4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5 (ESV)
Over the last few decades our understanding of what is happening in the womb has been illuminated, literally, by marvelous technology. With ultrasonography and miniature cameras, what was once visible only to God is now available to expecting parents. It is clearer than ever before that a pregnant woman carries a “who,” not a “what.” God and those who know His Word knew that all along.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 reports God’s announcement of Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet. However, He actually called Jeremiah to be a prophet much earlier. The person who would be known as “the weeping prophet” was set apart for that office even before he was born. Such is the wisdom and knowledge of the sovereign God.
Though the text concerns Jeremiah specifically, some of its truths apply universally. For instance, God tells Jeremiah that He “formed” him in the womb. The Hebrew verb yatsar, translated “formed,” comes from a family of words that includes the word for “potter.” Like a skillful potter, God forms every human being in the womb. The psalmist adds to the imagery of God as skillful artisan when he says he was “being made in secret, intricately woven” (Psalm 139:15).
Also note how God tells Jeremiah that before He formed him in the womb He “knew” him. The Hebrew word for “know” can have a wide variety of meanings, from “factual knowledge” (Genesis 27:2) to “carnal knowledge” (Genesis 19:5; Judges 21:11). The Jeremiah text connotes a personal relationship between God and the nascent prophet. God knew him thoroughly and completely, just as He knows every one of His human creations in an intimate way, even as they lie in the womb.
This is one of the reasons abortion is such a heinous act—it destroys a person with whom God is in intimate relation. He has formed them skillfully. He knows them intimately. Sovereignly, He has set them apart for His own purpose. To kill an unborn human being is, therefore, not only murder, but an affront to God Himself.
The appropriate response to being formed by the divine Craftsman is thanksgiving. The clay should turn to God, the Potter who formed him, and rejoice. Moreover, Christians should work to end abortion on demand because abortion kills those crafted in His image and, thereby, insults the One who made and knows them.