Where do babies and children go when they die?

This question comes from the deepest sorrow in life. There is no greater sorrow than the death of a child. Handle the person who asks this question very gently. Ask if they have ever experienced this type of loss. Express your deep sympathy.
Assure them there is a Biblical answer to this question. Assure them the child is with the Lord.

Biblical Foundation:

God is the one who forms babies in the womb. Psalms 139:7-17

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me, " Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.

14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

Jeremiah 1:4-5

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

Luke 1:15-16

15 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.

16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

Luke 1:41-44

41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb;
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

43 But why is this granted to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Galatians 1:15-16

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace,

16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,..

God places great value ad worth on the lives of children and poured out His wrath on those who took the lives of children.

Ezekiel 16:20-23

20 "Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured.
Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,

21 that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?

22 And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

23 "Then it was so, after all your wickedness — ' Woe, woe to you!' says the Lord GOD —

Matthew 18:10

"Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels
always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

Luke 17:2

2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea,
than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Matthew 19:13-15

Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray,
but the disciples rebuked them.

14 But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them;
for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.

Mark 10:13-16

Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them;
for of such is the kingdom of God.

15 Assuredly, I say to you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

Matthew 18:3-5

"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

God refers to children as "innocents".

Jeremiah 19:4-7

4 "Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known,
and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents

5(they have also built the high places of Baal,
to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind),

6 therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that this place shall no more be called Tophet
or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies
and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses
I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.

Deuteronomy 1:35-39

35'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I swore to give to your fathers,

36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it,
and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because he wholly followed the LORD.'

37 The LORD was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, 'Even you shall not go in there.

38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there.
Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

39'Moreover your little ones and your children,
who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there;
to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.

Ezekiel 18:20

20 The soul who sins shall die.
The son shall not bear the guilt of the father,
nor the father bear the guilt of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Ecclesiastes 6:3-6

3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many,
but his soul is not satisfied with goodness,
or indeed he has no burial,

I say that a stillborn child is better than he — 4 for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness,

and its name is covered with darkness.
5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything,

this has more rest than that man,

6 even if he lives a thousand years twice — but has not seen goodness.

Joshua 5:4-6

4 Now this is why he did so:
All those who came out of Egypt-all the men of military age-died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt.

5 All the people that came out had been circumcised,
but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not.

6 The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years

until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died,
since they had not obeyed the LORD.
For the LORD had sworn to them
that they would not see the land
that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
NIV

2 Corinthians 5:9-10

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done,
whether good or bad.

Matthew 15:18-20

18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.

19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

20 These are the things which defile a man,

2 Samuel 12:22-23

22 And he said, "While the child was alive,
I fasted and wept; for I said,
'Who can tell whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?'

23 But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?
I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me."

Psalms 23:6

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

Romans 7:7-11

What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
Certainly not!
On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."

8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire.
For apart from the law sin was dead.

9 I was alive once without the law,
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
and by it killed me.

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.