Abortion and God’s Compassion for Unwanted Children: Abortion and the Bible Series - Part 5

            The prophet Ezekiel had some incredible, even terrifying, visions of God. After one such encounter it says he sat overwhelmed for seven days (Ezekiel 3:15). One time, God came to Ezekiel to give him an analogy for how Israel had been unfaithful to him. This is how God described Israel, his unfaithful people:

“And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’” (Ezekiel 16:4-6).

            Here we have a picture of God finding an unwanted child. This child was newly born and had already been abandoned. They were wallowing in their blood. Not even their cord had been cut. And God’s response was to call them to live! This unwanted child was wanted by God, our compassionate heavenly Father.

            God continues the analogy with Ezekiel and describes how he raised and cared for Israel. Eventually, when Israel came of age, he married her. This unwanted child became God’s very desire. He nourished her with good food and clothed her with expensive clothing, and precious jewelry. However, Israel was unfaithful and became a prostitute. God gives quite the list of grievances against Israel. Perhaps the most serious is when God says, “you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire [to foreign gods]” (Ezekiel 16:21).

            Note that God says she was slaughtering His children. She did not want them. She preferred whatever benefit came from presenting them as an offering by fire, to other gods. Perhaps what is most amazing about this entire passage is that at the end of it God reaffirms his love for Israel and promises to win her for himself once more (Ezekiel 16:59-63). Despite all of her grievous sins, he still wanted her. And he still wants us, and he still wants our children. For our children are not only ours, they are his. Though we may be abandoned, he sees, and he takes care of us. Though we may abandon our own children, he sees, and he takes care of them too, for they are also His.

            If you are considering an abortion, consider that your child is not only yours, they are also God’s. Abortion is not the only option. If you carry guilt for previous abortions, God’s love is more powerful than your guilt, and he will freely welcome you with open arms if you turn to him.

 

The Spiritual Violence of Abortion: Abortion and the Bible Series – Part 4

There is an important passage about marriage and divorce in the second chapter of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi was a prophet who brought God’s message of warning and rebuke to the priests of his day. One of God’s rebukes to the priests is that they were committing violence by being unfaithful to their wives (Malachi 2:16). Malachi asks them a fascinating question about the marriage covenant that points back to the story of creation. He says, “Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?” (Malachi 2:15). The expected answer is, ‘Yes, he did!’

The phrase, ‘make them one,’ is a clear reference to Genesis 2:24 where it says, “therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The idea of ‘holding fast’ to another is the first picture of marriage given in Scripture. ‘Becoming one’ is a play on words speaking both to the nature of their relationship but also to the result of their relationship, that their two fleshes (bodies) will produce a single flesh (body), a baby! That is, children will result from their ‘holding fast’ to one another.

It is fascinating that Malachi explains this union of a husband and wife involves a third party, the Spirit, God himself. Since God himself is in the union, divorce is more than only a tearing between a husband and a wife but is a tearing between a husband, a wife, and God!

What does this have to do with abortion? Well, Malachi follows up his rhetorical question with another question and its answer, “And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring” (2:15). If divorce is a spiritual violence against the members its union, then killing the products of that union is also a great violence against the members of that union. Abortion is violence against God. He feels it deeply when his children are hurt. He did not bring forth life to children in the womb only for those same children to be killed. It is unthinkable.

            There are other scriptures which clearly show children are a gift from God. There are also scriptures where God says our children are not only from him, but they are still his! Consider these:

-        “And [God] brought [Abram] outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 12:5-6).

-        “And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, ‘Who are these with you?’ Jacob said, ‘The children whom God has graciously given your servant’” (Genesis 33:5).

-        Many times God promised to bless and multiply the children of the people of Israel if they would obey him. Deuteronomy 7:13a says, God, “will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb.” (see also Genesis 49:25; Exodus 23:26; Deuteronomy 7:14; 28:4, 11, 18; 30:9; Psalm 128:3).

-        “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3).

-        In Ezekiel 16, God says against Israel, “And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them [foreign gods]?” (Ezekiel 16:20-21, emphasis added).

Beyond these verses are the countless verses that speak of humanity belonging to God. Psalm 24:1-2 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers” (emphasis added). People often speak of abortion as a matter that affects only the mother. The Bible is clear that our children are not only ours. They are gifts from God. When we hurt ourselves, or our children, we are hurting God. God has a vested interest in the lives of all people, they are his prized possession.

