SEEK 31 – Before Birth – Where was I Before I was Born?

SEEK 31 – Before Birth

 Question: Where was I before I was born?

  Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1

Text: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

Do we exist before we are born? It’s a more complex question than you might think!

Let’s return to the philosopher we mentioned in the last chapter – Scott Hershovitz. He was asked by a girl called Melia: “Where was I before I was born and before I was in your belly?”
“Melia, bad news: you were never in my belly. But you have good company in wondering where you were before you were born …

”Then he was asked by a boy called Josh – “Where was I before I was here?”
“Nowhere! The universe has been around for billions of years, but you weren’t part of it until very recently. I wasn’t either, though I’ve been here a bit longer than you.Have you ever made something new – like a picture? It wasn’t anywhere until you made it. And you’re just the same. You weren’t anywhere until your parents made you.”

This is the world view of atheistic naturalism. You were nowhere, and you are going nowhere. You’re on the road to annihilation. And therefore, ultimately in the grand scheme of things you are meaningless. Read the book of Ecclesiastes to see what that feels like. “Surely the fate of human beings is like that of animals; the same fate awaits them both: as one dies, so does the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19)

But what does the Bible have to say about our existence before we were born. Where were you before you were born? You were in your mother’s womb. You existed then. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). This is important because there are people today who say that a person does not come into existence until they are actually born. That is not what either the Bible or science teaches. When you were in the womb, you were not a blob, or a lifeless group of cells. You were you.

But what about before then? Some religions argue that you existed in a previous life. They believe in reincarnation – the idea that you existed before and are ‘reborn’ into your current body. I have occasionally met people who think that they were an Egyptian Pharoah or a Greek princess in a previous life. It’s surprising that they never think they were a cockroach! But reincarnation is just another confusing lie from the Father of Lies. As the Scottish band, the Proclaimers put it in their song The More I Believe: “I don’t believe in reincarnation
I’m not coming back as a flower
I don’t bow my head to kings or priests
‘Cause I believe in your higher power”

There is one person who existed before he was in his mother’s womb. That Is Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is eternal. You are not. Jesus did not have a beginning, you did. Isn’t it amazing that the One who created everything was himself created as a human in the womb of Mary?!

So, the answer to the question where you were before you were conceived in your mother’s womb – is that you did not exist. Unlike Jesus you are not eternal – with no beginning. But that is not the end of the story. Look at our verse from Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”. God who is outside, as well as inside, time and space – knew about Jeremiah – and he knows about you. In other words, you are not a random accident in a meaningless world. All the days ordained for you were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16).

All of this is so incredible, wonderful, and beautiful. But I don’t want to finish there.

Although we don’t believe in reincarnation, we do believe in the new birth. When Jesus told Nicodemus that if he wanted to see the kingdom of God he would have to be born again, he replied, “How can someone be born when they are old? Surely, they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born?” (John 3:4). Nicodemus was of course right. But Jesus was not talking about another physical birth. He was talking about spiritual birth – or to be more accurate birth by the Holy Spirit. Your temporary life on earth is dependent on your being born. Your eternal life in heaven is dependent on your being born again!

Consider: It is good for us to think about who we are and where we come from. Who are your ancestors? What is our heritage? It is good to celebrate the day of our birth. But is it not even more important to think about where we are going? And how we get there? Is not the day of our second birth even more important than our first?

Further Reading:

Who am I? – Jerry Bridges.

Prayer: How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!…Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thought. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen (Psalm 139)

SEEK 30 – After Death