Our church observed Sanctity of Life yesterday. I took Exodus 1:8-21 as our text. Within the narrative itself, Joseph and his rescue of Egypt from famine has long been forgotten. A new Pharaoh sits on the throne and does not have much feeling for the Israelites, especially since they are multiplying exceedingly fast!

His first plot to “stunt” their growth was to put them under hard, taxing slavery. This didn’t work. In fact, they just multiplied all the more. So he instituted another plan. He orders two Hebrew midwives to kill every male child that is born!

Because they fear God far more than they do Pharaoh, they disobey him and allow the children to live. As a result, God blesses the midwives with families of their own and causes the people to continue to multiply!

The following were the observations I made of the text that are applicable today in the stand for life!

1. God’s Law Supersedes the Law of Man! (vv 15-17) Several things stick out in this text.

1. First, Pharaoh has essentially mandated population control! Population control is a man-made solution to a man-made imaginary problem! God’s plan has always been to “multiply and fill the earth” because God wants worshippers! Lots of worshippers. Lots of different kinds of worshippers! Man’s plan is the opposite. “Let’s stifle the population. There are too many of us!” Population control inevitably ends up in abortion, and humanly speaking, nothing good comes from it. Take China for example. The “One Child Policy” of China has resulted in a generation of men who can’t find wives because there are hardly any women in China! The results will be loss of morals in relationships and marriage and national and international problems!
2. Second, Pharaoh’s policy is akin to partial-birth abortion. As soon as you can tell that the child is male, kill it!
3. Third, the midwives knew some fundamental truths that run deep.

• They knew there is a God, and if he exists, He is Creator, and He is in charge of life - who lives and who dies!
• Life is a precious gift from God that is not to be at the whim of man’s selfish nature.
• Life is one of those primary, fundamental issues where God’s will overrides anything man says!
• While it was in the power of the midwives’ hands and while they were under the protection of the king to do away with the life of these babies, their conscience before God would not allow them to do such a horrific act!
• Over in Acts 5, Peter and the apostles are arrested and brought before the high priest. They are told to quit preaching Jesus or face the consequences! And the replied in v29, “We ought to obey God rather than men!” Now long before the apostles made that stance, these Hebrew midwives said, “We ought to obey God rather than the king!”

1. God is 100% for the Preservation of Life! (vv 18-20) Just take note that the people multiplying and growing strong was the will of God, and therefore, in the saving of lives, the midwives were in line with the will of God while being opposed to Pharaoh!

Life is God’s business. Procreation is an absolute miracle! That a male and female come together, become one physically, and as a result a new human being is created is absolutely astounding! The delivery ward of every hospital is essentially a miracle factory! Over and over, babies are pulled from the womb or removed from the womb and begin to breathe on their own and receive nourishment through the mouth instead of through the stomach, and cry, and move, and open their eyes! I have only seen it twice, and both times I knew I was in the middle of a miracle!

3. Children are a Blessing from the Lord! (v 21) The reward for the midwives protecting life was that God GAVE them families! God gave them husbands. God gave them children!

A couple of philosophies have merged in our culture to produce a tragic result. The feminist agenda, a woman’s right to her body, along with the ever-present craving of materialism and status achievement and more honor so it seems in the workforce rather than in the home - these things have culminated together with the end being that children are a bother. Children are a distraction. Children are another bill payment. Children are in the way. Children are a burden.

God says in Psalm 127:3 that children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward! Children are a blessing of incredible joy! Having a big family was once seen as a blessing from God! Now days if you have a large family, people think it so odd you end up on TV with your own reality show! It seems unreal and it used to be the norm!

May the Lord grant us the resolve and conviction of the Hebrew wives to save babies and please the Lord!