Approx.  5 B.C.:  Jesus our Savior and John the Baptist Hang Out For Three Months

     Is it OK to say that a pregnant woman's stomach 'hangs out' in front of her?

    John the Baptist got quite a word of recommendation from Jesus at one time when they were adults.  Jesus said that among those born of women, none was greater than John the Baptist.  But He added that the least of those in heaven was greater than John. 

  Well, I guess we humans may as well understand our place in God's world, because in God's world everything has a place!  If we don't have the highest place, well.... maybe we should just remember that our deeds disqualified us from having any place at all, but Jesus died for us, so at least there is now a way to get to the place that was provided for us through our Lord.  But we still have to seek that place with all of our strength if we wish to obtain it.  There is much work to do down here on Earth, and our Lord wishes to see it completed!  His Christians are not just 'along for the ride'.  We are servants, not scenery.

  But what is also interesting is that Jesus's mother Mary was related to John's mother Elizabeth.  In Luke 1:36 we hear the angel Gabriel as he tells Mary something interesting, having also just told her that she will bear the one who will be called the Son of the Most High, and that the Baby should be called Jesus.  But then he tells her this:

  "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her 6th month.  For no word from God will ever fail."    (The birth of John the Baptist had also been foretold.  And John's name had also been 'pre-specified' just as Jesus' was.)

  So, an excited Mary, after hearing these things from the angel Gabriel, hurried to see Elizabeth.

  John 1;39:  "At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home [author: Zechariah was Elizabeth's husband and would be John's the Baptists earthly father] and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: 

 "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!"

  Then later, in Luke 1:56, it says:   "Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home."

  Though the Bible does not tell us if Mary watched the birth of John the Baptist, she must have left within a few days of it, before or after.  Probably before, though, since Mary's departure is mentioned in the verse before John the Baptist's birth. 

  So, here is an interesting thing for us to consider.  John was about 6 months old within his mother's womb, and Jesus was probably in his first month in Mary's womb.  Yet John, in his mother's womb, jumped with excitement inside of his mother's womb when Jesus - in Mary's womb - entered Elizabeth's house and was under the same roof as unborn baby John!  And, within their respective mother's wombs, they were room mates, so to speak, in Zechariah and Elizabeth's home, for about three months. 

  So, if you ever have a conversation with someone about whether babies inside of the womb are really people, remember that they can become very excited in each other's presence (through the Holy Spirit) and have been known to recognize each other.  They also can be a key player in plans that God has already decided upon.

  That's a lot to think about if you think an unborn baby is just a relatively valueless fetus until it is born.  The Lord knows us as persons, even within the womb. 

  Can you imagine what conversations the mothers must have had?  One is giving birth to the Son of God.  One is giving birth to the one who will prepare the way for the Son of God.  No other two mothers anywhere in all of history have been given such visitations, such prophecies, such Heaven backed assurance about the future greatness of their children.  And they even know each other, these mothers.  They are related.

  My guess is that no two expectant mothers ever had greater joy, or more to think about, or more to talk about with each other, or less to worry about (the safe delivery of their child was assured by God Himself, was it not?) than these two mothers here! 

  The most momentous pregnancies in all of time?  Maybe!  Probably! And they knew it!  They knew it!  You also have to guess that there was just a little bit of jealousy among their friends, don't you?   

  And when Mary went home at about 3 months pregnant, with Elizabeth at 9 months, they had become the vessels chosen to end the Old Covenant and begin the New One.  The Old Testament that would one day be assembled would have 39 books in it.  Mary 3 months, Elizabeth 9 months - 39.  And Jesus, the central point of the New Covenant, will rule in a city that will be shaped like a gargantuan cube on day - the new Jerusalem.  3 (months) cubed is 27.  There would come to be 27 books in the New Testament, which teaches about the New Covenant, which is centered on Jesus, who was 3 months old when He and John parted in the bodies of their mothers.  Even the numbers sort of hint at the parting of the ways.

  John and Jesus would meet once more that the scriptures mention, and John would baptize Jesus with water on that occasion.  But John the Baptist was sort of like the Jonathan that was old King Saul's son:  Jonathan was the heir apparent to Saul's throne, just as John the Baptist was considered to be about as great of a son of the Old Covenant as existed in his time.  And within Israel, John the Baptist was his time's most powerful evangelical figure (people from all of Israel flocked to him to be baptized) at the time Jesus appeared to begin His ministry.  But Jonathan understood that he must step down and away so that God's chosen, David, could reign. 

  Jonathan understood that the expected flow of events had been interrupted, and Jonathan knew he would not likely become king now because of this change.  So also did John the Baptist understand that it was Jesus' time.  He knew that Jesus would become greater and greater now, and he would begin to fade away in importance.  But...he embraced it, and loved Jesus, just as Jonathan accepted things and loved David because Jonathan understood that David was chosen of God.  And John the Baptist, he would have known that Jesus was the Son of the Most High!  His mother would have known, and his Earthly father.

  What humble hearts Jonathan and John the Baptist had.  They both knew the joy of the bridegroom and preferred it to their own advancement.  

  What loyal servants to God the Father were King David and of course Jesus the very Son of God!  They both placed His yoke over their shoulders and pulled His plow with all of their might.

  A mother's influence can produce such very good results!  Praise God that He gives so many people good mothers.  That doesn't guarantee a good son - but few things do more to increase the chances.