Luke
1:44-45 "For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy."
These verses present two beautiful thoughts for us this morning. First, we see
a great truth that is being ignored by a large part of society: "the babe
leaped in my womb for joy." Why do I say a large part of society is
ignoring this truth? Notice, Elisabeth did not say the "fetus"
is in my womb. The BABY is in my womb and the BABY is alive!
The question of life deserves a Biblical answer; though many in our world
ignore that as well. When does life begin? From my point of view,
life began back in the Garden of Eden. "And the LORD God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) Life began when God breathed
life into the nostrils of Adam. Life continued when God took a living bone (the
rib) from Adam to form Eve. Life continued when a living cell from Adam joined
a living cell of Eve and their first child was born. It is my thought that life
does not begin in the womb; rather life continues in the womb. Two LIVING
cells are joined together to form a living baby in the mother's womb and life
continues. How can we know that the baby was alive in Elisabeth's womb? The
baby showed signs of life by action and emotion.
But today's passage deals with a very special baby that was to be born and
another special baby that was to be the forerunner for the first one. Mary had
come to share her news with her cousin, Elisabeth. When Gabriel had
visited Mary with the news that she would give birth to the Son of God, he also
told her that Elisabeth was going to give birth. Mary knew that Zacharias and
Elisabeth had been praying for a child for many years. Now Mary had come to
visit Elisabeth to tell her of the coming birth of her son, Jesus. Not only did
Elisabeth hear and rejoice at the news, the baby in her womb also heard,
rejoiced, and responded by leaping in her womb. What a glorious thought
this is!
Mary rejoiced. Elisabeth rejoiced. John The Baptist rejoiced. What about you and me? How do we respond to the glorious news that was proclaimed to the shepherds that night on the hillside? "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto YOU (emphasis mine) is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11) Your Saviour was born that night in Bethlehem.