PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 149: WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT HAVING CHILDREN? Part 3.
FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 149 – WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT HAVING CHILDREN? Part 3.
What is God's promise to you as a mother? That you will be saved, delivered, protected, preserved, healed, and made whole! Is this really true? Tune in, and discover what God has to say in His Word.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, From Our Home to Yours, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, lovely ladies! And to all who are listening, grandmothers, mothers, young people, even children. I think some of the children love to listen too. It doesn't matter what age, we all need to hear God's truth, don't we?
In fact, I think it's wonderful for children and young people to hear these truths that we are talking about, not when they get older, but now, when they are younger. In fact, the things that I'm going to talk to you about today are so powerful, and so needed for people to hear and to understand truth. Usually I pray for you at the end of each session, but I want to pray right as we start today.
Dear Father, I pray that as we open Your Word again today, that You will bring Your revelation, Your understanding. Lord, we are bombarded with all that the world is saying. But it's so opposite to Your Word. I pray that Your living Word will take hold of us, become part of us, and we will begin to live it out. I pray for revelation to come to every house today. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Well, this is our third session, speaking about What Does God Have To Say About Having Children? Yes, I'm up to my third session and I have so much to share with you today. I hope we can fit it all in.
Let's go for a start to Jeremiah 1:5: God is speaking, and He says: “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
Let's look at it a little closely because these are the words of God. God is speaking. When we read the Word, we take hold of every word, because every word is life-giving, and it's personal. Even when they're spoken to someone else, or to Israel, or to some particular person, that is maybe the primary thing, but then, underneath are the layers of revelation. Every word is giving us truth and principles for us today. And for me personally and for you personally.
No. 1:
We see that God formed him, and God states this to Jeremiah. He says: “I formed you in the womb. You just didn't happen. You just didn't turn up on the scene. I formed you.”
I wonder, ladies, if any of you got to listen to my series I did on Psalm 139. It was called The Awe and Wonder of Life in the Womb. I did five sessions. Oh, they were amazing! Not because I spoke them, but because I was sharing with you the Hebrew words and what they really meant of how God formed life in the womb. And it's just so amazing. You can go back and listen to those.
No. 2:
God knew him. He says: “Before I formed thee.” Notice, in the Scripture we read the personal pronoun “thee,” or, of course, we would say “you.” So let's read it as though it was in a modern translation. We'll read the word “you,” because God says that word, the personal pronoun, five times in just one little Scripture.
“Before I formed you in the belly (or the womb), I knew you. And before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you, and I ordained you to be a prophet to the nations.” “You,” the personal pronoun. Five times!
God knows every single baby in the womb. God has written a book about every person alive before they were even born! In fact, we see that word “before” in this Scripture. This word comes two times, “Before I formed you,” and, “Before you came out of the womb.”
Before, before there was even any thought of us, God knew about us. God knew our lives. He'd already written the book before He even formed us. Isn't that just so amazing? It makes us realize the power of conception, and the awe, and the wonder, and the power, and the God-coming, and the God-overshadowing, and the God-creating of every life in the womb.
So we see next . . .
No. 3:
“And God sanctified him.” God sets each one apart for His purposes, not when we're older, not when we're an adult and someone comes along and gives a prophetic word, and says, “You are to do this. This is the anointing that is upon your life.”
No, God had it all planned before we were even conceived and before we came out of the womb. And He wrote this book of our whole lives. Imagine the library of Heaven! Oh, it must be filled with books, books, and books, because there is a book on every life! How amazing!
No. 4:
We see God appointed his destiny. “I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” That word “ordained” in the Hebrew means “to give.” God gave Jeremiah as a gift to the nations of Israel and Judah to speak to them God's words.
God gives every life as a gift to the world. In some way, they reveal, they are born in the image of God. Therefore, they are born to reveal something of God, to show something of His image in this world. Of course, only Jesus was the exact Image of the Invisible God. We are made in His image and likeness. We are not the perfect Image, but we are to show something of what He is like through our lives.
Every life we bring into the world is another opportunity to
reveal God in this world!
