By
Shelby G. Floyd
The Lord God called Jeremiah to be a prophet to rebellious Israel and her treacherous sister Judah! God’s people had rebelled and were worshiping idols and committing the immoralities of those who did know God. It was the job of Jeremiah to call their hand. God let Jeremiah know that he and everyone is known before they are formed in the womb:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV)
Human life and indeed all life begin in conception, continue through development, birth and ceases at death. This concept is revealed throughout divine revelation. It is most conspicuous when the “Word” became flesh and the Perfect Man entered our world (John 1:1-4; 1:14, 18).
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: “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren” (Luke 1:36). When Mary arrived and greeted Elizabeth, there was great joy within Elizabeth: “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” (Luke 1:41). Then Elizabeth explained to Mary:
“For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1:44).
Twice it is said that “the baby leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:41, 44). “Babe” or “Baby” translates the Greek word “brephos” and is defined in two ways. (1) First, it is used only in the two references cited as, “an unborn child, embryo, fetus: Lk. 1:41, 44.”—Thayer, p. 105. (2) Secondly, it refers to “a new-born child, an infant, a babe: Lk. 2:12, 16; 18:15; Acts 7:19; 1 Pet. 2:2.”—Thayer, p. 105.
A Mother’s Song
It is at this point in the conversation with Elizabeth her cousin, that Mary sings her song of joy and love that the lord God chose her to bring Son of God into the world to be our Savior (Luke 1:46-55).
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. But Biblically, God recognizes and knows everything about us from the time we are formed in the womb until we are in the bosom of the earth.
David, declared that God was aware of his individual person in the earliest stages of his “unformed substance” or “undeveloped embryo,”
“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” (Psalms 139: 15-16).
Pharaoh, Herod and Hitler’s destruction of the innocent children pales when we recognize that millions of embryos and unborn babies are aborted each year. Let us speak up for those who have no voice.
Copyright © 2020 Shelby G. Floyd, All Rights Reserved
Shelby G. Floyd
Heartland Church of Christ
1693 West Main Street
Greenwood, Indiana 46142
shelby@thefloyds.net