Bible in a Year 2011

Bible in a Year


With a fresh year ahead of me, I pray that this will be the year I read the Bible all the way through and hope to grow closer to God and learn more about Him and my role in His kingdom in the process.  Using the plan from the Bible Reading website, I am once again going to attempt to read the Bible in a year (BiaY). 

Last year I started out really well until I started missing a day here and there and trying to catch myself up before missing a few days.  Before long I had missed whole books and then abandoned the effort entirely, going right back to where I started.

At the top of my sidebar on top of the rest of my reading challenges this year is my tracker for the BiaY.  I am tracking it by number of chapters read (out of a total of 1189 chapters in the King James Version).  Fortunately the ubiquity of the Bible in many places makes missing a reading difficult to accomplish: I have used my pocket Bible, BibleGateway, and the Bible reading plan website to catch up on my reading in the past.  So, admittedly, I have no excuse to not do this.

Feel free to join in with me, too.  I need the extra accountability and support.

Bible in a Year: Day Sixteen

Today's Reading: Matthew 5-7

Summary
All three of these chapters are collectively called the Sermon on the Mount.  Matthew 5 contains the Beatitudes ("Blessed are....") and several illustrations of obeying the commandments.  Matthew 6 contains the Lord's Prayer and instructions in how to give alms, pray, and fast.  Matthew 7 contains the allusion to a tree bearing good fruit and that a good tree should not give bad fruit.

What I knew
The Sermon on the Mount pretty much epitomized Jesus' teachings on holy living, so one would be hard pressed to have not heard preachers or Sunday School teachers refer to, mention, or quote much of the contents.

What I learned
I did not know for certain that the Beatitudes were part of the Sermon on the Mount, nor that all of what I read was all contained there.  Having now read the three chapters in sequence and in context, I see how it flows together in a clearly orchestrated manner.

Doctrinal Importance
There is so much here doctrinally, I have to narrow it down and pick a few that really stood out to me.  At the end of Chapter 5 (verse 48), Jesus sums it all up by telling us to be perfect even as God is perfect.  As scary and impossible a task as that seems, Jesus wouldn't have told us that if it wasn't important.

The parable of the tree bearing good fruit tells us that a person is judged by their fruits; a bad tree gives bad fruit and cannot give good fruit.  The solution: bear good fruit, which is something that can only happend when God changes the tree from bad to good.

The instructions to give alms, pray, and fast in secret also say that those who do those thing in public for show get their reward.  They want the attention and to be looked at as being noble and righteous.  But God doesn't want you to do it for show.  In fact, He promises to reward you openly if you obey Him and do it in secret. 

Jesus also tells us to love our enemies.  It's easy to love someone who loves you back.  Treating an enemy like a friend and not repaying bad with more bad not only frustrates their efforts, but it is a good way to show love for them.

Finally, at the end of Chapter 7, the people are astonished after hearing the sermon because Jesus did not just speak like a scribe as if He were reading the Torah and reitorating what had been said.  He taught with authority; note the root "author" in the word "authority."

Bible in a Year: Day Eleven

Today's Bible Reading:
Genesis 4-7

Summary
Chapter Four of Genesis chronicles the birth of the first family's sons Cain and Abel.  Cain grows to be more of an harvester and Abel a shepherd.  God accepts Abel's blood sacrifice but not Cain's offering from the ground.  This causes Cain to become crestfallen and seek out vengeance on Abel, whom he later kills in an act of the world's first murder.  God confronts Cain and casts him away with a mark upon him to keep anyone from killing Cain.  Then the chapter lists the generations after Cain beginning with the son of Cain and presumably his sister.  Finally, Adam and Eve have a son, Seth, whose generations lead to men calling upon the name of the Lord.

Chapter Five is a list of the generations of Adam all the way through Noah's sons.  The list is pretty much unbroken except for two stories of note.  First is Adam's great-great-great-great grandson Enoch of whom it is said to have "walked with God" and later "God took him."  Second, Noah is named by his father Lamech  because he will comfort them from the toil and work of the cursed ground.

Chapter Six tells of the growing sinfulness of the people on the earth, causing God to repent from making man in the first place.  But Noah came from a righteous heritage and "found grace in the eyes of the Lord."  God speaks to Noah and has him build an ark to save Noah's family and enough animals to replenish the earth after God sends a global flood to destroy all other living things.  Here is where God gives the ark's building instructions.

Chapter Seven is where God instructs Noah to take seven clean animals and two each of the rest onto the ark.  Once all the animals and Noah's family (including his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law) are on board the ark, the "fountains of the deep" and the first downpours began deluging the earth covering every piece of land.

What I knew
Early Sunday School classes teach all about Cain and Abel and Noah's Ark, so I was pretty informed about those particular stories.  My own studies had made Chapter Five particularly interesting to me as it details the family line of Adam through Noah.  A quick timeline using the given ages and years reveals that Noah's father Lamech died a few years before the flood and the oldest man recorded in the Bible (Noah's grandfather, Methuselah) died the year of the flood.