Abortion and the Blood of Jesus: Abortion and the Bible Series – Part 3

            The book of Romans 8:1-2 declares some wonderful truths, “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” These verses speak of a change of status. A change from being enslaved to sin to being free in Christ. At the same time God rescues us from our former slave lord, sin, he also cancels all of our debts against him. This is called forgiveness of sin. That is what ‘now no condemnation’ means. It carries the idea of being before a judge who lists every fair and just accusation against us and then declares, “not guilty, you may go free.”

            The reason for this debt cancellation is the blood of Jesus. It is a powerful theme throughout the whole Bible that bloodshed begets bloodshed (Genesis 9:6; Deuteronomy 19:1-13; Revelation 6:9-11). In the Old Testament, God established a sacrificial system where the priests offered the blood of bulls and sheep to atone (make right) for the sins of the people. In Hebrews it is explained the blood of bulls and sheep never truly atoned for sin because they had to be offered continuously year after year. However, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! When he was killed on the cross, his blood was able to do what the blood of animals never could. In the book of Revelation, John sees a vision of a multitude of people from every people group worshiping God together. John asks his angel tour guide who this multitude of people are. The angel tells him, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

            I wonder sometimes whether people decide to abort their babies because of guilt surrounding their situation. Maybe there is shame connected to how, or when, the baby was conceived. Maybe shame is placed on them by the baby’s father or their own family. Or maybe there is guilt related to the life-circumstances the baby might be brought into. If you are considering getting an abortion, you need to know, getting an abortion will not take care of the guilt. However, the blood of Jesus does take care of guilt! Jesus’ blood can wash away the shame. The blood of Jesus is more powerful than the blood of babies. People may also feel guilty because of having had abortions. Because of Jesus’ blood, you can receive God’s forgiveness. Jesus freely gave his blood to wash away our sins so we could freely receive his forgiveness. Consider this mystery, perhaps you are one of those from among the multitude that John saw before the throne of God worshiping him in white robes!

Abortion in the Bible: Abortion and the Bible Series - Part 2

            Is there abortion in the Bible? Yes. There are instances of intentional, and accidental, killing of children in the womb. Because of how instructive some of these are scriptures are, I will share them with you.

Two very interesting passages that relate to abortion are when two righteous men cursed their beginnings, because of the difficulty of their lives. Job, who is famous for the suffering he endured, lamented the day he was conceived, and that he was not stillborn. He wished he could have avoided all of the suffering that he had to live through (Job 3:3, 16; 10:18-19). Perhaps many people today decide to have abortions to spare their baby’s a sad existence. It is important to know, Job’s story does not end with his lament! It was not Job’s portion to stay in his misery. The book ends with Job blessed with twice as much as he lost in all of his affliction. Thankfully, it was not Job’s decision whether he was to be born or not. We do not know the future. We do not know God’s plans for our lives or the lives of our children, but we can trust that his plans for us are good. Jesus taught that God is a good Father who values us and takes care of us (Matthew 6:34).

Another person who cursed the day they were born is Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet who endured much persecution, hardship, and heartache. In a very dark moment, Jeremiah actually cursed the man who announced his birth, rather than killing him in the womb! (Jeremiah 20:14-18). However, despite the difficulty of Jeremiah’s life, we know that would have been a tragedy. At the very beginning of the book of Jeremiah, God told him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Why did God reassure Jeremiah with these words? Because when God called Jeremiah, he did not feel worthy of his calling! God was intimately involved in forming Jeremiah in his mother’s womb, and God is intimately involved in the formation of every baby in their mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-14). We do not know what purpose God has for our children, and we may imagine our children are not worthy of God’s call upon their lives, but he has a purpose for them, and it is always a tragedy when anyone’s destiny is extinguished. Thank God Job was born, thank God Jeremiah was born, thank God for the birth of our own children.

