Christmas Bible Verses To Share With Loved Ones

There are some truly beautiful Christmas Bible verses to revisit at this time of year. Sharing Christmas verses with our loved ones can bring encouragement to them as a reminder of God's faithfulness.

The History Of Christmas

The subject of Christmas can get a little confusing because Jesus wasn’t actually born on Christmas Day. As neat as it would have been for Jesus to have been born on an international holiday and tradition be decided then and there, that’s not quite how history works!

However, throughout history, the period around the end of December through January has been full of cultural traditions around the world.

Centuries before Jesus arrived, the middle of winter would be marked across Europe. This celebration was to welcome the coming of lighter days, as the shortest, darkest days of the year were over.

The winter solstice was celebrated as ‘yule’ across Scandinavia. Large logs would be brought home and burnt with communities celebrating and feasting for as long as the wood took to burn. This atmospheric tradition once again spoke of the approaching lighter days.

Why Midwinter And Christmas?

It only takes a brief study of historic winter traditions and celebrations to notice a theme: they all focus on the coming of the light. They celebrate and beckon in the sun rising earlier and setting later. This focus on the darkness receding and the light increasing is what makes celebrating Jesus’ arrival on earth during midwinter so poignant.

Jesus’ birth was the single most significant moment of light invading, overturning and defeating darkness in the history of time.

So, while Jesus wasn’t born on December 25, we remember His arrival on that day in the most perfect of contexts. We celebrate the birth of the son of God as the year shifts from dark to light.

Christmas Bible Verses To Add To Our Celebration

The holiday season comes with lots of opportunities to gather and celebrate with our loved ones. Whether we're getting together to play sport, go for a hike somewhere beautiful or indulge in a delicious home cooked meal, adding a Christmas Bible verse can remind of us why we are celebrating.

Get the family involved: why not try holding a nativity reading with your family? Print out a copy of the nativity story and assign lines to your family. You’ll be amazed just how special it can feel to read Scripture together beside a roaring fire. The second chapter of the gospel of Luke contains a brief but beautiful account of the birth of Jesus.

At the dinner table: reading a Christmas Bible verse aloud before you sit down to eat together on Christmas Day is a simple way to root your celebrations into the truth and importance of Christmas.

Old Testament Christmas Bible Verses

There are lots of quotations in the Old Testament that talk about Jesus’ coming. Isaiah 7 for example, in verse 14 says: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.”

Or, later on in Isaiah in chapter 9 verse 6 it says: “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 Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

There’s also a passage in Jeremiah 23, verse 5, that prophecies about the coming of Jesus: “a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.”

Jesus was there at the very beginning of our world. God’s prophets then spoke of His existence thousands of years before He came to earth as a man.

It’s perhaps the most mysterious truth in the whole Bible but Jesus really was fully God and fully man. With every meal He ate and step He took, He was both the son of God and the son of man.

The Greatest Act Of Love

As we reflect on Bible verses that speak of Jesus at Christmas time, we are reminded of just how incredible a God it is we worship. A God who sent His own Son to live and die as a man, in order to bring us all back into His family.

This, the greatest act of love our planet has ever known, or will ever know, is what we celebrate at Christmas.

Christmas Bible Verses To Add To Your Quiet Time

We often hear the same Christmas Bible verses over the festive period. It can be easy to let them wash over us. But there’s always fresh revelation and wisdom to be taken from them.

This holiday season, try to let the Christmas scriptures you read and hear really sink in. Here’s a simple guide for using a Christmas Bible verse in your quiet time with God. You’ll be amazed at how you find layer after layer of new meaning in words written so long ago.

Morning Quiet Time Exercise: John 14:27

In John 14:27 Jesus says to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

As you meet with God this morning, begin by reading the verse from John out loud.

Then, read this version from The Message Translation: “Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.”

Next, pray this prayer:

God, you promised us your peace. You command us to live our lives free from worry and fear.

I so want to live in the fullness of that invitation.

Please draw near to me now God and comfort my troubled heart. Take my fear and instead give me a fresh encounter with your peace.

Finally, ask God this question:

God, can you reveal to me today something in my life that you want me to lay down, in order to receive your peace?