The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 1:41-44,
"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.'"
We live in a day where confusion abounds and the simplest things in life seem to escape so many. Nothing reveals this in a more startling way than the issue of abortion today. Many seem incapable of acknowledging the baby in a mother's womb is a real human life. Elizabeth's encounter with Mary should put to rest any question that abortion is nothing short of the murder of an innocent.
Elizabeth's baby, John the Baptist, was, without a doubt, a very unique individual. He was hand-picked, prior to his birth, by God to be a prophet. He would be filled with the Holy Spirit, "even from birth", Luke 1:15. His father, Zechariah, was told prior to Elizabeth's pregnancy that John would bring many of the people of Israel back to the Lord, Luke 1:16. As such he was to make ready a people prepared for the Lord, verse 17. John would be a joy and delight to his father and his birth would be the cause of rejoicing by many.
In Elizabeth's sixth month of pregnancy she was paid a visit from her relative, Mary. Mary was pregnant with Jesus at the time and when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, we are told that John "leaped in her womb" for joy, Luke 1:41-44. In order for this to happen, I observe the following about John the Baptist while he was at his sixth month in his mother's womb:
John was intellectually alive: he was cognitive and aware when Jesus entered his presence.
John was emotionally alive: he leaped for joy when Jesus entered his presence.
John was volitionally alive: it was upon Jesus entering his presence he chose to leap for joy - a reaction but a choice nonetheless.
John was spiritually alive: as an endowed prophet prior to his birth he was already exercising his prophetic gift prior to his birth.
John the Baptist exercised his mind, his will and his emotions, prior to his birth, in the sixth month following his conception. He exercised his spiritual gift of prophecy in recognizing the Lord presence at that time.
Call him what you will, but the taking of his life would certainly constitute the murder of an innocent. Although John was a unique individual chosen by God for a specific purpose, the circumstances surrounding his gestation speaks of all pregnancies.
On a whole other note... isn't it just amazing what God does?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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