While Yet Unborn, John Announced the Arrival of Jesus

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the baby leaped in her womb.
(Luke 1:41)

Silence—in the womb.
Two mothers carried mystery,
two children carried promise.

Mary's greeting broke the quiet,
and Elizabeth gasped.
Her child jolted inside her—
not a flutter,
a leap.

It was John.
The unborn prophet announcing the Messiah.
The forerunner proclaiming Jesus
before either child had drawn a breath.

Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit, cried:
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the Child you bear!"

No sermon was spoken.
No crowd was gathered.
No scroll was opened.
Yet the message thundered—
concealed in Mary's womb,
confirmed in Elizabeth's womb,
announced by John's leap.

The only sermon preached in utero—
a prophet's recognition
before his own cry,
a Savior revealed
before His own birth.

Christmas begins in the unseen.
Faith heard what eyes could not yet see.
Wombs became sanctuaries of revelation,
thresholds became altars of praise.

You may not know this about Jesus:
before His voice echoed on hillsides,
before His cry pierced Bethlehem's night,
He was announced in silence—
the only sermon preached in utero.

Where do I need
to trust God's hidden work today—
before I can see it?

God often begins in silence,
not absence.
His promises live
before they're visible,
and faith recognizes
what sight can't yet confirm.

This teaches me
to honor small beginnings,
to treat ordinary thresholds
as altars,
and to listen for the leaps
that signal His nearness.

Father, thank You
for working in the unseen
and for teaching me
that silence can carry Your voice.

Help me trust
Your hidden beginnings,
recognize Your presence
before it is visible,
and turn my thresholds
into altars of praise.

In Jesus' name, Amen.