Bible Passages for Christmas :
Luke 2 :1-20 In those days Caesar Augustus
issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the
first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to
his own town to register. 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 room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields near by,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the
glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them,
Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a
manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to
men on whom his favour rests.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one
another, Lets go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the
Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby,
who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what
had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the
shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in
her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had
heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
John 1 1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through
him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was
life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the
light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he
came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into
the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know
him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all
who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who
were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of
a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out,
"This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was
before me.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law
indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever
seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart,who has made him
known.
1 John 4, 7-14
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from
God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not
know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one
and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we
loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No-one has ever
seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we
have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Isaiah 9, 2,6,7
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on
those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
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. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will
reign on Davids throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with
justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
Bible extracts reproduced from The New International
Version - Anglicised, (London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.) 1984. |