Most of the other instances of abortion in the Bible are very violent to both the baby and the mother. They use the phrase, ‘pregnant women ripped open’ (2 Kings 8:12; 15:16; Hosea 13:16; Amos 1:14). In Amos 1:14, God announces he will judge the Ammonites because they have ripped open the pregnant women of their neighbor, Gilead, for the purpose of enlarging their own territory. That is, they wanted their own children could have more land, so they killed their neighbor’s unborn babies! This sounds frighteningly similar to the motivation presented by abortion funders. They want to increase access to abortion for the purpose of population control (I plan to dedicate a different blog post to that subject). God brings judgement against people and nations who commit violence, even specifically abortion, for their own benefit, no matter how it is justified.

One more important passage about abortion is a law given to the people of Israel for how to deal with a situation where an abortion is committed unintentionally against someone’s pregnant wife (Exodus 21:22-25). The scenario is presented of two people fighting who happen to strike a pregnant mother in the belly so that she gives birth prematurely. If the mother and child are alright, then the one who struck them must pay a fine. But if there is harm to the mother or child, then the one responsible shall pay, “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:24-25). We see here that even for unintentional abortion (never mind intentional abortion), the Bible treats it as a capital offense. This is because God values babies in the womb as much as babies outside the womb. 

Abortion and the Image of God: Abortion and the Bible Series - Part 1

            The Bible begins with God creating a good and beautiful world. In the story of creation, God saves the best for last. After everything else had been created, God made people as the crown of his creation. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). While there is debate about what exactly it means to be created in God’s image, in some sense people are a reflection of God. I believe it includes the idea that wherever people go, they bring reminder of God. And whatever they do should be an extension of God’s activity. Consider how a portrait reminds one of the person portrayed. Or how a statue of a rider on horseback reminds one of that activity. I believe this is part of what it means to bear God’s image, in some limited sense people are a living portrayal of God. And in this respect, people are distinct from the rest of creation.

Staying with the theme of portraits and statues, across the US in 2020 there were riots where people tore down statues of people they did not like. Many of the statues were of people who participated in racial crimes. The idea being we should not tolerate images of evil people. We do not need to remember them. On the other hand, the government made efforts to protect some statues that were of people deemed to be heroes. The idea being, we should not destroy images of our heroes. It is good and right to remember them. Similarly, in Genesis 9:6 God says people must not kill one another because they are made in his image. The idea being, killing someone made in God’s image is also a crime against God.

Related to abortion, does an unborn baby also bear God’s image? Does abortion kill someone made in God’s image? Based upon the following Scriptures, I believe the answer is clearly, yes.

-        “And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb...” (Genesis 25:21-23b).

-   “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out [ie. premature birth], but there is no harm [ie. not miscarriage], the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm [ie. miscarriage or birth defect], then you shall pay life for life...” (Exodus 21:22-23).

-        “Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death” (Judges 13:7).

-        “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13-14a).

  

-   “Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 44:2).

 

-        “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name” (Isaiah 49:1b).

-        “And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant” (Isaiah 49:5a)

-        “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

-        “For he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15).

-        “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy’” (Luke 1:41-44).

 

-        “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace...” (Galatians 1:15).

There is something holy about being made in God’s image. God is a God of life, not a God of death. God is intimately involved in the formation of babies from conception. Even before they are conceived, God has a destiny for our children.

The World Hates Jesus - Part 3

Part 3 - This is the third part of a three part blog post. Please read Part 1 and Part 2 to get proper context before continuing.

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." - Jesus, John 15:18

As I mentioned in Part 2, my purpose in highlighting these passages is not to turn people away from Jesus! Rather, my intent is to show some characteristics of Jesus that are largely ignored. When we understand the truth of what the Bible says about Jesus, it forces us to decide whether we will we still worship him. Will we worship Jesus even as he executes his righteous judgments against the earth? Is Jesus our King and our Judge, or is he only our friend? The reason the world hates Jesus is because he said these things and meant these things.

The Gospel of Matthew

- Jesus said that many are those who go through the wide gate along the easy way to destruction and that few are those who go through the narrow gate along the difficult way to life (Matthew 7:13-14). 

- Jesus taught that he would personally reject many people who call him 'Lord' who actually thought they loved him and did his works. Jesus will tell them that they were wrong (Matthew 7:21-23).

- Jesus taught that he would cause division amongst families because some people would love him and some would not and that anybody who chose to love their own family members more than Jesus was unworthy of Jesus. He then added, "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me (ie. die with Jesus on the cross) is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:34-38).

