witness against Him, for it charged Him with being unfaithful to His word, and therefore of being a deceiver, a liar. Thus they joined forces with another husband, Satan, and by so doing, engaged in spiritual adultery which is separation from God. Alienation from God is severance from life. Those who take such a step break the command, "You shall not murder." Exodus 20:13. Covetousness was manifest in their desire to usurp God's position so that the problem could be solved. If the Lord would not do what He had promised to do, they felt they would have to do it for Him. Covetousness always leads to stealing the position that belongs to God alone. Thus the unenlightened child of God dishonors his heavenly Father as well as his earthly parents. Every commandment has been specifically broken.
The birth of Isaac could only come to pass if Abram and Sarai firstly came to see the real character of their efforts to bring forth the promised heir through Hagar. Once this conviction had fastened upon them, they had to reject that unconsecrated way in deep and abiding repentance. This had to be followed by their entering into a most solemn covenant with God that they would serve Him forever after in true and not supposed righteousness. As the signature to that covenant, circumcision was introduced and required.
No one could be truly circumcised unless he understood the full implications of that to which he was committing himself. Circumcision was the solemn and binding promise to renounce every form of kingdom building which in any way follows the procedures of Abram and Sarai in bringing forth Ishmael. And that is but the first step. Then, with equal solemnity and dedicated, enlightened purpose, he declares that He will serve the Lord according to His ways and procedures. He will ever trust the Almighty to do what He has promised to do and which He alone has the power to do. He will live in the strictest accordance with the Sabbath rest principles.
Thus it becomes apparent that circumcision was a very responsible step to take and one to which the Lord holds accountable every soul who has thus dedicated himself to God. It is the kind of commitment that can be taken only by an intelligent person who has carefully studied the terms of the contract and has reached the age of responsibility. It was not the kind of decision that one would expect Jehovah to require of a child.
Yet, God specified that babes were to be circumcised at eight days. One might tend to dismiss the performance of the rite at this age as being a mere ceremony, but this cannot be done. Circumcision at that tender age was the baby's signing of the covenant as verily as if he had received the ordinance as an intelligent adult. That this is so is verified by the following account of Christ's circumcision:
"About forty days after the birth of Christ, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, and to offer sacrifice. This was according to the Jewish law, and as man's substitute Christ must conform to the law in every particular. He had already been subjected to the rite of circumcision, as a pledge of His obedience to the law." The Desire of Ages, 50.
Christ's circumcision was a pledge of His obedience to the law. That day, the solemn covenant was signed, the binding commitment was made, and the dedicated assurance was given, that He would consistently and faithfully serve God in true righteousness. There is no question that the pledge was made that day. Jesus' circumcision was no mere ritual, no empty fulfillment of a ceremonial obligation. It was total commitment in fact, and to it He was and forever will be unswervingly faithful.
The pledge was made that day, but it was not Christ the babe who made it. Like every other infant at that tender age, He was incapable of comprehending the step He was taking. Then, if He could not and did not make it for Himself, who made it for Him? Obviously, it was His parents who did it under God's command. They were the ones who, on His behalf, carried out the requirement, and it was just as meaningful and as binding as if He had been old enough to understand and make these decisions Himself.
Jesus Christ is our example in all things. Therefore, if it was in God's order for His parents to make a decision for Him so vital that it committed Him to a pledge of obedience to God forever, then God expects every parent today to make vital decisions in regard to their children's personal salvation. What He expects parents to do He will empower them to do, for, "all His biddings are enablings". Christ's Object Lessons, 333.
So, be assured that when a truly converted, enlightened, faith-filled father and mother confess the presence in their unborn child of the spirit of disobedience, and claim for their little one God's promises of deliverance and the subsequent implantation of Christ's divine seed in which is the very spirit of obedience, the Almighty will do it. The unborn will enter into the world as Jesus did, a divine-human being.
The story of Christ's circumcision and the significance of the pledge made there is but one witness to the wonderful fact that on parents rests the opportunity to choose salvation for children too young to make the choice themselves. This matter is so critical to the successful salvation of children that one would positively expect to find additional witnesses confirming this truth. One would anticipate that there would be statements made about other babes who were blessed as Jesus was on the basis of decisions made by the parents.
Picture: Too young to choose for himself.
Two such examples are John the Baptist and the prophet Jeremiah. Of the desert prophet it is written: "He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." Luke 1:15.
No one can be filled with the Holy Spirit until he has been delivered from the old sinful nature, commonly called the sin-master, the old man, or the spirit of disobedience. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is therefore the evidence that that person is a born again Christian in fact. No other conclusion then can be drawn in respect to John the Baptist other than that, from his mother's womb, he was a new creature in Christ Jesus. In other words, John was converted before he could choose this for himself.
