“And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him” (Isaiah 49:5).

Seven hundred years before it happened, Jesus was prophetically spoken of as One who would be formed in a “womb.” Of course, as divine Son, He had existed from all eternity (John 1:1), but it was not until an appointed time in history that He started as fully human—in His mother’s womb (Galatians 4:4). The Lord Jesus Christ, the author of all life, sanctified human life in a mother’s womb by inhabiting one Himself for nine months. The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Of course, human pre-natal life has been given a secular description. Evolutionists try to explain that human life before birth is tracing out its evolutionary history, but this is a sad delusion. Jesus was never a fish or a frog, and neither were any of us. It is lamentable that false notions are still foisted on school children in the name of the unscientific and long-disproved “recapitulation theory.”

Isaiah 49:1–7, taken as a whole, proclaims exhilarating news. As one of the “servant” passages (such as Isaiah 52:13 through 53:12), it sets forth Jesus (called “Israel,” an individual—v.3) as the Savior of “Israel” (collectively, cf. v.6). It adds that He would also be “a light to the Gentiles” and the One who would bring “salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6)!

He, the Creator, became a baby and lived for a while in a virgin’s womb, so that as a man He could go to a cross and reverse Adam’s fall. By His perfect obedience to the Father, He also offers human beings eternal life. May we celebrate life now and forever! PGH