Posted on 12/24/2004 9:27:49 PM PST by Coleus
At this time of year, we focus on Christ's birth, but there is a fascinating incident the Bible describes near the beginning of Jesus' human life, several months prior. It is the Embryonic Jesus Story.
Luke 1 tells about the first person besides Jesus' mother and earthly father who recognized He was extraordinary – Jesus' cousin John, while John was yet a fetus, and Jesus was but an embryo.
When John was a preborn 6-month-old, his Aunt Mary came to visit John's expectant mother Elizabeth, her cousin. Mary was newly pregnant with Jesus.
Luke 1:41 says when Mary greeted Elizabeth, John kicked. Elizabeth told Mary, "The instant I heard your voice, my baby moved in me for joy!"
Elizabeth then prophesied, "You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the child that you will have. I feel blessed that the mother of my Lord is visiting me."
John was later known as John the Baptist. Jesus said John and his role were foreseen in Malachi 3:1: "I am sending my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way in front of you."
Amazingly, John began preparing the way for Jesus at the tender age of six fetal months.
Actually, this was also prophesied. Before John was even conceived, the angel Gabriel told his father Zechariah: "He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born ... He will go ahead of the Lord ... He will prepare the people for their Lord" (Lu. 1:15-17).
On a practical level, we learn from these Scriptures that preborn babies hear, display emotion, communicate intuitively with their mothers, and even launch their life's work.
Science has corroborated babies hear as early as 20 weeks, which the Bible knew several thousand years ago, and most mothers say they bond with their preborn babies.
But can fetuses really show emotion and begin fulfilling their destiny? The incident described in Luke wasn't the first biblical account of fetuses displaying dispositions.
Genesis 25 tells about Rebekah and the twins she was carrying, Jacob and Esau. Verses 21-22 say: "When the children inside her were struggling with each other, she said, 'If it's like this now, what will become of me?'"
The Lord answered her: "Two countries are in your womb. Two nations will go their separate ways from birth. One nation will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger" (verse 23).
The struggles between the boys began in utero. The younger Jacob was born "with his hand holding on to Esau's heel." Jacob later claimed Esau's birthright, and God changed his name to Israel. The hostilities between the stronger Israelites and the weaker Edomites came to pass. Jacob's prenatal propensity for "struggling" lasted his entire life. He once even physically wrestled God (Genesis 32:22-32).
Genesis 38:27-30 tells about another set of fetal twins: "As [Tamar] was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, 'This one came out first.' But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, 'Is this how you burst into the world!' He was named Perez (Bursting Into). After that his brother was born with the red yarn on his hand. He was named Zerah (Sunrise)."
Tamar's firstborn son, Perez, was an ancestor of God's firstborn son, Jesus (Matthew 1:3, Luke 3:33).
Yes, a person's mark on the world begins prenatally. David said in Psalm 22:10, "From the womb you have been my God." Paul said in Galatians 1:15, "... God ... appointed me before I was born ..." Conversely, Psalm 58:3 says, "Even inside the womb wicked people are strangers to God."
God does want the best for us. Just as he told Jeremiah in 1:5, he tells us, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work."
God's plan for each egg, sperm, embryo, fetus, baby, child and adult are beyond our human capacity to comprehend. Ecclesiastes 11:5 says: "Just as you don't know how the breath of life enters the limbs of a child within its mother's womb, you also don't understand how God, who made everything, works."
The angel Gabriel made another prediction to Zechariah about his son John, saying, "He will change parents' attitudes toward their children."
I pray John's part in the Embryonic Jesus Story will do just that regarding some attitudes previously accepting of abortion.
WOW! Powerful! Thank you for posting this story.
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas and God Bless
For a number of years I have thought that pro-life Christians (that should be ALL Christians) should make a much bigger deal out of the feast of the Annunciation on March 25 -- exactly nine months before Christmas.
After all, the incarnation began, not at Christmas but at the miracle of Jesus' conception.
Unfortunately, when I was a Protestant, I thought feasts like that were just about Mary. They are really about our Lord.
Let's move the celebration to March 25 and not tell the secularists! It'll drive them crazy :-)
Thanks for the pics and music
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas J
Yes, it would and you're right Jesus became human and flesh when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and grew in his mother's womb just like the rest of us.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-5, 14)
I like it!
http://www.lutheransforlife.org/Catalog/christmas.htm
It emphasizes that Jesus was once a zygote. Pastor actually had a very large box, beautifully wrapped that children unwrapped. Inside the large box was a small box and a smaller box, etc. Eventually was a very small box the size of a ring box and inside was a very tiny 7 week old embryo. The children saw that all body parts are formed at 7 weeks. Pastor emphasized that that is what Jesus looked like at seven weeks and that is what the children looked like at seven weeks.
Merry Christmas to all Freepers and to Jim Robinson and family.
WOW! Powerful! Thank you for posting this story.
Merry Christmas
You're welcome. It made for a very memorable Christmas Eve service.
>inside was a very tiny 7 week old embryo
Wow, where did he come across those? LOL
Seriously, that is very good and puts things into perspective for adults and kids too.
Oops. I should have said a model of a 7 week embryo. My bad.
Maronite Divine Liturgy
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
She's not the first person I heard this from this year...and funny how it never struck me before. Wrote the following about it a bit earlier this month:
Interesting to think
that in this day
where the unborn
are simply fetuses,
tissues unworthy of consideration
except at the whim of their mother,
that it was the unborn John,
leaping in his mother's womb
who was the first
to salute
in the presence of Jesus?
O Lord,
help us to see
that even the unborn
are not unknown to you,
and have value
as children made in your image.
Amen.
KAC, 12/19/2004
Did you follow the news story this week of the "fetus" cut from its mother's womb by another woman. The media were so confused as to how to report the story. Following the brutal slaying of the birth mother, an Amber alert was issued for a "Missing Fetus". Shortly after that, the MSM reported that the "baby" was now safe in a hospital where she was being evaluated. Was it a fetus or a baby? The MSM is still trying to figure this out while we remain fully confident that this was the child of the murdered woman.
Christmas Blessings to you and your family!
Excellent post. Thank you!
Hear the audio of the quote at http://www.cpforlife.org/id51.htm
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