The same holds true for Jeremiah of whom God said: "Before you were born, I sanctified you." Jeremiah 1:5.
To be sanctified means to be made holy, a process describing the conversion experience. By this means the old, unholy nature is removed, and the holy life of Christ replaces it. The same conclusion must be drawn for Jeremiah as was drawn for John the Baptist--he was converted before he could choose this for himself.
There are those who dismiss the early conversion of these men as special cases in which the Lord bestowed extraordinary favors in order to achieve outstanding results. But, God does not work that way. He does not have a chosen elite upon whom He showers endowments not available to the rest of mankind. That with which those two men were blessed is freely available to every other child of Adam as well. It all depends on whether the parents understand their privileges and responsibilities as is made evident in this statement:
"Let mothers come to Jesus with their perplexities. They will find grace sufficient to aid them in the management of their children. The gates are open for every mother who would lay her burdens at the Saviour's feet. He who said, 'Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not,' still invites the mothers to lead up their little ones to be blessed by Him. Even the babe in its mother's arms may dwell as under the shadow of the Almighty through the faith of the praying mother. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. If we will live in communion with God, we too may expect the divine Spirit to mold our little ones, even from their earliest moments." The Desire of Ages, 512.
No distinction is made in this paragraph between the blessing of early conversion bestowed on John the Baptist and what our children may enjoy. On the contrary, John the Baptist's experience is quoted to verify the truth that the same blessing is available to every child provided the parents fulfill the specified requirements. The condition is that: "If we will live in communion with God," the promise is that the Holy Spirit will mold our little ones, "even from their earliest moments."
Specifically, what is our earliest moment of existence? It is when our conception takes place! Here is the divinely given promise that the Holy Spirit will fashion the spiritual, moral, and mental faculties from that time forward as He did with John the Baptist.
The point has been made that both Jeremiah and John the Baptist experienced conversion too young for either of them to have been able to make the necessary choice themselves. This is obvious enough seeing that both were as yet unborn at the time. But, it is a law that no human being no matter what the age level, can be blessed with salvation unless a decision to accept it is made by the human being responsible for that individual. God cannot and does not make the decision. He invites us to, but leaves the acceptance entirely with us.
Therefore, if positive steps had to be taken by some intelligent, enlightened, and consecrated human beings before the births of Jeremiah and John the Baptist to ensure that they were converted or sanctified from the womb, who were those individuals? To this question there can be but one answer--their parents, Hilkiah and his wife in the case of Jeremiah, and Zacharias and Elizabeth in the case of John the Baptist. There is in fact no one else who can do it in behalf of another except the parents. If the parents are dead, of if the child has been adopted, then we would expect that the one who has become responsible for the child could make this vital decision for the very young.
Do not overlook the fact that it is not enough to pledge your child's obedience to the law of God. It must be understood that the child can never produce the righteousness of Christ unless the life of Jesus has been implanted in him. Therefore, the parents' very first objective is to ensure that the little one has experienced that true transformation of nature which is the new birth.
It was because Christ had in Him the divine nature that His pledge to obey was a very real and satisfying one, but it must not be forgotten that God had commanded every Israelite boy to undergo the rite of circumcision as the pledge of his obedience to God's law. The Lord never requires the impossible. Therefore, in response to the believer's faith, He supplies all that is necessary for the execution of what He commands. He commanded every Israelite child to pledge obedience. Such behavior was impossible without the spirit of obedience. Therefore, in the command to pledge allegiance to God's laws and principles, was Jehovah's assurance that the necessary qualifications of deliverance from the old man and the installation of the new, would be supplied. Remember that "all His biddings are enablings". Christ's Object Lessons, 333.
In the light of this requirement, it is plain that God expects parents to claim salvation on their children's behalf before the little ones have the capacity to make commitments for themselves.
But, Christian parents who naturally desire nothing so much as salvation for their children, will not regard making this choice for their children as a requirement so much as a wonderful privilege. To know that their prayer of faith can bring spiritual deliverance to their little ones is a most heartening experience. It can only inspire with faith and gratitude, and lead believers to a more dedicated service to God. It is wonderful news and glorious will be the results when the principles are correctly applied.
The most privileged children in human history are those few who were blessed with enlightened and dedicated parents who understood these principles and applied them to their unborn infants in their earliest moments. In this category are listed Jeremiah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and John the Baptist. These are examples, not a comprehensive list, of what all the rest of us might have had and consequently become.
Now that I have come to understand the truth on child salvation, and the tremendous opportunities and advantages with which those who are born again from conception are blessed, I wish with all my soul and the deepest and most intense longings that my father and mother had been enlightened on these truths and had chosen salvation for me at my earliest moments. I notice that no sin is recorded in Scripture against any of the worthies listed above about whom we are sure that they were born again from their earliest moments. How I wish that was the record of my life.
