Rev. Richard D. Balge

God’s Son was there when human life was first created:

John 1:3 “Through him all things were made”

Colossians 1:16a “For in him all things were created”

God created our first parents to live. He created them in his own image, and so they knew how to live. He commanded and enabled them to continue the work of creating human life:

Genesis 1:28a “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number…’”

In the beginning God was pro-life.

God created them to live. They died when they disobeyed the only commandment God had given them. They died, in the sense that by their disobedience they had cut themselves off from the Source of life.

They died spiritually, and it was only a matter of time before their souls and bodies would be separated in physical death. They died, and without God’s intervention they would die eternally, exist forever in misery and pain and regret.

God intervened. He promised to send a descendant of Eve who would crush the Tempter’s power and rescue her and Adam and all their descendants from death. After the fall, God was still pro-life.

God kept his promise. God’s Son came to redeem what he had created. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, developed in his mother’s womb, was born. He grew up and became a man. he lived the perfect life of loving obedience to his Father and love for all mankind, even his enemies. He willingly laid down his life as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. He did it, “so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14b,15). Especially at Golgotha, God was pro-life.

God raised Jesus from the dead. Because he lives, whoever believes in him has eternal life. That is God’s pro-life testimony in Christ.

Adam was created in God’s image and likeness, holy and immortal. Adam’s sons were created in Adam’s image, sinful and mortal (Genesis 5:3). You and I, as Adam’s children, must confess as David did: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). It is not our nature to let the God who gives life be in the center of our lives. It is our nature to want to be gods, controlling our own destiny, controlling those around us. That is the way that leads to death. What if someone who didn’t want to be bothered by your existence had decided to play God and snuff out your life in an abortion clinic? What if someone had left you without nourishment and care after you were born? No baptism, no training in God’s Word, no knowledge of Jesus Christ, no eternal life by faith in him whom God has sent.

Those who are in Christ are also pro-life. They want to imitate their Father in heaven by valuing and protecting and preserving life. Not only the unborn but also the newborn. Not only the young but also the old. Not only the healthy and strong but also those who need special help and care. There is no other way they can be, for they have heard God’s pro-life testimony in Christ.