When Does Life Begin in the Womb?

[Posted December 21, 2022]

Sir,

In one of your articles about the millennium, you share of aborted babies​ ​going into the lake of fire. Obviously, that follows them being resurrected.

My question is, “I​s there a point and time during the nine​-month stay in mommy that separates those being resurrected and those not?” I know that when one dies his spirit goes back to God. I’m looking at the spiritual significance of the numbers 3 and 4 in considering. Friends of my son are having problems during the 2^nd month (two times).

If you could help in scriptural understanding, it would be greatly appreciated.

D​____​

Hi D​____​,

Thank you for your question concerning when life begins in the womb of the mother.

We are told not to even think above what is written, so I am always careful to give scriptural answers to all questions I answer:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other. ​(KJV)​

Here is part of “that which is written” concerning life in the womb:

Exo 21:22  If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

“He shall pay as the judges determine”. This verse alone demonstrates that God values life in the womb, but there are other verses which make clear the Lord knows us “while [we are yet] in [our] mother’s womb having done neither good nor evil”:

Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Are we to believe, as my first year Bible teacher told all of us who were in his class, that “God knew a few people before they were even born”?

My teacher referenced Jacob and Esau, Pharaoh, and Jeremiah in the verses above. I really liked and respected that teacher, and I still do, but I can no longer agree with him that God knows a few people before they are born, but there is no way He could possibly know every single human who has ever been conceived. I ask you, “​Why not?​”​ After all He is God. He is not a limited man. God’s ‘hard drive’ is so powerful that He knows every star and every grain of sand on every​ beach on earth. That is not even a challenge to Him. Here is how He expresses the limitlessness of His sovereign knowledge:

Luk 12:6  Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
Luk 12:7  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Why would we believe these words of Christ and not think that He will not forget every one of the millions of aborted and miscarried babies. The Lord has given all men to Christ and He will not lose a single one of them:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

All in Adam will be raised up from the dead. Every aborted and miscarried child experienced death. Whether they were conscious of it or not, they died and “the last enemy to be destroyed is death”. The destruction of death requires two elements. First the Lord will have to destroy the source of death which is “corruptible flesh”. Here is how that will be done:

Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

After the Lord destroys “the nations in the four quarters of the earth” then all He has to do is resurrect all men who have ever lived and give them an incorruptible spiritual body which is not subject to death. That is no big deal for God, and neither is the resurrection of millions of miscarried and aborted children. Your sons friends will one day meet their miscarried children and they will all endure the fiery words of God and come to know Christ and His Father which IS eternal life:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Does God care more for sparrows and the hairs of our head than for an unborn fetus? I think not! Your son’s friends will one day meet and become acquainted with their miscarried children, and they will all learn the ways of the Lord.

I hope this all helps you to see how precious each life is to God. The question of ‘When does life begin?’ is answered within the question itself. Life begins at the beginning. A miscarriage or an abortion at any point is the ending of a life which is “of more value than many sparrows”.

Concerning the meaning of the numbers two, three, and four, two is witness, three is the process of being judged, and four is the whole of the matter under discussion. Each have both a positive and a negative application simply because they are all part of t​he Word of God,​ and ​t​he Word o​f God is Christ​,​ and Christ is the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night which led Israel for forty years in the wilderness:

Exo 13:21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

We are told that Christ is both Lord and Christ:

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

This is what “the Lord” is to all who know Him:

Exo 14:19  And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
Exo 14:20  And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Christ is the Word and the Word of God is a light to the path of those the Lord loves and is working with in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). But that same light is “a cloud and darkness to [those]” with whom the Lord is not revealing “the mysteries of the kingdom of God”:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven [those given “light by by night to the camp of Israel”], but to them it is not given [“darkness to these”].

Being aware of this characteristic of The Word of God will help your spiritual vision immensely. Here are the links to the spiritual meaning of those three numbers:

Spiritual Significance of the Number Two
Numbers in Scripture – Three: the Process of Spiritual Completion Through Judgment
Spiritual Significance of the Number Four

I hope this is of some help to you, and I pray it gives comfort and consolation to your son’s friends.

YbiChrist,
Mike