But this is not all that I wish. I look back on my ignorance as a young father and long that I had known these principles and understood my opportunities when my children were conceived. How gladly I would have interceded for them until I knew that each in turn was in fact delivered from the old man, the spirit of disobedience, and blessed with the new man, the spirit of obedience. I weep when I think of the opportunities which are now gone forever, but then I am filled with joy when I think of the opportunities open to young parents today.
Why anyone should ever challenge the right of parents to accept salvation on behalf of their children is a mystery in view of the common parental practice of making a broad range of decisions for their children. Fathers and mothers determine under what religious persuasion their children shall be trained, what schools they shall attend, clothes they shall wear, food they shall eat, friends they shall socialize with, and general habits they shall develop. No one raises any questions about parents making these decisions. In fact, any parent who does not, would be regarded as seriously neglecting his or her responsibilities. So, since all these critical decisions are made by parents on behalf of children too young to make them for themselves, then they ought to be particular to make the most important choice of all--the choosing of salvation.
As the child progressively advances physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually, he gradually develops the capacity to make his own decisions. If born again from his earliest moments and correctly trained, he will make choices in harmony with those made for him by his parents. Thus the options chosen by the growing youngster confirm and consolidate the original consecration made by his elders. Of course, he can choose eventually to reject the way of life, but in view of the Lord's promise, this will not happen. There is a very positive note about the assurance, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.
Some protest that it is unfair to the child to bias his life in a certain direction even if that is the way of life eternal. Instead, he should be left free to choose for himself when he reaches the age when he can intelligently make such a decision.
There is no merit in this proposition for it is impossible for any child to grow to the age of reason on neutral ground with no formative influences working upon him. At conception the spirit of his father the devil is in him. This gives Satan the right to be his educator even from his earliest moments, and you can be certain that the great destroyer will make the most of his opportunities to develop in the growing child the spirit of disobedience, rebellion, selfishness, perversity, and every other evil trait of character. The result is that, by the time he comes to the age of accountability, he has lost all taste for and interest in the ways of righteousness. His interests will lie in the world, its ways, and its pleasures, and, in most cases, it is worse than useless to attempt to capture his attention with matters of eternal consequence. Therefore, if the child is to have any real chance for salvation, he must be claimed for the Lord at the earliest possible moment. Otherwise the possibility of his being saved is very slim as is demonstrated by how few throughout history have responded to and remained true to the gospel. To let him grow up to the age when he can make a decision for himself is virtually condemning him to eternal death.
It needs to be understood that no parent can avoid making a decision for the child when he is still in the womb and cannot make one for himself. Whether you accept or reject the message on child salvation, you will make a choice either to bring the blessing of salvation to your little one, or to leave him, the dependent, trusting child, in bondage to the sin master, a child of Satan, and a student in his school. If it is wrong to decide, without the child's consent, that he be free from sin, then it is also wrong to decide, without his consent, that he remain in bondage to sin. You cannot avoid the responsibility. Even making no decision is a decision--you have decided not to decide!
Picture: If parents do not decide for their children, Satan will.
If the parents do take positive and successful steps to bring deliverance to the child, they have made the correct decision. But they must and will make one or the other. It is unfortunate that parents are not aware of what their options really are and the consequences attending each choice. It is no wonder that the devil has done all he could to keep the subject of child salvation hidden for so long and is still working to keep as many from knowing it as possible.
There are serious implications to the claim that it is unfair to the child to make, before he is even born, the decision on his behalf whereby his spiritual transformation is effected. This calls into question God's fairness and justice in creating Adam and Eve as perfect human beings with no bias toward, nor interest in evil whatsoever. It is to suggest that He should have left them in a void with no loyalty to the one or the other, but with the capacity to evaluate the relative merits and demerits of the two systems, and to accept which ever option was the more appealing to them.
No matter what these objectors may say, the Lord has made provision so that, by living faith and correct procedures, every parent can secure the child's conversion from its earliest moments. When such a possibility is offered, how foolish it would be not to avail one's self of it! Moreover, it is the duty of every mother and father to give their offspring the very best advantages in their warfare with the powers of darkness. "Even before the birth of the child, the preparation should begin that will enable it to fight successfully the battle against evil." The Ministry of Healing, 371.
To know that the Lord has made full provision for our children to be rescued from the cruel power of the evil one, and to be saved from his false education, is the most wonderful tidings that could ever be for parents. Let us then leap for joy and gratitude at the wonderful things the Lord is making known to us. Let those whose children are not yet beyond their care and responsibility, act quickly to make the most of these glorious provisions.
