There is ample evidence in the Bible that God views human life differently than He does any other life form. One presidential candidate recently said, “I will be a president to the animals, too, because I stand for animal rights.” There are people who have waged war with their city hall in order to save a tree. I came home from fishing, one day, and I showed my little 5 year old grand daughter the fish that swimming around in the live well of my boat. When I came with a pan and a knife, she demanded to know what I was going to do. You would have thought those fish were an extension of her own body, the way she carried on. I tried to explain to her that God gave us fish, so that we could eat them, but she said, “No, God gave us hamburgers to eat, but not fish!” I very much believe in being a good steward of the earth in which we live, and I do not believe that we should destroy anything, just for the sake of being destructive, but I also understand that God has given all the creation of the earth for the benefit of His highest earthly creation, mankind.
Jeremiah says, in verse 4 of this text, “The word of the Lord came to me...” Isn’t that the final authority in all things, what the word of the Lord has to say about it? In the final analysis, when the supreme court stand before the court that is really supreme, and when we stand there, and the books are opened, does it not seem reasonable that one of those books will be the word of the Lord, the Bible? What we have in the next verse, verse 5, is the word of the Lord concerning Jeremiah, before he was ever born. So, we learn something about preborn human life from this text. Let me show some things that we learn:
PEOPLE HAVE PREBORN, EVEN PRECONCEIVED, IDENTITY WITH GOD
God told Jeremiah that He knew him before he was even conceived in the womb. God knew who he was, and He knew what He had planned for him to do.
People have learned that the terminology they use affects the way they think about a thing. I asked a hunter, some time back, if he had killed a deer, this season. He said, “I don’t call it ‘killing a deer,’ I use the terminology, ‘taking a deer.’” But you know what? Whether he kills it or takes it, the deer is equally dead! Those who have championed the continued legalization of abortion, do not refer to the child in the womb as a baby, but rather a fetus, tissue, or embryo. But, you ask one of these ladies, who are looking forward to the birth of their child, and they will tell you in a heartbeat that it is a baby they are carrying. I asked an expectant mother if she had found out what her baby was going to be? She smiled and said, “If you mean boy or girl, this baby is never going to be more boy or girl than he is right now. The short answer to your question is, ‘he’s a boy.’” I said, “Yes ma’am, I stand corrected.”
IT IS GOD WHO FORMS BABIES IN THE WOMB
The word, “formed,” in this verse, is the same word in Genesis 2:7, where the Bible says, “So God formed man from the dust of the earth...” When God made Adam, it was a purposeful act of His creation, and the same thing is true of every baby in the womb, according to the Bible. That’s how big, powerful, and wise God is, and that’s how important every individual is.
In my judgement, the most plain spoken passage in the Bible on this subject, is Psalm 139:13-16, which tells us that each of us is a designer model, designed by God, Himself. When we get through asking all our questions, we just need to know that God knows what He’s doing, and that He always loves us.
Somebody might say, “Well, I was not planned, and my parent’s didn’t want me, and they gave me away.” God planned you, He wants you, and He will in no wise cast you out. But, before you get too down on your biological parents, you need to remember that you were not aborted, but that you have been given life, and for that you can always be thankful to them. Someone else might say, “I was born under terrible circumstances. My mother was raped, and I was conceived as a result of that terrible act.” It is certainly not the will of God for a woman to be raped, but it was God who formed you in the womb, and your being born has turned out to be a way that God has brought good out of bad.
There is a song that says, “When He was on the Cross, I was on His mind. He knew me, yet He loved me...” Is that true? Yes, according to Jeremiah 1:5, and other verses in the Bible, that’s true. When He was on the Cross, He had to look down through almost 2,000 years in order to know you, but that’s exactly what He did!
BEFORE PEOPLE ARE BORN, GOD ALREADY HAS A PLAN FOR THEM
Jeremiah was set apart and appointed for the job he was going to do. Now, Hilkiah and his wife didn’t know that, when they found out they were going to have a baby. Jeremiah didn’t know that, when he was a little boy playing in the yard. None of the uncles, aunts, cousins, or neighbors knew that, but God knew it. And, you can make an iron-clad biblical case that God has a plan and purpose for every person’s life.
God knows His plan for us, and He sees to it that our life is preparation to carry out that plan. I had no idea, until I was in my late 20s, that God’s plan was for me to be a preacher, but God knew it. When I was a door to door salesman, knocking on doors, I thought I was just trying to make a living, but God was training me for church visitation. When I was standing before a group of salesmen, trying to motivate them to sell more, I thought I was just trying to help everybody have a mind set to make more money, but God was training me for preaching. You can probably see how God has used the experiences of your life to train you, as well.
God has an appointed time for people to die, according to Hebrews 9:27. Whether we are talking about old people in the hospital or the nursing home, or a baby in the womb, when they die is not our call, it’s God’s. I believe we have a God given responsibility to protect the innocent and the helpless, at every stage of life, don’t you?
They tell me the abortion numbers are being reduced, and I’m glad of that, but the truth is, any abortions are too many. Here’s what you can do: make a commitment, now, that you will never get an abortion, and that you will never counsel anyone else to do so. If you have had an abortion, or if you have counseled someone to have an abortion, realize the sinfulness of that action, repent of it, and receive the forgiveness that God has provided for you through Jesus’ death on the Cross. If you know someone who might be contemplating abortion, befriend her, and come to her aid emotionally and financially. Jesus said, “As much as you have done it unto the least of one of these, my little ones, you have done it unto Me.”