And this is God's purpose for every life. Every life that we bring into the world is another opportunity to reveal God in this world. The more children that we bring into this world, the more revelation of God in this world! There is no greater thing that we can do. It is just so amazing!
I want to also read to you Psalm 139:16 in the New English Translation. “All the days ordained for me were recorded in Your scroll before one of them came into existence.” Isn't it amazing? How can people, how can a mother, how can anyone abort a living child? A child, who God has already written a book about. A child, who God has recorded in His book, every one of his days? I mean, this is the real person who already has a book written about them! And yet they can go and murder that child in the womb. Isn't this unbelievable?
The Message Translation says: “All the stages of my life were spread out before You. The days of my life, all prepared before I even lived one day.” Oh, how wonderful!
Now let me take you over to Leviticus, well, way back to Leviticus, chapter 15:16. It says here: “If any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water.” Back in Leviticus, God was giving principles for cleanliness and how they were to live. Here the word “sperm,” or “semen,” in the King James Translation is translated “seed of copulation.” That's how the King James translates it.
The Hebrew is the word zerah. Now we have two Hebrew words. There's zerah, which is number 2232 in the Strong's Concordance. Then there's zera, which is 2233 in the Strong's Concordance. They're both similar. They both mean the same thing. They mean, “sperm, semen,” but also “child, posterity, future generations.”
GOD SEES FAR BEYOND WHAT WE SEE
The interesting thing that I want to point out to you here, ladies, is that God sees far beyond how we see. God sees that sperm that contains life. It contains the possibility of future life, if there is conception, because there is life in that sperm. And that is actually the very beginning of life. It's called the “seed of copulation.” We find that God not only uses those Hebrew words, zerah for the sperm, but he also uses the same Hebrew word for a little child, or young person, for a grown-up, for all stages of life.
Now that's interesting, isn't it? You see, that goes beyond our thinking. We think, “The sperm, oh, well, what's a sperm?” But the sperm, once the sperm has conceived, that is already the life of a new person who will grow from a little baby into childhood, into adulthood. It is every stage of that person's life. God actually looks upon that person as a zerah. In the Bible, we see that. I'm going to show you a few Scriptures so you can get it, OK?
Now in Genesis 38;9, it says: “And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground.” Now, I think you know this story of Onan. Because his brother died, the plan back in those days was that the next brother would take that wife to be his, so that he could raise up seed to his brother, so that his name would not be blotted out in Israel.
The name, the family name, was very, very important in Israel. Well, it was very important to God, first, because God was the One Who established this. He said, “I do not want his name to be blotted out. Therefore the next brother is to go into his brother's wife, and to raise up seed to him.” That firstborn would have the name of the brother.
Today, people don't seem to care much about the name dying out, do they? You know, it takes quite a lot of children to keep a family name going. Have you noticed that? Well, I found it in our experience. We had fifteen grandchildren before we ever got a grandson that took on our family name of Campbell! We had other grandsons born, but they have another family name. We had to wait for fifteen grandchildren, to get a Campbell family name.
Even now, we don't actually have, I don't think, enough Campbell grandsons. We have a few, but we have 50 grandchildren. I think we have more that have another last name. But it just shows you how, in today's world, where most families may have one or two children, and then they grow up and maybe they have one or two children. Maybe if they don't even have a son, well, that name is going to die out. It can die out so quickly! So you have to have a few children (perhaps many), to keep the name going.
Anyway, let's get back this Scripture. So the word here is “the seed.” It's that zera. It says this guy, Onan, there's something wrong with this guy, that he didn't want to do what God said. The Living Bible, I think, makes it the more clear. “And every time he went into his wife, his brother's wife, he spilled the seed. And God killed him. God was wroth.”
I think you say “wrath” here in America. We pronounce it “wroth” back in our English tradition. But God was angry with him and killed him. Wow! Wow, I mean, that was pretty powerful. The word here, “that he spilled it on the ground,” it sounds rather not too bad, just spilled it.
But the word in the Hebrew is shakhath, and it literally means, “to destroy, to perish, to utterly waste.” So God saw that seed as destruction. Onan did not want to bring forth life for his brother, and God destroyed him, because he destroyed the seed.
