By
Shelby G. Floyd
Credit: Google Images
Luke 1:39-45
39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 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. 45 Blessed is she who [a]believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
NKJV
After the angel announced to Mary that she would conceive a child of the Holy Spirit, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was six months with child (Luke 1:36). When Mary arrived and greeted Elizabeth, twice it is said that “the baby leaped in her womb”—that is in the womb of Elizabeth (Luke 1:41, 44). Thus the baby who would later be born and known as John the Baptist, leaped and figuratively greeted Mary and the baby she was carrying-the “babe” to be known as Jesus!
The word “baby” translates the Greek word “brephos” and is defined in two ways: First, it is used only in the two references cited as, “an unborn child, embryo, fetus: Luke 1:41, 44.”—Thayer, p. 105. Secondly, it refers to “a new-born child, an infant, a babe: Luke 2:12, 16; 18:15; Acts 7:19; 1 Peter 2:2.”—Thayer, p. 105.
Thus in the biblical text the same term is used to describe a fetus—unborn child and a new-born child. Therefore life begins at conception and continues through all the stages of human growth and development until the day we die. The human life begins at conception and ends at the cemetery (Hebrews 9:27.) Politically and socially we recognize a person after the baby is born, receives a name, a social security number, a photo and an address, etc. But biblically, God recognizes and knows everything about us from the time we are formed in the bosom of the womb until we are in the bosom of the earth. Thus we are at different stages of growth and development from conception to the grave.
David declared that God was aware of his individual person in the earliest stages of his “unformed substance” or “undeveloped embryo,”
Psalms 139:15-16
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
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.
NKJV
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt dealt treacherously with the infant children of the Israelites: “This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live” (Acts 7:19).
In New Testament times, wicked Herod put to death the new born babes and little babies up to two years old and fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Micah:
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent soldiers and executed all the children in Bethlehem and in all the region around it from the age of two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, saying,
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she did not want to be comforted,
because they exist no longer.”
(Matthew 2:16-18 LEB)
Pray for all the mothers of “babes” and “babies” today! The gender neutralists are promoting calling newborn babies “theybies!” They are and always will be “baby boys” and “baby girls!”
Copyright © 2018 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved
Shelby G. Floyd
Heartland Church of Christ
1693 West Main Street
Greenwood, Indiana 46142