Jeremiah 1:4, 5

“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”

“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.”

An unborn child is a person.

  • Those who advocate for abortion have tried to redefine personhood to exclude the unborn.
  • Just like Hitler in his attempt to exclude Jews, the abortionist tries to rationalize his belief that an unborn child is not a person.
  • A man named Leo Alexander was the consultant to the Secretary of War and on duty with the office of Chief Counselor for War Crimes in Nuremberg.
  • He said what happened in Nazi Germany “…all started with the acceptance of the attitude that there is such a thing as life not worthy to be lived.”
  • An elderly German man who lived through the Holocaust tells the following story:
  • I always considered myself a Christian.
  • I had attended church since I was a small boy.
  • We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people in America today, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place.
  • After all what could anyone do to stop it?
  • A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track.
  • We became disturbed when one Sunday we heard cries coming from the train as it passed by.
  • We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews.
  • Week after week that train whistle would blow.
  • We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry out to us as they passed our church.
  • It was so terribly disturbing!
  • We could do nothing to help these poor people, yet their screams tormented us.
  • We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns.
  • If some of the screams reached our ears, we’d just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more.
  • Years have passed, and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep.
  • I can still hear them crying out for help.
  • God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.
  • In a lot of ways what happened in Nuremberg with the Jews is what’s happening in America with abortion.
  • Notice, it all began with “the attitude that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived.”
  • But look again at verse 5, because God says to Jeremiah, “I knew thee.”
  • Listen also to the words of the Psalmist:

Psalm 139:13-14

“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.”

  • Both Jeremiah and David knew that God had wonderfully created them and designed them.
  • God doesn’t say they are just a blob of protoplasm, but rather acknowledges them as a person.
  • I believe possibly the best proof in the Bible that God acknowledges an unborn child as a person can be found in comparing two verses in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 18:15

“And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.”

  • Please make a mental note that the word “infants” is the Greek word “brephos.”
  • Now let’s turn to Luke 2:16 and look at where the shepherds come to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus.

“And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”

  • The word translated “babe” is the Greek word “brephos.”

Luke 1:41

“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:”

  • The word “babe” here in Luke 1:41 is also the Greek word “brephos.”
  • Now here’s my point – God uses the same word for an unborn baby, an infant, and even for toddlers.
  • God makes no distinction whatsoever!

Jeremiah 1:4-5

“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”

“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.”

Each person is a special creation with a special purpose.

  • God says, “I sanctified thee” meaning that He set Jeremiah apart for a purpose.
  • God’s plan and purpose for Jeremiah was to be a prophet.
  • Every person God creates is special!

Exodus 4:10-11

“And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”

“And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?”

  • Deformed or disabled – no person needs to justify his or her right to live.
  • As President Ronald Reagan said, “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”

To kill an unborn child is to kill a person.

  • Our culture may not agree with that statement, but that’s what the Bible teaches.

Exodus 21:22-25

“If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, [she gives birth prematurely] and yet no mischief [injury] follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.”

“And if any mischief [injury] follow, then thou shalt give life for life,”

“Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,”

“Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe [bruise] for stripe.”

  • Here in this passage we see the law of retaliation as it relates to an unborn baby.
  • It’s obvious that the unborn baby is viewed as just as much a human being as its mother in regards to injury.
  • In the Old Testament the death of a baby that was born prematurely due to intentional trauma caused by another person was considered murder.
  • To every parent and grandparent here today, I would say please teach your children and grandchildren that abortion is wrong because the culture in which we live will teach them that it’s right.
  • The Bible places the highest value possible on human life, and so should we.

mfrazier@cantonbaptist.org