I have been reading the Bible and searching the web for ideas of what verses would be great to read for Christmas morning. Above all of the Christmas traditions, I want to invite Christ into our Christmas celebration by reading the Christmas story and verses that foretold his birth. These are 17 verses that really stuck out to me as exciting and amazing! The Messiah who was to bring us peace was prophesied about years and years before God sent his Son to earth as a baby. I hope you enjoy these verses as much as I enjoyed collecting them. At the bottom is a small devotional that you can share with your family! Merry Christmas!
Isa. 7:14
So the Lord himself will give
you this sign: A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and she
will name him Immanuel [God Is With Us]. (God’s Word Translation 1995)
Luke
1:26-38
In the sixth month, 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 was greatly troubled at
his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said
to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be
with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will
give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of
Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked
the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy
one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is
going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in
her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,”
Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. (NIV
1984)
Matthew
1:18-24
This
is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be
married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child
through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did
not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her
quietly.
But
after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your
wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 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 be with child and will 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. (NIV 1984)
Isaiah 9:6-7
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.
Of the increase of his
government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and
over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from
that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
(NIV 1984)
Isaiah 35:4-6
Say to those who have an
anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man
leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break
forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; (ESV)
John 4:10-12
Jesus
answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a
drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,”
the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can
you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us
the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and
herds?” (NIV 1984)
Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is
ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. A voice
cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the
desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every
mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the
rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all
flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (ESV)
Isaiah
40:9
Go on up to a high mountain, O
Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem,
herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!” (ESV)
Luke
2:9-15
And an angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And
this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths
and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with
the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory
to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he
is pleased!”
When the angels went away from
them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to
Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known
to us.” (ESV)
Micah
5:2
But you, O Bethlehem
Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for
me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from
ancient days. (ESV)
Matthew
2:3-6
When
Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and
assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them
where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so
it is written by the prophet:
“‘And
you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers
of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
(ESV)
Luke
2:4-7
And Joseph also went up from
Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is
called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be
registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were
there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there
was no place for them in the inn. (ESV)
Isaiah 49:6
he [God] says: “It is too
small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring
back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the
Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah
49:13-16
Shout for joy, O
heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains!
For the Lord comforts
his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.
But Zion said, “The
Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget
the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though
she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of
my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who
laid you waste depart from you. (NIV 1984)
Isaiah 53:1-7, 9, 12
Who has believed our message and
to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a
tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to
attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was
despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like
one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried
our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his
wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not
open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (NIV 1984)
Hebrews 1:1-2
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the
prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken
to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he
made the universe. (NIV 1984)
Ezekiel 34:11-16
“For
thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will
seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep
that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them
from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick
darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the
countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the
mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the
country. I will feed them with good
pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.
There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall
feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and
I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost,
and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will
strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed
them in justice. (ESV)
Christmas Morning Devotional
This morning we celebrate the birth of our Savior. Our Messiah, Prince of Peace, and Immanuel. On this morning over 2,000 years ago, God sent his Son to be "God is with Us" to be our powerful God come to earth as a man . . . as a baby.
Here in 2012, how many very powerful people can you think of who would give up all of the power of their position to become vulnerable and dependent to poor and unimportant people? Not likely. But that is exactly what God did! He sent Jesus to Mary a teenager who was not even married yet. He sent Jesus into the home of a carpenter who would make very little money. He had the angels announce Jesus' birth to shepherds who to everyone else were not good company to keep; they were poor and smelly! God wanted us to know that no matter how small we think we are, how unimportant, how poor, how hurt, and how broken we are that He came for us. He came to save each and every one of us.
This little baby, this Son of God, became a servant to all mankind. As we open our presents this morning, let's remember that the greatest gift of all came in the smallest package. Humility and thankfulness should be our attitude for Christmas, not thoughts of ourselves and what we want. What did God want most of all? To love us. He made the way to reach us through this baby Jesus.
Let's have a prayer time.
Dear Father,
You sent us a wonderful gift on Christmas. Of all the things that You could give to us, You the one that cost the most, the one that took the life of your Son. Give us thankful hearts this Christmas and hearts open to You. Turn our eyes away from ourselves and remind us that you are the reason that we give to each other. Thank you for the blessings you have given to us this Christmas.
In Jesus name, Amen.
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Merry Christmas my dear blog readers!
Brooke
