What will happen to children when the Rapture happens?

Options:

1. All children will be raptured?

2. No children will be raptured, but will be given the opportunity to hear andrespond in faith and repentance to the gospel,
or to reject it, during the Tribulation period.

3. The children of Christians will be raptured with their believing parent/parents,the children of unbelievers will not be raptured but will be given the opportunity to hear and respond in faith and repentance to the gospel, or to reject it,

during the Tribulation period.

4. The children of Christians will be raptured
with their believing parent/parents,
the children of unbelievers will not be raptured,
and will be given the opportunity to hear the gospel, but they will reject the gospel.

Scriptures for consideration for #1 and #2

See Study Guide on "What happens to children when they die"?

Scriptures for consideration for #3 and #4

1. In Genesis 6-7 when God brings judgment upon the world for their sinfulness,
He destroys all humanity except for Noah and his family
for Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

As part of this judgment all the children of the earth, except Noah's, died under God's judgment.

2. In Genesis 18-19 when God brought judgment upon Sodom because of its great sin, the entire population,
which would have included children, was destroyed.
God delivered "righteous Lot" and his daughters,

before the rained down His judgment.

3. We read in Numbers 16:20-35 when God moved in judgment against Korah's rebellion:

20 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 21 "Separate yourselves from among this congregation,

that I may consume them in a moment."
22 Then they fell on their faces, and said, "O God,
the God of the spirits
of all flesh, shall one man sin, and You be angry
with all the congregation?"
23 So the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
24 "Speak to the congregation, saying,
'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'" 25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying,
"Depart now from the tents of these wicked men!
Touch nothing of theirs,

lest you be consumed in all their sins."
27 So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out
and stood at the door of their tents,
with their wives, their sons, and their little children.

28 And Moses said:"By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will.

29 If these men die naturally like all men,
or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.

30 But if the LORD creates a new thing,
and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them,
and they go down alive into the pit,
then you will understand
that these men have rejected the LORD."

31 Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking
all these words,
that the ground split apart under them,
32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah,

with all their goods.
33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished
from among the assembly.
34 Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry,
for they said,

"Lest the earth swallow us up also!"
35 And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.

NKJV

4. In Joshua 7 when God brought judgment upon Achan for his sin,
God had Achan and his household stoned
and then they were burned.

5. In Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 20, Judges 20,
God gives instructions to His people to go into
enemy occupied lands where they worshipped false gods,
and commanded His people to kill every living being in the land including children.

6. 1 Corinthians 7:14 says,

14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean,
but now they are holy. NKJV

Now, I will not give the full interpretation of this passage, and I will not deal with the full context of this passage, but for the purposes of shedding some Biblical light
on the subject of our study,

I will just point out, there is a benefit given
to children of a believing parent.
They are the beneficiary of blessings of God that God bestows on their believing parent,
and they are also much more likely to hear
the message of the Gospel
and to see that Gospel lived out before them.

7. Romans 9:6-23 says,
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect.

For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but,
"In Isaac your seed shall be called."
8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh,
these are not the children of God;
but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For this is the word of promise:
"At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son."

10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
11(for the children not yet being born,
nor having done any good or evil,

that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works but of Him who calls),
12 it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."
13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."

14 What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy
on whomever I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever
I will have compassion."

16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh,
"For this very purpose I have raised you up,

that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills,
and whom He wills He hardens.

19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"

20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it,
"Why have you made me like this?"
21 Does not the potter have power over the clay,

from the same lump to make one vessel for honor
and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath
and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

The Answer to the Question.

We must remember that the Tribulation period,
which follows the Rapture,
is a time when God pours out His divine wrath and judgment on a sinful world, and in particular on the nation of Israel which rejected their Messiah and Savior.

In the end, all we can do is to understand the options.

In the end, we trust the perfect character of God.
God is sovereign; He is in control of all things; He is Lord of all. God is gracious, merciful, loving, and good.
God is Holy, just, righteous, and wrathful.

God will handle children and the rapture in a way that is right, consistent with His divine nature.