The Status of Unborn Children in the Mind of God
What does God say about the unborn? What is His view of the status of children still in utero? Where in Scripture can we turn to find answers?
We might be disappointed to discover that the word “abortion” cannot be found in our Bibles. But this absence is not a dead-end road in the discussion. God has revealed His views about the status of the unborn. A canonical approach to Scripture brings the controversial issue into the clear light where we can see it plainly. Together, let’s examine some of the evidence.
God the Creator is Portrayed as a Potter: He Fashions Us
We need to start at the beginning. The formation of the very first human being is our first clue. “And the Lord God FASHIONED the man from the soil of the ground and blew into his nostrils life-giving breath, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 (cf., Genesis 1:26: “Let us make mankind…”).
Observe the verb “fashioned.” “Fashioned” translates the Hebrew verb yatsar. We also could use the word “shape” or “form” to reflect the Hebrew verb. The Lord God “shaped” or “formed” the man from the soil of the ground. The same verbal root of the word “fashioned”--yatsar in Genesis 2:7, refers to a potter in Jeremiah 18:2: “Go down to the POTTER’S (yotser) house.” The noun “potter” comes from the same verbal root as yatsar in Genesis 2:7. Can you see the similar construction of the two words? This canonical connection between Genesis 2:7 and Jeremiah 18:2 shows us that when God fashioned the first man from the soil of the ground, He was performing the function of a divine Potter. A potter is a man or a woman who takes a lump of clay and fashions it into something usable or beautiful. A potter is an artist, working with eyes, hands, and heart to translate a preconceived idea in his mind into something tangible.
The Skill of the Potter
Let’s dig a little deeper into the mind of a potter. A potter fashions or shapes with his hands a lump of clay into a predetermined shape or form of his own design. The potter first has a plan in his/her mind of what he specifically desires to create. Then, once the plan is thought through completely, the potter takes a lump of clay in his hands and begins the fashioning process. And it is a process, not an instant creation. Over a period of time, an ordinary lump of clay is transformed by the potter’s skill and hands into a clay pot or a water pitcher. The fashioning by the potter involves a predetermined plan, a hands-on approach, a process carried out over time with purpose and creativity. The eyes and hands of the potter are constantly focused on the clay through each step of the process. The potter is interested in his creation.
Lenore and the Clay Gecko Houses
I recall a friend of mine, Lenore, who fashioned houses. Lenore was a potter, a sculptor. Lenore joined us from time to time at a youth prison for boys, associated with the Department of Juvenile Justice, to demonstrate the process of fashioning a lump of clay into a usable vessel. Lenore never took her eyes off the clay she was fashioning. She spoke with the youth, but her eyes stayed focused on the clay. Every move of her hands was calculated. Lenore used her tools and her hands to shape and fashion the unformed lump of clay into the design she had in her mind. She conceived the design before she fashioned it into reality. The result of her was a beautiful piece of pottery.
My favorite pieces were the miniature houses she fashioned for the many geckos found scurrying on the ground here in Florida. Behind the miniature houses was Lenore, a potter who, using her design and skill, transformed a formless, lump of clay into a functional shape—a gecko city-of-refuge. Due to her handiwork, I was able to offer free housing to the many geckos who sought refuge on our property. Inside those miniature houses, they were safe from the many predators whose diet included geckos. Lenore, like her mum Evelyn, was an artist, and a potter, but she also was a builder. Generations of geckos have Lenore to thank for affordable housing. Thank you, Lenore. I have other great stories to tell about Lenore. But they will have to wait.
God deliberately performed the work of an artist when he fashioned Adam, starting with an unformed lump of clay. So, Adam was not a mistake or an accident. Behind the fashioning of Adam was a “Fashioner,” a Potter at work. When we see a painting, we know by implication that there is a painter responsible for the work. When we see a field full of ripe wheat or corn, ready to harvest in October, we know there was a farmer at work in the past. When we observe a piece of finished pottery, we know that behind the pottery is a potter. Behind the fashioning of Adam, which occurred outside the womb, is a divine Potter. The divine Potter is responsible for his shape, form, and existence.
Every Human Being is Fashioned by the Divine Potter in a Mother’s Womb
But what about INSIDE the womb? Great question to ask. The same verb yatsar (Genesis 2:7), the work of a potter, is used in the fashioning of the prophet Jeremiah INSIDE his mother’s womb. Observe the Lord’s words to Jeremiah: “Before I fashioned (yatsar) you in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Observe: The Lord stated clearly that He knew Jeremiah before he was conceived and, it was He who fashioned Jeremiah while still INSIDE his mother’s womb. Like a potter, the Lord planned, and then shaped, and fashioned tiny Jeremiah in his mother’s womb, over a nine-month period, into a baby, ready to emerge into the world and be placed into the loving arms of his mother.
So, the fashioning of Jeremiah INSIDE his mother’s womb into a fully prepared baby, by the Creator, is the same fashioning process used to create the first human being outside of the womb. God as divine Potter was deliberately involved in planning and then finishing human beings in both cases. Just as God used a hands-on, purposeful approach to fashion Adam OUTSIDE the womb, He also used the same fashioning with Jeremiah INSIDE the womb. Using forethought, planning, and skill, God was at work in both cases. The formation of every human being since the first human is accomplished the same way. The same God fashioned you in your mother’s womb. Observe the prophet Isaiah’s (64:7) description of ALL people: “Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our Potter (yotser); we are ALL the work of your hands.” Amazing. You and your family and the rest of the world’s population are the work of God’s skillful hands. You are not an accident or mistake. You bear the marks of the divine artist at work.
In the case of Jeremiah, we see children, whether boys or girls, are preconceived in God’s mind before they are conceived in their mother’s womb. You were conceived in God’s mind before you were conceived in your mother’s womb. Babies exist in the mind and purpose of God the Creator prior to their conception and birth.
So, let’s conclude with the question that we began with. What does God have to say about the unborn? What does He have to say about baby boys and girls still in their mother’s womb? And, further, will He do anything about the violence perpetrated by the medical community on these babies while still in the womb? Does it matter to Him?
The Wheels of God’s Justice
We can reshape our question. What do you think, then, goes on in the eyes of God when He observes men and women perpetrating violence on unborn children, the object of His special love, His purposeful, hands-on, creative work? People are more valuable than all the masterpieces hanging in all the museums of the world. Can you imagine the outrage of artists everywhere, if all their priceless paintings, sculptures, and works of art were destroyed by thugs and thieves?
Well, just as Pharaoh ordered the murder of all Jewish, male infants – each boy fashioned in his mother’s womb by God the divine artist – by ordering that they be thrown into the Nile River (Exodus 1:22), so also, he suffered the loss of his own first-born son (Exodus 12:29-30).
And, what is more, a generation later, his entire army, the flower of Egypt’s youth, was drowned by God in the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:28). This is an example of divine, retributive justice. The wheels of God’s justice may grind slowly, but nonetheless, they grind exceedingly fine.”
Thank you for reading.