What the Bible teaches about Miscarriages: Finding Real Hope

In late February, a positive pregnancy test brought my husband and I a rush of excited joy, only to be followed a few weeks later by the bitter disappointment of miscarriage. Those little cells of life only existed for 4-5 weeks, not quite long enough to even detect a heartbeat on ultrasound. Can I Biblically hope to see our unborn baby in the resurrection?

God Knows the Unborn

There are verses about God knowing us individually in the womb and even having our life’s purpose in mind as he forms us inside our mothers.

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.” Isaiah 49:1, 5

Although these verses are beautiful and show that God is intimately acquainted with us even from the womb they didn’t give me much comfort at the beginning of my study, but I was about to to discover something amazing about God’s character and how the Book of Life is written that changes everything.

The Book of Life

Psalms chapter 139 was the first place I found real hope. This is the chapter that reminds us we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” Verse 16 provided the most direct comfort.

“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16

All of our members are recorded before any of them exist, while we are yet an imperfect “substance”, this is clearly referring to conception. At conception we are recorded in God’s book, could this be the Book of Life?

In Exodus 32:32–33, Moses pleads with God, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” God replies, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” This text identifies God’s book as the Book of Life.

I did a deeper dive into verses about the Book of Life and could not find any other place that mentions people being added to the book. Psalm 139:16 describes us being added to God’s book at our creation/conception. The rest of the verses about the Book of Life focus on the wicked’s names being blotted out after a life of rejecting God, the Life-giver and choosing sin, which is death. I found many other verses that reinforced this view:

• Psalm 69:28: A prayer regarding the wicked: “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.”
• Daniel 12:1: A prophecy of the end times: “…and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”
• Luke 10:20: Jesus tells His disciples, “Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
• Philippians 4:3: Paul mentions his fellow laborers “whose names are in the book of life.”
• Revelation 3:5: promises: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”
• Revelation 13:8 & 17:8: Describes those who follow the beast as people whose names “names were not written in the book of life” (because they had been blotted out)
• Revelation 20:12: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”
• Revelation 20:15: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
• Revelation 21:27: Describing the New Jerusalem: “Nothing impure will ever enter it… but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

How precious that we are each recorded in the Book of Life, God has claimed us both as Creator and as our Savior purchasing us by his own blood. He does not give up on any of us — even a wicked person until life’s probation is spent and they have made a clear rejection of His precious gift of life created and purchased with His own blood.

An unborn baby has not had a lifetime of rejecting God, therefore they remain recorded in the Book of Life by default. God loves us with an infinite love and does not give us up easily.

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them the me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:28-29

I was amazed to learn that we do not “earn” a place in the Book of Life by accepting Jesus. Our names are already recorded in the Book of Life by default, we just accept or reject His free gift. My understanding of salvation and love of God deepened as this newly discovered truth took root in my heart. Because of this I started to have faith that I will yet meet our unborn child, but I soon came across even better evidence than this.

Counted among the Dead, Resting in the Grave

I have been reading through the book of Job during my personal devotional time and I remembered Job had talked specifically about miscarriages. When in grief over losing everything — especially his beloved children he wished he was never born:

“Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?…For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;” Job 3:11 & 13-14

Here Job wishes he had been stillborn, and points out that he would be resting in the grave along with counselors and kings resting in their more elaborate graves. But then he goes on to describe miscarriage…

“Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.” Job 3:16-19

So although these unborn babies are not necessarily counted among the living, they are definitely counted among the dead. Not missing, not erased like they never existed, but resting in the grave with other people who lived out their lives and are now awaiting the resurrection. This is very important because Jesus Himself promised,

“Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28-29

I added the bold so you wouldn’t miss it, ALL that are in the graves are included in the resurrection of life or judgement! No one is left behind, no one is left out. The unborn are included among the dead in the grave so they will be included in the resurrection!

The following verse echoes Job’s language about the dead being like sleeping prisoners.

“That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.” Isaiah 49: 9-10

Comfort in Hope

Here are verses that have brought me a lot of comfort concerning my pregnancy loss.

• “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4
• “But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.” Isaiah 49:25
• “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Isaiah 49:15-16
• “Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.” Jeremiah 31:15-17

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

All scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV), unless otherwise noted.