Children Continue to Age in Heaven

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

(Hebrews 12:22-23)

In the passage above, the apostle Paul identifies three categories of God’s creation that currently reside in heaven: the angels, the saints (the church), and the spirits of just men made perfect. The question then arises—who are “the spirits of just men made perfect”? A more accurate translation of this phrase would be the spirits of the innocent made complete.

In other words, Paul is referring to the children of God, for Scripture declares that God deems all children innocent (Psalm 106:37–38). When Paul speaks of their spirits being “made complete,” he means that the spirits of children continue to mature in heaven until they reach the age of completeness—or, more precisely, spiritual and personal maturity.

Therefore, when a foetus dies, its spirit does not remain in that undeveloped state for eternity. Instead, it continues to grow and mature in heaven until it reaches the fullness of maturity.

We have previously established that the spirits of saints who die between the ages of thirteen and thirty continue to age in heaven until they reach the age of thirty, thus qualifying them to serve as priests in the age to come. In a similar way, the spirits of children continue to age in heaven until they reach the age of maturity.

The next question is: what does heaven consider to be the age of maturity? To answer this, we look again to the Old Covenant, where the Lord set the age of twenty as the threshold of maturity (Exodus 30:14).

Thus, all children who die continue to grow and age in heaven until they reach the age of twenty, at which point God suspends the aging process.

As for why the age of twenty is considered the age of maturity for God’s children—the significance of that will become clear when we later discuss the future of God’s children in the age to come.

Differences between the saints and children

Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 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. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

(Mark 10:13-16)

There are several similarities between children and the saints. For example, both ascend into heaven when they die, and both “fall asleep” in death. Nevertheless, children and saints are not the same, and for that reason, they will experience separate resurrections and distinct futures. In this section, we will consider some of the differences between the saints and children.

The primary difference lies in how each gains access to the kingdom of God. In the passage above, Jesus declares that children are already in the kingdom. The reason is clear: their spirits are born of God, and therefore they are His children.

The saints, on the other hand, must be born again to become children of God. This new birth occurs when the believer’s spiritually dead old man is crucified with Christ (Romans 6:6), baptized into His death (Romans 6:3), and made alive together with Him (Ephesians 2:5), thus becoming a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). In other words, the saints are members of the body of Christ—the church (Colossians 1:18).

Children, however, have never died spiritually; therefore, they have not been crucified with Christ, baptized into His death, made alive together with Him, or become new creations in Him. In other words, children are not members of the body of Christ, the church.

Another key difference is that the saints will stand before the Lord Jesus to give an account of their lives. Scripture teaches that the saints will be judged (Romans 14:10), whereas the children of God will never face judgment, for God declares that they have no knowledge of good and evil (Deuteronomy 1:39).

There are further distinctions between the saints and the children of God, which we will explore in more detail later in this teaching.

The number of children in heaven

Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."

(1 Kings 19:18)

I will conclude this section by addressing the number of children currently in heaven. Earlier, we referred to the above passage to illustrate the contrast between the number of believers and unbelievers. In that discussion, we estimated that of the approximately 130 billion people who have lived and died since Adam, around 300 million—representing the saints—are in heaven, while roughly 105 billion unbelievers are in hell.

In that same analysis, I noted that the total of 130 billion includes about 25 billion children. Thus, the number of children in heaven today is vastly greater than the number of saints. This remarkable disparity between the Lord’s saints and His children becomes more understandable when we examine the New Jerusalem and the new earth.

Michael E.B. Maher

Resurrection of the Dead

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