5 Advent Sermon Ideas From Passages You Might Not Expect

December is here again. 

You’ve already preached the Luke narrative.

You taught from Matthew’s Gospel last year. 

Not to mention that whole series you did in the Isaiah prophecies once, too.

And yet, Christmas is approaching and you’re not quite sure which passages to teach from or themes to cover this Advent season. 

Well, I have good news for you.

The Bible is one big book of Advent.

How do I mean?

The word Advent has its roots in Latin and carries with it the meaning of “coming.” 

The story of the coming of Jesus doesn’t begin in the New Testament and it doesn’t end with a baby in a manger. 

The entire Bible anticipates and tells of this great Messiah King who has come to bring hope to a dark and dying world.

In other words, you can find whispers of the Christmas story from Genesis to Revelation.

Here are five fresh examples of Advent themed passages you might enjoy teaching from this year.

#1 Genesis 3:15

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

The very first mention of Christmas in the Bible shows up only three chapters in.

God’s response to Adam and Eve’s sin isn’t only judgment; it’s Advent. 

He promises a future Savior, who will come and crush the head of the serpent and be the means of reconciliation between God and man.

He promises Jesus. 

He promises Christmas.

#2 Deuteronomy 18:18

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

Moses has a Christmas story to tell, too.

His final sermon to Israel informs them of God’s promise that includes a coming prophet.

Just like Moses, this leader is going to once again deliver the people of God from slavery, but this time in a way they won’t be expecting.

God’s people waited for the Advent of this new prophet year after year and generation after generation.

Then, when Jesus finally came, they cried in relief, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law” (John 1:45). 

The prophet Moses spoke about arrived on Christmas morning.

#3 Galatians 4:4-5

When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption…

This time it is Christmas according to Paul. 

He tells the story through the lens of adoption; our adoption!

It’s a story of how God’s enemies could become God’s beloved children, and the one man who was uniquely qualified to make it happen.

In Paul’s own words, Christmas is about Jesus paving a way back to the Father so we might be reconciled to Him. 

#4 Titus 2:11

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...

The grace of God appeared in the flesh that first Christmas Day. 

It appeared to Mary and Joseph swaddled in a manger, to the shepherds who came to see him, and to the wise man who sought him from the East.

Now, the grace of God has appeared to us.

What is Christmas, if not the Advent of God’s coming grace to the world?

#5 Revelation 12:4-5

And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child. She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

The onlooker in Bethlehem would have only seen a couple of poor teenagers and shepherds gathered around a baby in a food trough. 

But up above and all around, the war of eternity was raging on. 

Satan knew that the Messiah was coming into the world to free people from his very own grip.

The Advent of Jesus was only the beginning of God’s victory. 

On some of the very last pages of the Bible, this Christmas story shows up as a reminder of the first one in Genesis 3.

The child of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent, and he will be the rightful ruler of a new kingdom.

Christmas looked a little different in heaven that day than it did on earth.
 

Wrap Up

Christmas sermons don’t have to be the same every year, because the anticipation of Advent is felt all throughout the Scriptures.

These five examples can be a great place to start.

No matter what you decide to share though, you can use the whole Bible as your guide to experience and communicate a longing for the coming of Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

Alex Hannis is a Customer Advocate with Breeze Church Management. When he isn't serving as the Deacon of Connections for his church in central Virginia, he enjoys drinking coffee with his wife and falling asleep on the couch while watching baseball.