It's the same word in the Hebrew that is used when God talks about destroying the whole earth through the flood because of evil. When He wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. When He said, “Destroy the Amalekites.” Mostly that word is translated “destroy” in the King James Version, although here they used “spilled.” But it's actually, “destroy.'
I think this is something we have to see. There are some people who use what is called “onanism” as birth control. It is not Biblical to use. God is against that.
But let's look at some other Scriptures. Genesis 46:6-7. It's talking about when Joseph was bringing back his father, and all his brothers and their families from Canaan and bringing them down to Egypt where he could look after them because of the famine in the land. It says here, “And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him.”
There's that same word, zera. Now, what was Jacob bringing down from Canaan? Was it lots of little seeds floating down? Lots of little sperms floating down from Canaan to Egypt? No! They were people! People! Live people! The next verse goes on to explain: “His sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.”
Three generations coming down. There were grandparents, and there were mothers and fathers, and there were young people, and there were children, and there were little babies. And God called them all zera, the same word He uses for “sperm.” You see, God sees that the sperm grows into a real living person. And that's why we should be very aware of not destroying the sperm. It is precious in the eyes of God.
Psalm 37:25: “I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed,“ (“nor his children,” most translations would just translate it,) “nor his children begging bread.” You see “children.” It's just the same word for the sperm.
Psalm 112:1-2: “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth.” Well, we understand that that means his children, his descendants will be mighty upon the earth. But it's the same word for “sperm.” Are you getting this? Are you getting to see how God sees?
Psalm 22:30: ”A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” Well, let's read it in another translation. The New Living Translation: “Our children will also serve Him.” Most translations will translate that as, “ a seed shall serve him.” They say, “our descendants,” or “our children.” Here it says: “Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those yet born.”
And so once again, we understand that when God uses the word “seed,” or a “sperm,” the word zera, “A zera shall serve him,” we know it's not only talking about sperm. It's talking about real live people, children, future generations. I think maybe that's why that word is used, because it's from the sperm that will come the future generations. That is how we have to understand the sperm. It has the possibility, and it contains the probability of future life, and of future generations,
YOU ARE BUILDING A GODLY DYNASTY
You see, darling ladies, as we're raising our families, we're not only parenting for today. Often that's as far as our brains can think. We're just trying to get through one day! Help me! But try and raise your vision higher because you're not parenting just for today. You are parenting for the future.
You are raising, training, imparting God's ways and principles into children who will, one day, marry and raise children. And their children will raise children. That is why we have to be so intent in our imparting of God's ways and truth, and His Word, and His principles into our children, that they will continue down the generations.
Every godly family should have the vision to build a godly dynasty. You see, this is what we're doing. We're building generations. We're building a dynasty that goes on into the future. Oh, precious ladies! This is why when some folks will say “No, we don't want any more children,” or, “Oh no, we've got our two, or our three, or even our four, we're fine. We've got other things to do in life.”
In fact, some people even say, “Wow, we want to serve the Lord. Therefore, we can't have any more children.” Have you heard people say that? I have. In fact, I have to confess that, way back in the beginning days of starting my family, I felt like that. I didn't understand God's truth back in those days.
I thought, “Wow, if I have too many children, I won't be able to serve the Lord. I just won't have time!” And that had been my vision as a young person, to go out and serve the Lord, and change the world for God. But of course, God had other plans, and I got married, began having children. God had to reveal to me that this was His most perfect will for me and that I was in His absolute will.
You see, we've got to see the power of what we are doing. Raising godly seed, godly zerah, godly children, a godly dynasty. And when we, maybe for some reason, say, “Well, no, I don't want any more,” we're not saying “no” to one baby. We are saying “no” to a dynasty.
Because when we stop one child, we stop future generations, because that child who we stopped will not be here to have more children. And their children will not be here to have more children. It is unbelievable, the power of what happens when we stop the godly generations.
And then, of course, the glory and the power of when we embrace God's plan, and bring forth children, who will not only be here just for us to enjoy, but who will bring forth further and more godly generations. Amen? Are you getting the picture?
