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2/15 Reading Portions: Genesis 48; Luke 1:39-80; Job 14; 1 Corinthians 2
Luke 1:44
“For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears,
the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”
SOUND
The sound of Mary’s voice came forth with a distinct feature previously unknown to her. Alive within her womb was the Son of God; and by the sound of her greeting to her cousin, Elizabeth, John the Baptist leaped for joy within his mother’s womb. Elizabeth was six months pregnant at this point; and Mary’s miraculous pregnancy was less than a week old, as she hurried to the hill country to meet Elizabeth after Gabriel had brought her tidings of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her virginity. Our emphasis of meditation today is upon the Christ child in Mary’s womb— only a few days in conception to account for travel, based upon the gospel narrative. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months (Luke 1:56) and returned home prior to Elizabeth delivering her child (Luke 1:57). Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Mary received the news from Gabriel (Luke 1:36). Those in favor of allowing abortion until the beating of the heart may argue that the Christ child in Mary’s womb was perhaps a month old, and that the blood and heartbeat were already present, citing the seventeenth chapter of Leviticus:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, Leviticus 17:11
…which is actually out of context if quoting the entire verse, because it has to do with atonement— in other words, it had to do with Christ’s shed blood for those who are lost in sin. The point is that John leaped in the womb, not because of Mary’s own sound, but because the Lord of Life was within her; and that was a truth that saturated her salutation. There is no life apart from God; and God incarnate, the unborn Jesus within Mary’s womb, was holy and full of life from the moment Mary conceived. Mary’s pregnancy was a picture of the gospel, in that we are saved by the indwelling Holy Spirit the instant Jesus resides within (Heb 13:5). To justify the murder of the unborn, regardless of the stage of pregnancy, is akin to abominable worship at the altar of Molech; and moreover, it is an offense to the gospel of Christ.
When Christ’s gospel saves our lives,
Jesus resides within;
Born from above, we now thrive,
Cleansed by grace from sin.