We are about to approach a most delicate of subjects concerning the lives of children that were taken from this world through the most unfortunate of circumstances. These little ones being totally helpless and defenseless when their lives were cut short are by no means forever extinguished, but as we shall learn from the scriptures, are very much alive today in the presence of God, in bodies of eternal life that can never be cut short again. The gravity of such a subject as this is so very important to look into, as many a parent has faced the loss of a child through miscarriage and stillborn, whilst others have lost their infants soon after birth, or in their ignorance aborted a child without understanding how precious the life of a child is in the sight of the Lord.
The loss of a child through any of the aforementioned circumstances is a great tragedy, and the pain and hurt of such a loss can stay with us a lifetime and develop into bitterness and unforgiveness toward ourselves and others if we do not bring our weighted hearts before the Lord Jesus, so that He can minister to us out of the pages of His holy Word and bring healing to us.
We are members of a fallen race, and the residual fallout of the Fall appears all around us in so many forms. It is because of sin in the Garden of Eden that so many young lives have been lost throughout the ages. None of this is God’s fault, nor should God be questioned in an accusatory manner as to why He would have allowed this to happen. It is true that God foresaw all things, but God did warn his first children (Adam and Eve) to stay away from the satanic Tree of Knowledge which by deception would introduce so much heartache into the world. God has always been a responsible and caring Father towards His children, but unfortunately, it was one of His children (Eve) who failed to heed His instructions, and this in turn sent the entire creation into a downward spiral of death and destruction. If anyone is to be blamed for all the death and suffering in the world, it is Satan, not God. God does not take babies because He needs them in Heaven. The truth of the matter is that the pain and problem of death exist on this planet because humanity has broken its trust with the treasure of life.
The Bible employs the loveliest of terminology in describing the joy of childbirth, the meaningfulness of parenthood, and the desirability of a family. This we see in Psalm 127: 3 – 5: Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Life is sacred in the sight of God, and the bringing forth of life into this world is not without purpose. The parents of the stillborn or the newly born who die, the miscarrying mother and the maternal victim of abortion are all parents of children who were designed for a lifetime of purpose, but whose lives were cut short.
If the fetus of the unborn or lifeless body of the stillborn were just some chemistry or tissue, then there is little at stake to be concerned about; however, we learn from the scriptures that this is not so, for we read in Genesis 25: 21 – 23 that the unborn fetus’ of Jacob and Esau were very much alive in the womb of Rebekah and were destined to become nations: And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. We do not need to visit a laboratory to see for ourselves if life truly begins at conception, for the Word of God has already established that fact for us.
In the creation of Adam described in Genesis 2: 7, we learn about the intent of God in putting man on the earth: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. God breathed into Adam “chayeem” or lives (plural). The use of the plural reveals that man was not to just enjoy the experience of life, but that he has in him the capacity to beget more life. Each time the conception of a child occurs, God does not have to take separate action to infuse the fertilized ovum with life. Life is inherently present, instantaneously/spontaneously always there, because God delegated “lives” to man for propagation in the beginning.
Both man and woman have been put on the earth as stewards of life-begetting potential, and each contribute his or her share toward the multiplication process. Another life begins in the instant those cells conjoin by the union of sperm and egg, thus the practice of birth control is permissible because a new life is not formed until conception has taken place. But when conception has taken hold, the willful extinguishing of that life is in no ways an acceptable nor permissible method of birth control. The Bible shows us that the frequency of conception can be controlled, but once life is conceived, it cannot and should not be taken at human will.
David wrote so eloquently about the complex beauty of conception and the care the Lord has taken in the development of a new life. From its earliest beginning, God is beside the child, to help it and to keep it. Psalm 139: 13 – 16: For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
David’s mention of the book in which all our members were written undoubtedly refers to our DNA, the spiraling double helix within the cellular structure of the human body that holds in coded form the details of every aspect of each person’s physical potential. This book or blueprint lists the details of each one of our body’s personal design and detailed development that is within every cell of the body. This essentially means that even in the smallest collection of cells formulating the tissue of a miscarried child, the encoded message of his or her physical development and appearance-to-be is already present. God knows what the unborn baby would have looked like when he or she was twelve years of age or when they were 28!
