ISRAEL

Restoration: Returning the Torah of God to the Disciples of Jesus

Wonderfully Made

Roger Meyer (guest columnist)

Look at your hand. Once it was only a small bit of code in a DNA sequence. Now, it is a fully operational marvel of design, engineering and construction. And so is the rest of our body. Mankind is only beginning to understand some of the secrets of the processes of prenatal development.

All of this was impressed on my mind more than ever last year, while I had a grandchild "in production" for delivery in early 2012. The manufacturing system and processes that create the human body are way beyond any automated and state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques known by man. It is molecular level biological manufacturing. An incredible thing about this manufacturing process is that it has not changed in nearly 6,000 years.

Mankind has sought for decades to crack the manufacturing secrets but it has only begun to scratch the surface. There is no rival to this incredible process. Photos and videos of some of the stages of production have been obtained and are available in books and on various websites such as http://www.ehd.org/science. These photos reveal incredible, miraculous changes the little baby’s body undergoes at various intervals of development.

There are many parts, and many systems, and each alone is a marvel. There is a cardiovascular system, a gastrointestinal system, an endocrine system and a reproductive system. Eyes and ears are marvelous creations. Muscles, nerves, various organs and the incredible human brain. Each is overwhelming in its complexity, design and detail. And it all starts with a tiny single cell embryo packed with an incredible amount of information in a microscopic structure which determines what the baby will be—sex, eye color, hair color, innate talents, etc.

If you have ever wondered what your own beginnings looked like, visit the Web site of the Endowment for Human Development, where you can see an interactive human prenatal development timeline with short videos and pictures. One can only marvel at the day-by-day development of tiny structures developing into a fully formed baby boy or girl. At two weeks, the brain and early eyes appear. At three weeks, the heart begins to form. At five weeks, hand plates develop and wrist joints are forming. At ten weeks, fingernails and toenails begin to grow and fingerprints have arrived. At twelve weeks there are taste buds, and at 13 weeks teeth are growing. At 18 weeks sweat glands appear. At 26 weeks the ability to smell has arrived. What a marvelous wonder!

Several thousand years ago, the psalmist David also marveled at this process. He said, “For You formed my inward parts; you covered me [the New International Version renders it as “knit me together”] in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16).

The book of Genesis tells us, “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). It also explains that God “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into His nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). The prophet Isaiah describes God as “your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb” (Isaiah 44:24). And we read: “As you know not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so you know not the works of God who makes all” (Ecclesiastes 11:5).

As amazing as the physical creation of humanity may be, God’s very purpose behind it is even more astounding. To learn more, request your free copy of our informative booklet, Your Ultimate Destiny, or read our Tomorrow’s World article, “What Is the Meaning of Your Life?”