The prophet Daniel spoke of this time in Daniel 12:1-2, “At THAT TIME Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a TIME OF TROUBLE, such as never was since there was a nation, even to THAT TIME. And at THAT TIME your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book” (NKJV). Daniel is writing about his people (the Jewish nation) and when he refers to “that time” he is referring to the “end of the Jewish age” just before Jesus Christ returns as their Messiah to deliver them from their enemies and to establish His kingdom on earth. In Daniel 9:20-27 he was given a prophecy we call “The prophecy of 70 weeks” (each week being a “week of 7 years”). 69 weeks have already been fulfilled but someday the 70th week will begin (verse27) and that is “end of the Jewish age.” It will be a “time of trouble” and that’s why we call it the Tribulation Period. As we saw in Daniel 12:1 the world has never seen such tribulation before. The Lord Jesus referred to this prophecy of the 70th week and the “time of trouble” in Matthew 24:15-21 which reads: “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But WOE TO THOSE WHO ARE PREGNANT AND TO THOSE WHO ARE NURSING BABIES IN THOSE DAYS!  And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For THEN THERE WILL BE GREAT TRIBULATION, SUCH AS HAS NOT BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD UNTIL THIS TIME, no, nor ever shall be.”

The Lord’s words about this “time of trouble (tribulation)” are nearly identical to what we read in Daniel 12:1 so we have every right to believe they are speaking of the same time period; the Tribulation Period which will last seven years. Revelation 6:1-18:24 goes into detail describing the horrors of this “time of trouble” which will end with the coming of Christ to earth to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-20:6). Did you notice the words I capitalized in Matthew 24:18? I’ll quote them again, “Woe to those who are PREGNANT and to those who are NURSING BABIES in those days.” There, dear friend, is the answer to your question. There will indeed be children born during the Tribulation Period. It will be an awful time to have children yet women will be found with child and others will deliver their babies and need to nurse them, and we see in this verse that they will be forced to run for their lives as soon as they see or hear of the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy temple in Jerusalem (see Daniel 9:27; 12:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; along with Revelation 13:11-17).

What will happen to the children that are born during that “time of trouble?” Some will no doubt die in one of the many catastrophic judgments outlined in Revelation but if they do, they will automatically go to heaven. How do we know that? Because we read in Matthew 18:14, “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” The Lord Jesus died to save them and if they die before reaching the “age of accountability” His death has guaranteed them a place in heaven. When King David’s infant son died, he could say, “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” (2 Samuel 12:23). David knew he was going to heaven and he knew that he would see his son again, for he knew he had gone to heaven. If children have not reached the “age of accountability” and they survive the Tribulation Period, they will no doubt enter the Kingdom that Christ will establish. I should mention in closing that there will also be children born during the 1,000-year kingdom period for in Psalm 22:22-31 we have that period described and in verse 31 we read, “They will come and declare His righteousness to A PEOPLE WHO WILL BE BORN, that He has done this.”  (DO)  (636.3)