LEVI WAS IN ABRAHAM’S LOINS FOUR GENERATIONS BEFORE HE WAS BORN
Well, let's go over to the New Testament, shall we? We've been in the Old. Let's go over to Hebrews 7:9-10. Here it says: “And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchisedec met him.” Well, what's all that about, ladies?
Do you remember the story when Abraham was coming back from war? His nephew, Lot, had been taken by these enemies. I think there were about four different companies of enemies that had taken all those of Sodom and Gomorrah. And Lot was taken. A messenger came to Abraham and said, “Your nephew has been taken. Everybody's been taken from these towns.”
So, OK, Abraham said, “Let's get going!” He rounded up his army. Did you know that Abraham had an army? And, did you know, it was the members of his own household? I'm thinking he had 318 (Genesis 14:14). I think that was it. I forgot to check the number, but Abraham had about 318 warriors in his own household, trained warriors, because they did live in a land where there were enemies around. Therefore, he had to have trained warriors.
They went out, Abraham with them, leading them, and they went out, and by God's power and ability, they were able to defeat those enemies. Abraham was able to retrieve his nephew, and his wife, and all the family, and all his belongings, and bring them back. Also all of those of Sodom and Gomorrah. So he was coming back and Melchisedec met him,
Melchisedec was, at that time, king of Salem, which became Jerusalem. He was a type of the priesthood to come of which Jesus would be of the Melchisedec priesthood. Abraham must have had a revelation to know who he was. We don't really quite know who he was, because, as the Bible describes him, he was without years. No one knew when he was born or whatever. So he was a type of the eternal priesthood. And Abraham gave him tithes.(Read Genesis 14:17-20 and Hebrews 7:1-28 ).
Now the interesting part about our Scripture here is that, and this blows my mind. I wonder if it will blow your mind. Did you hear what I read? That Levi also gave tithes to Melchisedec. But Levi wasn't born! Levi wasn't a twinkle in Abraham's eye! Levi eventually was Abraham's great-grandson. But God says, the Word of God says, that Levi also paid tithes to Melchisedec while he was yet in the loins of his great-grandfather, Abraham.
You see, ladies, God saw Levi before anyone had ever dreamed or thought of him. But God saw him. God knew him. God had already written a book about his life. God had already planned the Levitical priesthood that would come through the tribe of Levi. But Levi was already in Abraham's loins!
You see, there are children in our loins that God has planned to come. Wow, that gets pretty scary when we think we can stop what God wants to come forth. Imagine, imagine, if Abraham had lived in our day, and Levi had been stopped from coming forth. God already had him ready to come forth, ready in the loins of Abraham. Isn't that amazing?
Well, time is going, but I just want to share something else to you from the New Testament. OK, now just look at a Greek word, brephos. Now this word means a baby that is unborn, or a new little baby, or even an older infant. Let me give you some Scriptures.
Luke 1:41-44. You can read the story: “When Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe (brephos) leaped in her womb, and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.” Now, that word is talking about an unborn child. Unborn child, who was leaping in the womb.
And then we read over in Luke 2:12: “Ye shall find the babe, (brephos) in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Here's a little baby, just born, same word is used.
And then we read in Luke 18:15: “And they brought to Jesus infants (brephos) that He would touch them and heal them.” Here, it's talking about older children, but they all have the same word, brephos. God sees the babe in the womb as powerfully as when that child is born, or even older.
SOZO – SAVED, HEALED, DELIVERED, PROTECTED, PRESERVED, AND MADE WHOLE
Now let's go to another word. Oh, I've got to get this into you here. 1 Timothy 2:15: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing.” Let me give it to you from the New American Standard Bible: “The women will be preserved through the bearing of children, if they continue in faith, and love, and sanctity, and self-restraint.”
Don't you love that word, “preserved?” Oh, I know every one of us, we all want to preserve our lives. Oh, say it with me, “PRESERVED.” Don't you love it? Oh yes, we want to be preserved. Such a beautiful word.
And God says that we will be preserved through the bearing of children because this is the way he created us. This is what He destined us for. This is how we are made, with breasts and womb, to bring forth children and nurture children! And as we do this, our body will be preserved, and our soul and our spirit, our whole being, will be preserved.