- Speaking of the end of the world Jesus shared a story about weeds in a field and then summarized it saying, "The Son of Man [Jesus] will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41-42). In case that wasn't clear enough, Jesus told another story about fishermen choosing which fish to keep and which to throw out and then gave the very same summary of his story, "So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:49-50).

- Speaking of his second coming, Jesus told a story of a master who went on a journey and upon returning rewarded his faithful servants and punished his wicked servants, "The master of that [wicked] servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that day there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:50-51)

- Matthew 25. Jesus followed up the story about a Master returning from a journey with three more stories about himself returning at the end of the age after being gone for a long time. In each story Jesus tells how he will deal with two broad groups of people upon his return, the righteous and the wicked. In these stories the wicked people did not know they were wicked until Jesus told them so and they were in shock at the news and in utter anguish over the consequences. We would do well to heed this warning! Jesus was not just telling pretty stories. He was warning his disciples what it would be like when he returns. 

Many people are going to be devastated when they meet Jesus because they love the idea of Jesus as far as they understand him, but they did not take his message seriously. There is this idea in our society that tolerance and acceptance are the highest good and that if Jesus is good he must pardon and accept everyone. Once people realize that Jesus will freely pardon only those who repent they will hate him for it. At the end of this age there will be a great wedding celebration where Jesus will marry his bride, the saints. The ones who are gathered at that wedding celebration are those who have washed away their sins in his blood. They will celebrate the righteous judgements of God, declaring, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgements are true and just" (Revelation 19:1b-2a). The world hates this Jesus. But what about you, will you worship this Jesus?

The World Hates Jesus - Part 2

Part 2 - This is the second part of a three part blog post. Please read Part 1 to get proper context before continuing.

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you." - Jesus, John 15:18

I should give a word of caution. Following are listed passages from scripture that display Jesus as graphically violent. My purpose in highlighting these passages is not to turn people away from Jesus! Rather, my intent is to show some characteristics of Jesus that are largely ignored. When we understand the truth of what the Bible says about Jesus, it forces us to decide whether we will we still worship him. Will we worship Jesus even as he executes his righteous judgments against the earth? Is Jesus our King and our Judge, or is he only our friend?

Jesus in the Old Testament

- In Joshua 5, beginning in verse 13, Joshua meets an individual whom I believe is Jesus. This individual introduces himself as the commander of the army of the LORD. He then commissions Joshua to annihilate Jericho (literally), and all of the land of Canaan after it.

- Addressing the rulers of the earth, Psalm 2:12 says, "Kiss the Son [Jesus] lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

- Psalm 110, one of the most quoted chapters by New Testament authors, who all ascribe it to Jesus, speaks of Jesus, saying, "The Lord [Jesus] is at your [God's] right hand; [Jesus] will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth" (Psalm 110:5-6).

- Isaiah has many wonderful depictions of Jesus as a humble servant who suffers for his people but it also has a gory depiction of Jesus at his second coming. In Isaiah 63:3b-4a, Jesus himself is saying, "I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart."

- Zechariah 14 is a shocking chapter, also with descriptions of Jesus' still future second coming. In Zechariah 14:2-3 God declares that he will gather all the nations against Jerusalem and personally, bodily (ie. Jesus) fight against them, himself, in military fashion.

- Malachi 4:3, I believe this passage is also speaking primarily of Jesus' second coming. It is not easy for me but I must submit to God's word. This verse is not speaking of Jesus but of those who fear God's name who are with Jesus when he returns, "And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts."

These passages are difficult. We must wrestle with them. We must not ignore them. We must go to God and allow Him to soften our hearts to His will. Will we trust that God is good, all the time? Or will we call God evil when we realize that He takes our sin far more seriously than we do? The world will be shocked to learn that God is not like them at all when Jesus comes back in the splendour of his majesty.

If you find yourself reading this and asking, "what is the point? Why does it matter if the world hates Jesus?" That is an excellent question. The reason it matters is because if we are able to realize that we actually hate the real Jesus, it gives us opportunity to repent and be saved! But if we think we actually love him, when we don't, we are deceived and rather than celebrating the return of Jesus we will be shocked and offended when we see him as he truly is. Further, for those who do love Jesus, it is a comfort to know that the reason the world hates us is because the world hated Jesus first (John 15:18).

In Part 3 I will conclude with some more passages from the book of Matthew.