Born of a Woman

Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. Throughout this Advent season, we will be studying Galatians 4:4-5 together. In this series, we wil study the gospel truths found in these verses and discover how the coming of Christ speaks into our sorrow.

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“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Galatians 4:4-5

READ:

Born of a woman. 

I’ve been reading recently in Genesis during my weekly Bible study. In chapter three, Adam and Eve sin when they give in to Satan’s temptation and disobey the command God gave to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God seeks them out and questions them, giving them the opportunity to confess and repent. But when He gets to the serpent, He immediately curses him,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.”

Within this curse is contained the first hint of a promise—one day One would come who would defeat the serpent once and for all. This promise, and the anticipatory hope, is increasingly developed through the books of Moses and the rest of the Old Testament. The Messiah would one day crush the serpent and bring redemption from sin and the curse.

And this Messiah would also be the woman’s offspring. He would somehow be human, yet able to completely defeat evil. In Galatians 4:4 we read these words,

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman…”

In Christ, God fulfilled His promise. And in this lies our hope.  

First, Jesus was born of a woman in fulfillment of prophecy. The takeaway is this: God is faithful to keep His promises. We can trust Him who, from the beginning, provided a way out from under the burden and destruction of sin. We can trust Him who, from the beginning, planned a way for us to be eternally free from the curse. It is under this curse that we have lost our precious babies to death. But because of Christ, the fulfillment of prophecy and the embodiment of faithfulness, we have hope that our babies live eternally.

Second, because Jesus was born of a woman, He entered into our world of grief. He was one of us—human—yet without sin. A year ago I penned these words:

“Into this world of pain and heartbreak and loss and grief, sorrow and hunger and cold, was born Someone who would take on our pain and grief and sorrows, and in doing so, would bring eternal hope and healing. As mothers who have lost precious babies, we carry in our hearts deep sorrows. It was into our world of pain and sorrow that Jesus was born as a baby. It is this lowly humanity of Jesus that invites us into a deep relationship with Him. Often, when we focus on the deity of Christ we overlook the truth that He was also a real flesh and blood human. He can relate to our pain because He experienced the same. Jesus came to be with us where the pain is.”

Dear mama, Jesus has fully entered into your humanity so that He can minister to your hurting heart and offer hope like nothing else can. He was born into the world the same way that women, for millennia, have birthed their babies. He is our ultimate source of healing and hope.

REFLECT:

Read and meditate on Isaiah 53:3-5.

1. What does this passage say about Jesus’ humanity?
2. How can Jesus’ experience of pain, illness, affliction, and wounds bring us comfort and hope?
3. What is the result for us because of the wounds He endured?
4. What hope does this give you as you think of your precious babies safe in the arms of Jesus?

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Abigail is mama to her toddler daughter and to Sarabeth who went to be with Jesus seven days after her birth in January 2018. She and her husband, Chad, live in Berea, KY on the family farm where they raise cattle. In addition to being a stay-at-home-mom and teaching piano part-time, Abigail blogs on Facebook and Instagram at A Healing Gratitude where her desire is to share Sarabeth’s story in a way that highlights the goodness and love of God and demonstrate how gratitude can lead to greater healing.

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