Finding Rest
What Ecclesiastes 6:5 Suggests About Infants Who Die
One of the beauties of Scripture is that it can communicate things without explicitly stating them. The Spirit-inspired authors can be making one explicit point in what they write, but their assumptions about God and the world, or allusions to other passages, reveal more. I think we see this in Ecclesiastes 6:5. This verse has persuaded me more than any other on the perennial question of what happens to children who die before being born or in infancy.
The Main Point
The point Solomon makes in Ecclesiastes 6:1–9 is that searching for satisfaction or relief from the futility of life apart from God in any of the material blessings is a fruitless endeavor. You will die nevertheless and stand in judgment before your Maker. A long life, lots of kids, unmatched wealth—none of it changes what happens after you join the rest of humanity in going to “the one place” (v. 6). Put more simply, the godless search for satisfaction is in vain.
So, that’s what Solomon is saying. But in doing so, he says something more—something not directly related to his primary point (which is why I didn’t mention this directly in the sermon).
So, that’s what Solomon is saying. But in doing so, he says something more—something not directly related to his primary point (which is why I didn’t mention this directly in the sermon).
A Striking Comparison
Solomon underscores the vanity of the godless man searching for satisfaction by saying that this man is worse off than the child who dies before birth (v.3). That man will experience something worse than never having seen the sun. Why is that? Because that child “finds rest rather than he” (v.5).
I believe this statement reveals Solomon’s understanding that a preborn child goes to Heaven. He can’t mean that the child merely “rests in peace,” as in the common euphemism for dying. The godless man dies as well, yet he does not rest.
Solomon’s use of “rest” (the Hebrew word is nachat) is a fitting contrast to his thematic description of life in this world as toil. The child experiences a cessation from toil—deliverance from futility under the sun—while the godless man dies yet continues in toil, remaining under God’s curse.
I believe this statement reveals Solomon’s understanding that a preborn child goes to Heaven. He can’t mean that the child merely “rests in peace,” as in the common euphemism for dying. The godless man dies as well, yet he does not rest.
Solomon’s use of “rest” (the Hebrew word is nachat) is a fitting contrast to his thematic description of life in this world as toil. The child experiences a cessation from toil—deliverance from futility under the sun—while the godless man dies yet continues in toil, remaining under God’s curse.
A Long-Standing Theological Question
Theologians have wrestled with this question throughout history, with many arriving at the same conclusion: that infants are redeemed. Some argue from Romans 1:19-20 for God’s deliverance of such children. Others see a similar affirmation in David’s words after the death of Bathsheba’s son in 2 Samuel 12:23, or in God’s mercy on those lacking the ability of moral discernment in Jonah 4:11. I think we can rightly add Ecclesiastes 6:5 to these passages in persuading us toward that conclusion.
But What of Depravity?
Some object that affirming the salvation of infants undermines the Bible’s teaching on the complete depravity of every person. That, apart from faith in Christ, there is no hope of salvation. This is what makes this question so theologically challenging. But Scripture pulls us in two directions:
But the tension between these two directions is not irreconcilable. I see the resolution chiefly in Ephesians 1:4. God has chosen—he has elected—all who would be holy and blameless before him before the foundation of the world. It is not beyond God to have chosen and elected in Christ all who would die in infancy.
- Passages that pull us to see infants do “find rest”
- Passages that pull the other direction, emphasizing the original sin and utter wickedness we all possess
But the tension between these two directions is not irreconcilable. I see the resolution chiefly in Ephesians 1:4. God has chosen—he has elected—all who would be holy and blameless before him before the foundation of the world. It is not beyond God to have chosen and elected in Christ all who would die in infancy.
My Aim and Hope
My aim in writing this is not to provide the definitive answer—as if I could. There is much more to consider, and (as noted in the links above) there is more reading worth exploring. Neither is my aim to give rock solid assurance to grieving parents. Rather, my aim is to draw your attention to an inference about God and his world in the inspired words of Solomon, and to beckon you to know the Lord more and more through his Word.
He has revealed far more of himself than we often realize. And we will know him and his character more and more as we devote ourselves to reading and studying Scripture.
So, regarding this question of whether infants go to Heaven, let any confidence and assurance rest not in our ability to answer the question perfectly but on God himself. He will do what is good and right. And when we enter into glory, we will rejoice at his wisdom in all that he does.
He has revealed far more of himself than we often realize. And we will know him and his character more and more as we devote ourselves to reading and studying Scripture.
So, regarding this question of whether infants go to Heaven, let any confidence and assurance rest not in our ability to answer the question perfectly but on God himself. He will do what is good and right. And when we enter into glory, we will rejoice at his wisdom in all that he does.