Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. The music, the twinkling lights, the silky feel of gift wrap as I decorate that perfect gift for each loved one. But for some, the holidays come with it large amounts of sadness, headaches, and worries about how to pay the bills and how to satisfy everyone’s wish list. It’s during the Christmas season, more than anytime of the year, where we need to cling to our anchor—the Word of God—to keep our focus on the real reason for the season.
Step away from the busyness and anxiety of the holiday season and step into the peace of God that comes through reading Christmas Scriptures. These Bible verses offer wonderful sentimental words of hope for use in Christmas cards or social media. I would even encourage you to come back and read these Christmas Bible verses throughout the month of December to keep yourself alive to the joy of the season.
Here are our favorite 20 Christmas verses to meditate on as you celebrate with family and friends:
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Zechariah 9:9
"Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
This was to be a sign to all the people that the next King would be one riding into town on a donkey. When He came, the people waved palm branches and cheered His name. In response, Jesus wept, for He knew they did not clearly know who He was or what He came to offer them. Do we know God fully and the gift of salvation He offers so freely?
Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
God is our counselor, offering us peace in times of trouble. He is our father and the ultimate source of peace, especially when the Christmas season brings tremendous amounts of stress.
Isaiah 11:1
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.”
Isaiah prophesied Jesus’ coming many years before his birth. From the line of Jesse Jesus would be born, bearing the fruit of salvation in all those who choose to receive it.
Isaiah 40:3
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Isaiah again prophesied the Lord’s coming. This was the warning to all that the world didn’t need a king who would merely make laws and keep decrees, but the One who would offer living water to all.
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Matthew 2:10-11
“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
The star guided the three wise men to where Mary was giving birth. At the sight of the savior, the men bowed down and worshipped. They gave him the best gifts in recognition of His kingly status. Although His birth was in a lowly place fit only for animals, the wise men knew who He was as they were aware of the prophesies from long ago.
Matthew 1:21
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’)”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Joseph didn’t ignore the angelic sighting, but rather acted in obedience. If God called you to something that required great faith, would you do it? Or would you ignore it, relying on your understanding instead of a word from the Lord?
Luke 1:26-28
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”’
Mary understood her purpose in giving birth to the savior through an encounter with the angel Gabriel. Although not many Christians claim angel sightings today, we still reap the gift of hearing from God through prophesies, visions, dreams. His people are those who are bold enough to transmit the message to others for their edification.
Luke 1:41-42
“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.”
Even Elizabeth’s baby understood the miraculous event that had just taken place! Mary was chosen to be Jesus’s mother. But Mary had to accept that calling to carry out God’s work of bringing the savior to the world. Jesus uses ordinary people like you and me today to carry out the work of his kingdom.
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Luke 1:67-68
“His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.’”
We needed to be redeemed for our sin. Although that is not a popular message today, it is as true today as it ever was. May we reflect upon God’s redemption – the fact our souls worthy of death can now approach God’s throne because of the grace given through Christ.
Luke 1:46-49
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.”
The gift we celebrate every year is truly a miraculous one. Because of Jesus’ birth, all generations can have the opportunity to hear and receive the gospel news of great joy that He brings.
Luke 2:4-8
“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.”
This is the account of Jesus’ actual birth. What faith both Mary and Joseph had to display to carry out God’s plan. Joseph had to ignore the snickers and stares of what he believed to be an unfaithful fiancée, and Mary had to live down the stigma of being a woman pregnant out of wedlock. May we all reflect on the great faith necessary for Jesus birth and ask what is God calling us to that might require great faith as well.
John 1:14
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus was the Word in human form, there to teach, convict, and transform lives. Although the people living during that time did not fully comprehend who Jesus was, the world understood it once He was resurrected. The prophetic words came true making a way for all of us to know the Father.
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John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
One of the most well-known verses foretells God’s great sacrifice in sending his son. This verse said: because of His great love, He gave. In a season that is all about giving, in what ways can we give more of ourselves and sacrifice ourselves, because of love, so others can have?
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This was our fate before Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for us. Nothing humans could do before Jesus was enough to atone for their sins, so we all deserved death. But through God’s sacrifice of taking on our sins onto himself, he became the greatest sacrifice, paving a way for us to receive eternal life.
Romans 15:17
“Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God.”
Mary gave glory through her service of bearing the son of God. Joseph served God by staying with Mary despite His pre-conceived notions. Because of their service, we can serve the Lord today. In what ways can I serve God and therefore give him the glory He deserves?
Galatians 4:4-5
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
We are adopted as sons and daughters into the Kingdom of God because of Jesus’ inheritance that He passed onto us through his birth and subsequent death. We are heirs to the throne of God and become God’s children through Christ’s sacrifice.
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1 John 5:11
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
This is not only John’s testimony to what he witnessed firsthand, but what all of us can testify to if we have yielded our lives completely to Christ. The best gifts of all don’t come wrapped under trees but lie deep within our hearts so that our mouths can proclaim the great things God has done in us, for us, and through us.
Titus 3:4-5
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
It was only through Christ’s death that we can receive mercy. Because of God’s holiness, we were not worthy to be God’s children because of our faithlessness to Him. But Jesus’ death paid the penalty of our death so we can receive the grace and mercy in our sin.
Romans 8:22-24
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”
Jesus, the light of the world, came to push back the darkness. Now he is alive in heaven, and all who trust in him are covered by his cleansing blood and filled with his Holy Spirit, so we too can have the power of light that dispels darkness. God’s people wait in hope as he promised to return again.
Matthew 1:22
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.”
In the birth of Jesus, God showed he remembers his promises. He will still remember his promises through to fruition.
Have a blessed season, one focused on the Savior. As you enjoy loved ones and activities, mediate on these verses to keep your mind focused on what is true, right, and noble, instead of what takes our focus off the Savior.
Michelle S. Lazurek is an award-winning author, speaker, pastor's wife and mother. Winner of the Golden Scroll Children's Book of the Year, the Enduring Light Silver Medal and the Maxwell Award, she is a member of the Christian Author's Network and the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She is also an associate literary agent with Wordwise Media Services. For more information, please visit her website at michellelazurek.com.
Design Credit: Rachel Dawson
Originally published Sunday, 29 November 2020.
