Season of Hope: A Christmas Bible Reading Plan
Are you looking for a Christmas Bible reading plan to help keep your heart anchored on Jesus this holiday season?
I have created a Christmas Bible reading plan that covers the story of hope from when Jesus was prophesied to His birth and celebrations.
There is no better Christmas tradition than to soak in the story of Jesus and the gift of His birth, life, death, and resurrection.
I pray it blesses you and reminds you of the reason for the season: Jesus.
How do I use my Christmas Bible reading plan?
It’s so easy! This plan covers 14 days of Bible reading and can be used for any 14 days in December (or less, if you need to double up some days).
Download your checklist and open your Bible to the Scripture reading for each day. Take time to pray before your read and ask the Lord to speak to you through His Word.
Read through the passage as many times as you need. Make a note of any insights or new information you are reading.
Journal what the passage means to you and what God is teaching you through it.
THEN come back to this blog post and read the additional insight to help you in your study!
I pray this blesses you, friend!
Merry Christmas
Jesus’ genealogy
Day 1: Matthew 1:1-17
Matthew begins his telling of the Gospel with Jesus’ genealogy. Matthew is the only Gospel that begins this way.
Why?
Because family histories were vitally important to the Jewish culture in which he lived. Matthew was a tax collector and therefore, literate and well-organized. He understood the audience to which he was writing.
Genealogies aren’t the most fun to read unless you understand what you’re reading. As you go through this passage, take note of the names you recognize. Don’t just skim through those verses of names upon names.
This genealogy has a purpose, just like every word, verse, chapter, and book of the Bible.
Matthew outlines exactly where Jesus came from to solidify Jesus’ standing as the true Messiah. It is prophesied in the Old Testament that Jesus would be a “Son of David” (2 Samuel 7:12–16) and Matthew uses this genealogy to prove that Jesus comes from the line of David.
Matthew also includes some interesting characters in Jesus’ genealogy. He includes people like Rahab, Tamar, and Ruth who were beautiful examples of sinners who experienced God’s grace.
This is especially significant because women were not generally included in genealogies during this period. But Jesus came to save and empower ALL for His purpose and His glory.
Tamar and Rahab were prosittues. (Genesis 38 & Joshua 2; 6:22-23)
Ruth was a gentile. (Ruth 1)
She who had been the wife of Uriah is the Bible character known as Bethsheba, who was an adultress. (2 Samuel 11)
These four women represent the kind of people Jesus came from and the kind of people He came to save.
It is also important to note the end of the genealogy, where Matthew made sure we knew that Jacob was the husband of Mary, not the biological father of Jesus.
This genealogy shows us Jesus’ legal ancestry, because, as we know, His physical ancestry is of God and not of man.
Jesus came from a line of sinners to save a world of sinners. That was His purpose. And that is more than enough reason to celebrate His birth.
That is the purpose of this season and of this study.
During the days leading up to and including Christmas, my prayer is that your heart is anchored on who Jesus is, why He came, and why we celebrate His birth.
Jesus foretold
Day 2: Isaiah 9:6-7 & Isaiah 7:14; Numbers 24:17
Jesus’ birth was foretold more than 700 years before His birth. These verses describe the coming Messiah and remind us that God knows the trajectory of the world long before it comes to pass.
As we read this now, we know that Jesus came and He was the child that would be born of a virgin and die for the sins of the world, But for those who lived before Jesus or even during Jesus’ time on earth, these words were a mysterious promise.
Verse 6 told them their savior would be a child, which must have confused them. How could a child save the world?
Verse 6 also tells us that the son will be given. Jesus was freely offered to the world by God. The rest of verse 6 and then verse 7 show us what that child will do for the world and who He will become.
When Jesus came to the world, He came as a child but was still a Messiah full of greatness and glory.
These verses, written far before they came to pass, show us that God’s Word endures through time and that His promises can be trusted.
We can cling to that hope for our own lives.
As we’ll see later, these verses came to pass exactly. We can trust that God knows what He is doing and we can trust in His promises. We can trust that His Word is true and good.
This child who was prophesied is called many names throughout the Bible. Even His name at birth is not just one.
Isaiah 7:14 is the prophecy of Jesus’ name and birth foretold.
It is foretold that Mary would give birth to a child and would call Him “Immanuel” which means “God with us” in Hebrew.
When the Angel of the Lord comes to Mary to tell her about her pregnancy (we will cover those passages later in the Christmas reading plan), the angel tells her to call her son Jesus, which is the Greek form of Joshua and means “the Lord saves.”
Jesus was sent to be with us and to die for us. Jesus’ birth was God coming to us in the form of a Holy Savior, both fully human and fully God.
He was and is “God with us.” He is the Savior of the world. Both names are His.
Verse 6 also gives us many other names for our Savior:
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace.
And He is worthy of our worship this season.
Day 3: Isaiah 40:1-6 & Day 4: Isaiah 40: 7-11
This is a packed passage and comes from a book many find difficult to read. You may read through this passage and wonder how it relates to Jesus and his birth at all.
This is the beauty of Scripture. Jesus is weaved throughout it and He is spoken of and prophesied many years before He is born.
Our focus for today is in the very first verse: Jesus is our comfort.
And this comforter that would come was predicted many years before He appeared.
He has paid the price for our sins; we can take comfort as we are in the midst of battles on this earth that the war has already been won in Heaven.
Human life is fleeting, but we can take comfort in the promise that there is more for us in Heaven.
We can take comfort in Scripture because it is God’s enduring Word.
Jesus is our comforting shepherd, gently guiding us and leading us if we take the time to listen.
