Grace and mercy - all children go to heaven.
Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from
twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. Exodus 30:14
God commanded those who were twenty years old and above to pay a ransom for their souls because anyone nineteen years and below were consider by God to be children and were under the protective head of the household. If he was only nineteen he was not old enough to pay a ransom for his own soul, he was still covered under his fathers ransom.
God will confirm this again in two other places of scripture. I am a firm believer in the "two witness theory," which is that there should be at least two scriptures to verify any Bible teaching that we use.
He decided to punish them by allowing them to die in the Wilderness. Israel was condemned to wander for the next forty years in the Wilderness while these people died. But God did not sentence everyone to die in the Wilderness. Along with Joshua, Caleb and their families he spared the children of those that had sinned against him. Anyone who was twenty years and older was condemned to die in the Wilderness because God held them accountable for their sin against him. But God in his mercy spared the children. Anyone who was nineteen years and under were spared and not held accountable because God saw them as children. Here are some of the scriptures to confirm this.
Num 14:29: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from
twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
We can tell that he would destroy those who were twenty and older and spare those who were nineteen years and younger but, how does this prove accountability? Maybe he just picked a random number to spare and went by that? Well lets look in Deuteronomy and see what it says concerning their accountability.
Deuteronomy 1:39 Moreover your
little ones, which ye said should be a prey,
and your children, which in that day
had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
This scripture is speaking of the same thing that we just read about in
Numbers 14:29. It is speaking of all Israel who was considered by the Lord to not be held accountable for the sins of Israel. In this verse he says because they had no knowledge between good and evil. This clearly shows us that in Gods view anyone who is under twenty years old is insufficient when it comes to making decisions about what is good and evil. He did not hold them accountable for themselves.