Isaiah 49:1 … Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

Jeremiah 1:4-5 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Tragedy struck Oxford High School in Detroit, Michigan yesterday when a 15 year old boy shot and killed three people, and injured 8 others. News journalists wring their hands while calling for stricter gun control legislation. The problem is not the guns. The problem is that life is not reverenced in America. Children watch wanton killing on television, and play video games that reward blowing away opponents. Life is advertised as cheap, throw away, of no matter. That is so sad.

Part of the problem started in the midst of America’s sexual revolution and free love generation. Life became cheapened when, in 1973, Roe v. Wade became the law of our land. Legalized abortion became further entrenched in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case. Since Roe became the Law of our land there have been over 62 million abortions. From 1975 – 2012 our nation saw more than one million abortions each year. What a tragic waste of life!

In 2018 Mississippi passed a state law known as the
“Gestational Age Act”

… that banned the abortion procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Law was immediately challenged by the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion provider in Mississippi. Lower courts suspended the law’s impementation pending appeal (per 1440 news digest). This Law TODAY is undergoing examination by our U.S. Supreme Court.

I now quote an article entitled “Why Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban is the one heading to the Supreme Court”:

“the biggest threat to Roe {v.Wade}now sits before the high court: Mississippi’s 2018 law, which bars abortions after 15 weeks, with narrow exceptions for medical emergencies or “severe” fetal abnormalities. In May, the Supreme Court agreed to review the law by taking up the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It will hear arguments in the case on Dec. 1, (today, Wednesday, December 1, 2021)and a decision is expected next June.”

John Stonestreet and Glenn Sunshine writing for Breakpoint Daily write: “If the court decides the law should stand, the power to determine and limit abortion rights would effectively be returned to the states.” Bill Johnson for Americandecency.org notes, “The president of the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights acknowledges … ‘The court cannot uphold this law in Mississippi without overturning Roe’s core holding.’”

Abortion is not a private matter. The death of a child, whether viable or not, hurts all of America.

Every child has potential to become someone great, to do something great in technology, medicine, the arts, religion, or science. As Clint Eastwood said in the movie Unforgiven:

“… killing a man. You take away all he’s got
and all he’s ever gonna have.”

The fundamental question that the Supreme Court examined in Roe v. Wade is the viability of the fetus. “Viability” is defined as the moment the fetus can live outside the womb on it’s own. When the fetus is nonviable, the Law does not consider the fetus a person requiring protection under the Constitution. The decision in Roe noted:

“Viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks”.

“With respect to the State’s important and legitimate interest in potential life, the ‘compelling’ point is at viability. This is so because the fetus then presumably has the capability of meaningful life outside the mother’s womb. State regulation protective of fetal life after viability thus has both logical and biological justifications. ” {emphasis mine}

In short, if the fetus is nonviable then it may be aborted, but viable may only be aborted in order to save the life of the mother. Here’s my question: What has GOD said?

The Fetus Has Purpose

When God spoke of two of His greatest Prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, God considered both viable on the basis of His eternal purpose. God told Jeremiah (1:5):

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations”

According to law and medicine, the fetus is not viable before certain organs are formed. But according to God, He “knew” Jeremiah before he was formed in the belly. God had a plan for Jeremiah when he was but a fertilized egg in his mother. Before Jeremiah was born, God “sanctified” him, that is, God set him apart to be a Prophet. Similarly God told Isaiah (49:1):

“from the bowels of my mother hath
{God} made mention of my name”

God puts no time limit on the viability of either of these Prophets. They were to God viable, and were designed by God with a purpose greater that just being alive. The Psalmist David wrote:

Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV) For you {O Lord} formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a] Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

David said of God that “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me”. According to American Law, David was nonviable. But according to God, while David would have been considered “unformed substance” God included him in His Book of Life. Every child has purpose. The Prophet Job told God:

Job 10:11-12 (ESV) You {O God} clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

The Fetus Is More Than Mere Tissue

As we come into this special time of the year, we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though it is true we do not know exactly when Jesus was born, we celebrate the fact that the Son of God became the Son of Man to save us from our sins. One of the most interesting pro-life Scriptures is found in Luke chapter 1. Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 1.

Luke 1:5-11 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. 8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, 9 According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. 11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

This couple, Zacharias and Elisabeth, were both believers in the Lord. Both loved God. Zacharias himself was a priest whose lineage was about to end. His wife was unable to have children. But God intervened. God sent the Angel Gabriel to Zacharias with a message:

Luke 1:13-17 … Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of {Elijah}, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

God promised that when the Messiah came, that the Messiah would have a Herald that would go before Him (Isaiah 40:3-5; Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:5). This was the one we know as John the Baptist. John had purpose before he was ever formed in his mother’s womb. John was empowered, “filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb”.

When you read Luke carefully, you can see that God carefully orchestatrated the birth of John with the birth of Jesus Christ. We are told:

Luke 1:24-25 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, 25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

“After those days”, that is, after Gabriel spoke to Zacharias, “Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months”. I suspect Elisabeth hid herself to protect the forming child, as she was advanced in years. Note the next verse:

Luke 1:26-27 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

As we were told Elisabeth hid herself 5 months and, in the next verse, “in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent”, the two are connected. God waited until Elisabeth was six months pregnant before He sent Gabriel to speak to Mary about her miraculous coming birth. The Angel Gabriel told Mary:

Luke 1:30-33 … Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Mary became pregnant with the Messiah six months from the time Elisabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist, the Herald of Christ.

This is not a coincidence, but carefully planned by God. Both of these fetuses, John and Jesus, had a wonderful destiny planned by God the Father. Once the Angel explains to Mary that:

Luke 1:35 … The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Gabriel goes on to tell Mary about Elisabeth’s coming birth:

Luke 1:36-37 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Mary willingly surrendered to the plan of God … and IMMEDIATELY traveled to be with her cousin Elisabeth. Mary would stay with Elisabeth “about three months” (Luke 1:56), helping her prepare for the birth of John. But here’s what’s interesting. When Mary enters the house of Zacharias, and salutes Elisabeth,

Luke 1:41-44 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

As soon as Elisabeth heard Mary’s voice, John the Baptist, still in his mother’s belly, testified that Mary was the “mother of the Lord”. John was in his 24^th week, and obviously was viable. But note this.

The fetus in Mary at this time could have only been a few days old – and yet the yet unborn John recognized Jesus as viable. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it! Both John and Jesus were “viable” and had purpose according to God’s standard. And isn’t that the standard we should follow?

As a Church I am calling on us all to pray for the Supreme Court of the United States, and for this nation. I call on every believer to pray that this travesty of abortion be ended I our land. Overturning Roe v. Wade will not end abortion, but return the question to the states where each citizen can have their say. My prayer is that the practice of abortion, like the practice of slavery, will become relegated to the pages of our sad history. I am praying that we will all begin to understand that life matters – especially in the womb. May God the Holy Spirit lead us all to a return to righteousness. Amen and Amen.