Man has sought to define the exact moment when life actually begins, and to which trimester or three-month segment of the nine months of pregnancy that a life may be classified as having become “human.” The Bible answers this question without us having to indulge in educated debates on such a topic, for the following is recorded in Luke 1: 39 – 43: And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 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: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke chapter one reveals that a child had been conceived in Mary’s womb and that the child was alive, present, and was “the Lord” from the moment of conception, being no less a person even when still a fetus. In verse 36 of Luke 1, the Angel Gabriel told Mary (at the same time as her conception) that Elisabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy. Then in verse 56 of Luke 1, we are told that Mary stayed with Elisabeth until the birth of Elisabeth’s baby; so when Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied upon Mary’s arrival of her being the mother of “my Lord,” Mary was only a few days into her pregnancy! This story of Mary and Elisabeth clearly shows that human life in its deepest, lasting sense, exists in the womb from conception.
Next, we must consider the whereabouts of these little ones whose lives were cut so short. To answer this, we turn to 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. The child lost through stillbirth, miscarriage, abortion, or infant death still lives on, and not only was the child a real, valid, meaningful person from the moment of his or her conception, but that same child has continued to be a real, lasting being since the moment of their death. God’s words to Jeremiah show us that man’s prenatal existence is linked to a postnatal one; in other words, the soul has a connection to the body at conception which continues through and beyond birth.
Jeremiah is an example of God’s intent, and proof that no unborn child is without spiritual significance in God’s grand design. And just as our body experiences a temporal physical continuum that begins in the womb and continues to grow and function beyond it for our earthly lifetime, so our spirit, which is the essence of our life, exists from conception and beyond for the next world we will go to. God’s words to Jeremiah of, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee” in no ways suggest the preexistence of the personality, but they do teach us God’s pre-awareness of intent for the child. None of us are an accident regardless of how our conception happened. God foreknew it all and has preplanned and provided purpose for each life.
David’s adulterous affair with Bathsheba produced a bastard child that was taken from him shortly after birth. The sickly state of the child drove David to his knees in prayer and fasting as he pleaded with God to spare the child’s life. But it is the words of David after the child had died that reveal to us the whereabouts of these little ones. 2 Samuel 12: 22 – 23: And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. The place of eternal dwelling for the deceased child was known by David to be the same place anticipated by every believer who has received God’s promises and redemption. David was a man who sinned and is charged with being the reason for the death of the child because he made the wrong choice! His irresponsible act is similar to the millions of parents whose choices resulted in the unborn death of children by abortion. But like David, so many of these parents have afterward come to a realization and repentance of what they have done in removing a life from this world.
These parents, if they have received the Lord Jesus into their own lives and turned from the path of wrong, then they too (like David) will someday in Glory see their unborn children whose lives were cut short by a selfish act. These children are now in their bloom of youth and will be recognizable by their parents, for the Bible shows us clearly how Peter, James and John were able to recognize Moses and Elijah with Jesus on Mount Transfiguration when neither of the disciples had ever seen the two prophets in the flesh before.
Every child is born in sin and has the inherent potential for sinning, yet because they are still in their innocence, they enjoy an uninterrupted discourse with the heart of God. At what age this is broken cannot be measured, for the age of accountability whereby a child has knowledge to take responsibility for their actions and moral choices will vary for each. Still, one thing is very clear, that an unborn, stillborn, or newborn child has not transgressed that union and will go straight into the presence of the Lord when their life expires.
It is not the parents who determine the eternal destiny of their children. The Bible explains this for us in 1 Corinthians 7: 14: For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. Believing couples do not automatically produce believing children, and conversely, the nonbelief of unbelieving parents does not automatically doom their children to being lost. Salvation is always an individual choice, and although parental influence during the child’s lifetime does contribute positively or negatively, yet it does not control what will ultimately become of the child in their future. As to the destiny of the unborn, since they have made no moral choices, they have remained in a state of innocence, and God’s perfect justice receives them into His presence, irrespective of the spiritual condition of the parents, and without consideration of what the circumstance of the child’s conception may have been.
But what then of women who have been raped, or have conceived by incest, or of a child who has a known deformity in the womb, or of a mother whose health is imperiled to the point that she would probably bear the child at the expense of her own life? What does one do in a situation such as this? Most of us have never had to deal with a pregnant woman whose baby was produced by an involuntary or violent act such as forcible incest or rape, nor have we ever had to consider the agony of soul in a woman whose child was known to be deformed, or of the emotional plight of the husband whose wife’s health was imperiled to the point that she would probably bear the child at the expense of her own life.
These issues which we have hardly pondered upon, should not make us concede that abortion is the answer to any of these situations. But we cannot be so quick to judge when this course of action has been taken to preserve the life of the mother, or when a mother chooses to abort so as not to raise a child conceived from a nightmarish experience such as forced incest or rape. Sometimes we who are quick to judge are brought to a point where we not only can, but simply must allow for the price of fear, even selfishness if anyone may judge it to be so when a person chooses abortion in any of these situations.