When Does a Baby's Life Begin? God Knows.

As the Sabbath approaches, I thought it worthwhile to
consider two marches held in Washington the first full week
of the new U.S. president’s term.

In looking at the two marches, one can see an immediate
contrast between those involved in the Women’s March on
Washington and the March for Life. In examining the two
groups there could be no more vivid example of the cultural
divide that plagues our country in 2017.

The women’s march on January 21 was characterized by
vulgarity, coarse language, and the primary goal of the
gathering was to ensure that abortion on demand continues to
be available. It is sad to see ladies taking pride in being called
“nasty” women and heartily endorsing the killing of potential
children of God before they have a chance at life.

In contrast, we have another group of people who gathered to
promote the right of the unborn to life. The demeanor of the
participants in the January 28th march was much more
positive. Interestingly, many people gathered for the pro-life
event were motivated by God’s word on the subject. The view
of many among them is that God is the giver of life and He
alone has the right to give or take life.

Sadly, the marches are over but the cultural war will continue.
But if the Bible were the guide there would be no abortions
and Roe vs. Wade would be superseded by God’s truth on the
matter.

One great question that arises out of this controversy is,
“When does life begin?” Consider the example of Jesus Christ
in this regard.

Consider that the one we know as Jesus Christ dwelled in
heaven throughout eternity as John 1 makes clear.

But it was God’s plan to send a Savior in the likeness of men
in order to save man from the penalty of sin. God’s plan to
send a Savior was instituted immediately after the sin of Adam
and Eve (Genesis 3:15).

At the right time in His great plan of salvation, God sent His
son, in the likeness of flesh, to redeem mankind of the death
penalty because of sin. “But when the fullness of the time had
come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under
the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

The Apostle Paul tells us that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was
an eternal being inhabiting eternity with God the Father. But
the one who became the Son of God was willing to let go of
being God in order to enter human realm (Philippians 2:6-7).

So, we find that Jesus Christ had eternal life. Yet He was
willing to place His very existence in the hands of the Father
to bring about a transference from being at the Father’s right
hand to life in the womb of Mary.

How did Jesus’ life begin in Mary’s womb? Luke 1:34-35
explains how this came about, “Then Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel
answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called
the Son of God.”

The scriptures equate the Holy Spirit with the power of God,
and the power of God with the Holy Spirit. It is through God’s
power that the life of Jesus Christ began in the womb of Mary.
Mary supplied the ovum and God supplied the rest. What God
began in the womb of Mary was not some glob of tissue, but
the life of the one who would become the Savior of the world.

If we look to the example of Jesus Christ’s, we see His life
began in the womb. The womb is where all human life begins
as well, at conception.

Sadly, at this time, there is a controversy, a cultural divide
over when life begins. Someday, there will be no marches in
Washington, D.C. But mankind will come to know that life
begins at conception and every baby is a potential member of
the family of God.

Gary Smith

Feeling What Not Having Hope Feels Like

A prominent politician made an interesting comment a couple
of weeks ago. The politician said, “We are feeling what not
having hope feels like.”

Why is this person lacking in hope? Her hopelessness comes
as a result of her political party losing in the November
election. With the election of someone that they heartily
disagree with, they feel that the policies conducive to hope
will be cast aside.

On the other side of the political spectrum, there is great hope
that “America will be made great again”. The sad reality is
that hope springs forth every time there is an election. The
winning voters always seem to hope that good things lie
ahead. As the hopes of the winning side in the election are not
met, there will be great disappointment over the failure to
deliver on the promises made to the voters.

The reality is that no matter the politician, his followers are
bound to be disappointed. The hopelessness of trusting
politicians and their offer for humanity is brought out in
Psalms 118:9, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put
confidence in princes.”

Whereas man is limited and uncertain, God is not. God is the
same “Yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). We can
always be assured that God is there and He will always act in
our best interest even if His response is not what we want.

Let’s consider a couple of scriptures that lay out for us the
panorama of hope which is what prophecy is all about.
Through these scriptures, we can see why for God’s people
there is always hope.

The panorama begins in Genesis with the sins of Adam and
Eve. As God spelled out in Genesis 2, in the day in which
Adam or Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
they would die. Death is an inevitable outcome of sin.

With death hanging over the lives of the first couple, it might
be said, “They were feeling what not having hope feels like.”

However, one of God’s first actions after sin entered the world
is found in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you
and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." God was
telling the first man and woman that a seed would come who
would work out the problem of sin.

The scripture in Genesis seems pretty obscure until God fills
in more details about the coming, Seed, Jesus Christ, who
would open the way to salvation for all mankind.

What is to be ultimately be worked out by the Seed, Jesus
Christ, is detailed in Acts 3:19-21, “Repent therefore and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that
He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all
things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began.”

God, through Peter, tells us that as promised from the time of
the first sin there is coming a time when all things will be
restored to the way God always intended them to be. We are
reassured that there is always hope for this sin sick world
through Jesus Christ the Messiah.

The Bible reassures us of the fulfillment of this promise from
Genesis all the way to the end of Bible in Revelation.

Human beings lose hope because things don’t work out the
way they want them to.

But God is our hope no matter what is going on in our lives or
in the world around us. As the Psalmist says, “For You are my
hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth (Psalms
71:5).

Have a most enjoyable Sabbath because we always have hope.

Gary Smith