Jesus’ conception & birth
Day 5: Matthew 1:18-25
For Mary and Joseph, her pregnancy was a distressing situation. From the world’s perspective, it was a scandal. So scandalous in fact, that Joseph initially sought to separate himself from her.
He knew what He was asking of them. He knew the weight He was asking them to carry.
God knew exactly what He was doing and guided them both through it, resulting in a savior for the world.
Day 6: Matthew 2: 1-6 & Day 7: Matthew 2: 7-12
In this passage, the wise men came to worship Jesus. They were guided by a star, as predicted in Numbers 24:14.
They were overjoyed at the mere presence of Jesus, falling down in worship and giving gifts to honor him.
The wise men are a model for us this season. Let us seek the Lord this fervently. Let us fall down in worship.
In all that you do, let it be worship. In your gift-giving, in your dealings with crowds and people, and in your service to others through cooking or hosting.
Let it all be worship.
Day 8: Luke 1:26-38
This passage illustrates the true humility of Mary. She was genuinely surprised to hear the Angel of the Lord call her “highly favored.”
She questioned why she of all people would be chosen to bear the Savior of the world. But she didn’t let her doubt hold her back. She wrestled with it, but her ultimate reaction was one of faith and obedience.
What would our lives look like if we had the reaction of Mary?
She was given an impossible task, but she endured. She believed God could, and so He did. She was not superhuman or overly special. She was simply a woman with immense faith.
I want my reaction when the Holy Spirit prompts me to be the words of Mary:
“Let it be to me according to Your Word.”
Day 9: Luke 2:1-14
Today’s passage tells the story of Jesus’ birth.
For someone who was sent to be the savior of the world, He came in an incredibly humble and modest way.
Mary and Joseph had gone to Nazareth and were not home when Jesus was born. There was no room for them at the inn, so Jesus was laid in a manger (or, feeding trough) outside and wrapped in strips of cloth.
His beginning was a foreshadowing of what His life would be.
He lived a humble, meek life in a world that didn’t have room for Him. He was rejected and ridiculed and ultimately, crucified for who He was. But despite that, His life left a mark on the world and on each surrendered heart that believes in Him.
God did amazing things through Jesus. But it didn’t start that way. There was no fanfare or glamour surrounding Jesus’ birth or even the beginnings of His life, but it ended with a sacrifice that made a way for all to enter Heaven.
Day 10: Luke 2:15-21
Upon seeing Jesus and hearing the Angel of the Lord speak, the shepherds told EVERYONE they could about what they had seen.
It says they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” (Luke 2:20) Once they heard about Jesus, they couldn’t keep that to themselves.
They had the unmitigated joy of a child showing off their new shoes or toy. I don’t know about you, but I want this child-like wonder and joy to be in my heart.
The enemy loves to keep us silent about the Gospel, but if we have truly sought the face of God and seen Him work in our lives, we cannot be silent.
Songs of Celebration
Day 11: Luke 1:46-55 (Mary’s Song)
The title of this passage is “Mary’s Song” because these are the words of praise she sang after being given the promise of carrying the Messiah.
The first verse says “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She rejoiced and praised God while she was still waiting for His promise to be fulfilled.
Know this, friend, His promises are true and His Word can be trusted. Even while we are waiting for them to come to pass in our lives, we can rejoice and our souls can magnify the Lord.
This Christmas, let us rejoice like Mary. Even in the waiting.
Day 12: Luke 1:67-79 (Zechariah’s Song)
This passage is a prophecy spoken through John the Baptist’s father. Before his birth, God silenced Zechariah.
When the Angel of the Lord came to him and said his wife Elizabeth would bear his child despite her barrenness and their old age, Zechariah failed to believe the angel, and his voice was taken.
When his wife gave birth, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. The first words he spoke were a prophecy of Jesus, the coming “horn of salvation,” and he lifted praise to the Lord. Zechariah knew very little about Jesus at the time, but he knew that He was worthy of praise.
We have the privilege of reading about Jesus’ life and experiencing him daily, should we choose to enter into His presence.
I want to take a cue from Zechariah and spend my Christmas in praise and worship. I want it to be less about me, about gifts, or even about family.
I want it to be about Jesus.
Our Eternal Hope in Jesus
Day 13: John 3:13-17; Romans 5:8
Truthfully, I almost didn’t use this passage for today because I thought it was overused.
But the message of God loving us so much that He would send His son to die in our place can never be overused. And if we get to a place where this message isn’t full of wonder for us, we need to re-examine our hearts.
Jesus came to earth, both fully man and fully God to pay the debt for our sins through His death. Take hold of this message this Christmas.
This is why we celebrate Jesus’ coming.
This is the reason for the season.
I don’t know what you are dealing with this holiday season, but God does. He knows your heart and loves you fully and deeply.
You have been bought, redeemed, forgiven, and offered eternity in Heaven.
It is the most precious gift; all you have to do is receive it.
Day 14: Titus 3:4-7; Romans 6:23
This is the last day of the Christmas Bible reading plan.
As today’s verses tell us, we have fallen short of righteousness. We cannot achieve salvation or perfection on our own.
But through the gift of God’s abundant grace, we can be made whole and perfect and righteous in His sight.
If we never receive another gift, this one is sufficient for us. Take hold of that gift today, friends.
May His abounding grace and Spirit of peace be evident in your homes this holiday. May God be glorified in your heart this Christmas.
I pray my Christmas Bible reading plan blessing you and your family!
Your Sister In Christ,
P.S. Don’t forget to download your free reading plan checklist!