Now the word in the Greek is sozo. It's spelled s-o-z-o, but you have to pronounce it sode’-zo. It's an amazing word. When we read it in the King James Version, it's usually translated “saved.” But oh, it means so much more!
Let's get it. This word means “to save, deliver, protect, heal, cure, preserve, keep safe, and make whole.” Dear ladies, you don't get told this in the world. You get told everything that is opposite. But God's Word says that when you embrace childbearing, child rearing, you will be saved, delivered, protected, preserved, healed, and made whole. Now you can't beat that! And that is the Word of the Lord. You can take hold of that. You can take that promise because it is God's living Word.
Now let me show you some Scriptures where that same word is used. The same word that says that we will be saved, and preserved, and healed, and delivered in childbearing, is the same word that is used when Jesus healed people.
Here's just a few examples. Matthew 9:20-22: “Jesus said, 'Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made (sozo) thee whole (sozo).’” Two times in one verse. When He says, “You're going to be made whole,” well, that's what it means. Made whole. We are made whole through salvation. We are made whole when God comes and heals us of our infirmities. We are made whole through the bearing and raising of children because it's God's perfect plan for us.
When Jesus raised Jairus' daughter from the dead, maybe I'll give you these references in my transcript to save time. Luke 8:50: “Jesus said, 'Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole (sozo).'” Sozo. That's being raised from the dead! And that same word is used!
That's the word that is used about you, dear mother, that you will be preserved in embracing the lifestyle of bearing and raising children.
What about blind Bartimaeus? Mark 10:46-52: “Jesus said unto him, 'Go thy way, thy faith hath made (sozo) thee whole (sozo).'”
Healing the demonic. Mark 5:16: “They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devil was healed (sozo).”
When Jesus healed the ten lepers, Luke 17:19: “And He said unto them, 'Arise, go thy way. Thy faith hath made (sozo) thee whole (sozo).'”
In Mark 6:56: “Jesus went around the villages, and the cities, and the country, and they brought the sick in the streets, that he would just touch them.” Just touch the border of His garment. “And as many as touched him were made whole (sozo).”
You see, lovely ladies, we are checking to see if we are living by what God says or what our humanistic society says. God says, as we embrace motherhood, we will be made whole. Isn't that wonderful?
Oh, I remember reading a commentator on this subject of sozo. This man said, “As I began to understand the fullness of the word sozo, every time I would come across that word “saved” in the King James Bible, I would repeat the full understanding of that word.”
For example, Romans 10:13 says: “Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved (sozo).” So he would read it: “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved, delivered, protected, healed, preserved, kept safe, and made whole.” Isn't that amazing? And, precious ladies, this word relates to us as mothers. Amen?
I've gone beyond my time, and dear ladies, I haven't even hardly started of all the Scriptures that there are! Oh, I'm so sorry, my book Be Fruitful and Multiply is out of print. I hope to get it back in print. But you can find it on Amazon. You know, back copies that they have on Amazon.
Also I would encourage you to go to my web page, aboverubies.org, and look up the article, “Preserved Through Motherhood.” You will love it. I'm not so much speaking about the Scriptures there, but scientifically, the blessings that happen to us when we embrace motherhood. So be encouraged. Be blessed.
“Dear Father, I thank You for each one listening today. I pray that You will pour out your blessings, with an “s” on it, all over them. Lord God, I pray that You will give them revelation of Your truth, and the understanding of Your Word and Your heart, and that, Lord, You will help us to live by Your living Word and not by all the deception that is around us.
“We thank You that You are the Giver of Life. You love life and You have created us to be life-givers. This is who we are, Lord. We thank You that right at the beginning, Eve was named “life-giver.” She was the prototype of all women to come. And this is the anointing you have put upon us. Help us to embrace it and be life-givers to the world and to the generations to come. In the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
Transcribed by Darlene Norris
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ABOVE RUBIES MAILING LIST:
If you want to receive the latest Above Rubies magazine, get on the mailing list, or receive extra magazines to share, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.