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Season 2, Episode 13
For Wednesday, August 19, 2015
“Biblical Proof that the Fetus is Human”
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Episode Transcript:
Welcome to The New You, where we focus on maintaining and accentuating the new that Christ has created in you. I’m Robert Hatfield, and here is today’s scripture:
Listen, O coastlands, to Me,
And take heed, you peoples from afar!
The LORD has called Me from the womb;
From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name (Isa. 49:1).
Our purpose this week on The New You is to defend the defenseless, namely the unborn. We’ve been discussing abortion, and have already noticed that, scientifically speaking, the fetus in the womb is life – human life. Today, let’s focus our attention upon God’s Word to see what the Bible has to say on the subject of abortion.
We have already noted this week that God hates “hands that shed innocent blood” (Prov. 6:16-17). There is nothing more innocent than a baby – especially an unborn baby. You recall that the ten commandments in the Old Testament stated, “You shall not murder” (Exo. 20:13). Let’s call abortion what it is – it is murder. It is the deliberate taking of human life. It is sin.
In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells Jeremiah that He sanctified the prophet before he was born. God knew Jeremiah even when Jeremiah was still in the womb. It is also of interest to note that Jeremiah was himself in the womb. Had Jeremiah’s mother aborted him, she would have aborted one whom God had sanctified for His service.
In the passage that I read earlier, Isaiah 49:1, Isaiah says that the unborn child is a person prior to his birth. He isn’t just a fetus or an embryo, he is a person. He was even called by name from the womb!
Psalm 139:13-16 is a strong passage in defense of the unborn baby. David says that he was “skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth” (Psa. 139:15). This is a reference to the womb. David was David even when he was in the womb. He refers to himself, and you can’t refer to yourself without referring to a person. David says that unborn babies are humans!
Job, in the midst of all of his suffering, curses the day he was born (Job 3:11). If Job had died in the womb, it would have been the death of a person. Further, Job lists those with whom he would have been counted if he had died at birth. He mentions kings, princes, rulers, and includes “stillborn children,” a reference to miscarriages. Job puts miscarriages in the same category with people who had died. It is clear that Job believes that infants in the womb are people, human beings.
Finally, let’s turn our attention to the New Testament. In Luke 1:36, Mary is told that her relative, Elizabeth, has conceived a son (don’t miss that word which identifies the unborn child). When Mary visits Elizabeth, Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary and “the babe leaped in [Elizabeth’s] womb” (Luke 1:41). Interestingly, the word translated “babe” in this verse is also used in Luke 18:15 and Acts 17:10 to refer to young children or newborn children. It is also used in Luke 2:12, 16 to refer to the newborn Christ child. In all cases, it is used to describe a human.
Let’s wrap it up: The Bible is clear that what is in the womb is human life. To terminate that life through abortion is to murder that unborn child, and, therefore, to sin.
Memory Verse: We’re studying the fourteenth verse of Psalm 139 this week to remind us that God formed us – even from the womb – in a wonderful and marvelous way.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well (Psa. 139:14).
Thanks for listening to The New You. For more information about this show and the other work that we do on The Light Network, visit thelightnetwork.tv. You’ll also find us on Facebook and Twitter. Just search for “The Light Network.” Please subscribe to The New You in iTunes on in your favorite podcast app to automatically receive each new episode. If you enjoy the show, please rate and review the it in iTunes.
Are you attending Polishing the Pulpit this year? If so, be sure to stop by The Light Network’s booth in the exhibit hall (EH2) sometime throughout the week! For more information about our booth and some meet ups that will be taking place, visit thelightnetwork.tv/ptp2015. I’ll look forward to seeing you there!
We have been discussing the physical side this week relative to the life in the womb. Tomorrow, let’s switch over the spiritual side as we answer the question: “Does the fetus have a soul?”. That’s coming up on the next edition of The New You.
