Although most Americans have reduced Christmas to a month-long display of naked materialism, we can still find reminders of its true meaning in things like nativity scenes and Christmas carols. The birth of Jesus remains not just the greatest hope of mankind, but the most powerful pro-life story ever told. God Himself came to earth in human flesh, and He came not as an adult, a teenager, or even a newborn. He came as a zygote.
In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced that the Lord was with her. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.”
John describes the incarnation and birth of Jesus in more poetic terms: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (Jn. 1:14).
Paul describes the mystery and majesty of Jesus, the God-Man, in Colossians when he wrote, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9).
Fully God, fully man.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus came to earth through conception? Why didn’t He just descend on a cloud and announce His presence? Why didn’t He spring forth from a rock, or out of the earth, or from the ocean? Surely God could take human form however He wished—why did He choose to appear through the normal process of human development? And why is this significant to the pro-life Christian today?
In order for the Bible to make the claim that Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time, Christ had to be completely human. That meant that He had to develop as every other human develops—from conception. If He had come to earth as a teenager or an adult, we could claim that Jesus wasn’t truly human. If a human being today sprang into being as a child or a 10-year-old, we would all question her humanity. Is she an alien? Is she really alive? Is she some sort of clone?
No, Jesus came to earth through conception to prove His full humanity. We were all conceived. He was conceived. We all developed in the womb. He developed in the womb. We were all born. He was born.
This is a central fact for the pro-life Christian. We are human persons from the moment of conception, just as Christ was a human person from the moment of conception. God clearly demonstrated that life in the womb is priceless, because He Himself came to earth through the womb.
In earthly terms, Jesus was the result of an unplanned pregnancy. Mary was “perplexed” when Gabriel announced that she had found favor with God, and she was further confused about how she was to give birth to a son as a virgin. Jesus was not in Mary’s plans.
Joseph certainly didn’t plan on his betrothed becoming pregnant with the Son of God. In fact he planned to divorce Mary quietly when he found out she was with child. An angel had to come to Joseph in a dream to clear things up.
Unplanned pregnancy today is the leading driver of abortion. Can we not acknowledge God working to create new, precious life, even if the pregnancy isn’t planned? If God is the author of all life, He is also the author of lives resulting from unplanned pregnancies.
The Incarnation—the conception of the very Son of God—is one of the most powerful reminders for the Christian to protect human life in all circumstances. After all, Jesus was not a blob of tissue in Mary’s womb; He was our Savior.
