The Creation of Reproduction

I. THE CONTINUATION OF CREATION

A. The Vehicle of Creation

1. After the initial creation of Adam from the dust and Eve from a rib, every person thereafter was created in the womb of a woman.
2. God chooses to open or close the womb (Genesis 20:18; Genesis 29:31; see Genesis 30:2).

B. The Formation of Creation

1. The Lord gives conception (Ruth 4:13) and the fruit of the womb is His reward (Psalm 127:3).
2. It is by the power of God that the child is formed in the womb.
a. It is part of the works of God to make “the bones…grow in the womb of her that is with child” (Ecclesiastes 11:5).
b. The Lord fashions the child in the womb (Job 31:15).
c. The Lord upholds the child while in the womb (Psalm 71:6).
d. David was “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and confirmed he was speaking of the womb (Psalm 139:13).
e. Both Isaiah (Isaiah 44:2, 24) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) spoke of the Lord’s involvement in forming the child in the womb.
f. None of this denies the impact of the mother’s behaviour during pregnancy (Judges 13:1-7; see especially Judges 13:7).

II. THE BEGINNING OF LIFE

A. The Process of Life (Genesis 4:1, 17; Ruth 4:13; 1 Chronicles 7:23; Isaiah 8:3; Hosea 1:3)

1. A man knows his wife or goes in unto her
2. The wife conceives
3. The wife bears a child

B. Understanding Conception

1. While there is much debate about the specifics of conception, we will relegate our studies to that which is taught by the scripture.
2. When Bath-sheba conceived, she sent and told David “I am with child” (2 Samuel 11:5).
3. Elisabeth conceived and hid herself five months (Luke 1:24) before being seen by Mary somewhere around her sixth month (Luke 1:36).

C. The Truth in Bible Terminology

1. A woman who is expecting is said to be “with child” (Genesis 16:11; Matthew 1:18).
2. Modern terminology removes the direct association of the unborn to life. Sadly, the termination of the unborn life is labeled as an “abortion” rather than murder.
3. A woman who is “with child” has another living soul “with” her. As time progresses in the child’s development within the womb, the mother becomes “great with child” (Luke 2:5) until she is “ready to be delivered” (Revelation 12:4; see also 1 Samuel 4:19; Isaiah 26:17).