What I learned
Seeing that Noah was favored by God probably because of his righteous nature, I have to believe that Noah had faithful teachers in his parents and grandparents.  Though Methuselah died the same year of the flood, it appears that he most likely did not die in the flood.  I like to think he died before the flood since he would otherwise have been in the ark with Noah and his family.  I did a little online research to discover that Methuselah means "death and sent" or, more loosely, "when he dies, judgment."  It seems Enoch (Noah's great-grandfather who walked with God right out of this world) may have had a hidden prophecy right in his son's name.  So, when Methuselah died at the extreme and very blessed age of 969, judgment was on its way.

Doctrinal Importance
First off, man's fall from grace into a sinful nature resulted very quickly in what is considered by most societies to be the worst sin of all: murder.  The very first generation of mankind saw murder.  However, we also see that God still loved His creation and that the first parents still loved God by bearing and teaching a lineage of God-serving people.  I think we see in the family history of Noah that parents have a responsibility to pass on their knowledge and love of God down to their children.  If Lamech had been like the rest of man at the time, then Noah would have been just as unrighteous, and no one would be left alive after the flood.  Finally, the flood is an important doctrine of Christianity because it is one of the many that demonstrates God's hatred of sin and impending judgment that can befall anyone.

Bible in a Year: Day Three

Today's Bible Reading:

Romans 1-2

Summary
Romans 1:1 identifies the Apostle Paul as the author of this epistle to the Christians in Rome.  Paul speaks about the Gospel and coming to preach in Rome.  He then notes that righteousness comes from faith, but God is wrathful against the unrighteous who know they should be righteous by the revelation in God's creation.  Paul talks about how people do not glorify God and worship the creature rather than the Creator and are given up to "vile affections" and a whole list of unrighteous actions and behaviors.

Romans 2 talks about the fairness of God's judgment on unrighteous man because man is inexcusable about knowing to do right, either by the written Law or by the law written on their hearts.  Paul finally ends on the fact that there is no difference between an outwardly circumcised person and an uncircumcised person if righteousness is not internalized.  Therefore, circumcision does not save and lack of circumcision does not condemn.

What I knew
"I am not ashamed of the gospel" is found in a few really good gospel songs, and it is the basis on which Paul preached to whomever he came into contact.  The last half of Romans 1 I had studied before when first I was confronted by someone saying the New Testament did not condemn homosexuality.  My studies led me to this particular chapter, and I was pretty astounded at some of the other things listed there that are commonplace behaviors today.

What I learned
A commentary I read said that it is one thing to be a racial Jew, and a whole other thing to be a spiritual Jew.  It's really what is inside that counts; any outward, ceremonial sign is not what regenerates.

Doctrinal Importance
Romans is probably the most preached book that I've heard because there is so much in it instructing us to live righteously.  Romans 1 tells of the natural degradation of morality that the sin nature and ignoring of God's laws causes.  The list of immorality at the end of the chapter not only list what man is capable of, but it is a snapshot of what the Christian should avoid.  Romans 2 illustrates the fact that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision are necessary for salvation, but that God is praised by internalizing righteousness and acting in a Godly manner.

Bible in a Year: Day Two

Today's Bible Reading:
Matthew 1-2

Summary
Beginning from Abraham, Matthew gives the lineage of ancestors that leads up to Jesus.  At the end of Chapter One, he recounts of Mary being with child through the Holy Spirit according to the prophecy.  Then he tells of an angel visiting Joseph to tell him about the coming birth of Jesus. 

In Chapter Two, wise men from the east visit King Herod in Jerusalem having followed a star pointing them toward the newborn King of the Jews.  The scribes revealed that he would be born in Bethlehem, so Herod told the wise men to find him and come back to Herod so he could go "worship him."  Once the wise men found Jesus and gave their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, God told them in a dream to not return to Herod (who had other plans than to worship the new King); they then told Joseph and Mary to take Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath.  Herod in the meantime had every child under two years old in Bethlehem killed.  After Herod's death, Joseph and his family returned to live in Nazareth.

What I knew
Though Luke 2 is the most often read Christmas story, Matthew also has an important account that reveals a lot of the prophecy being fulfilled.  It is also the place where the wise men and their gifts are mentioned, as well as the angel coming to Joseph and Herod having the babies killed in Bethlehem.
What I learned
Something I sort of knew before but had forgotten about was in 1:17 when Matthew, from the genealogy he gave, shows that there were 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations from David until Israel was held captive in Babylon, and 14 generations from then until Jesus' birth.

Doctrinal Significance
The virgin birth of Jesus is one of the most important doctrines of Christianity.  In Matthew 1 and 2, we find a lot of prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus' birth, including historical events, His lineage, the way He was born, the location of His birth, and the events immediately following His birth.  His birth is the beginning of the culmination of much of the Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament.  That so many are fulfilled in Jesus is far more than mere chance.

Bible in a Year: Day One

Today's Bible Reading:

Isaiah 1-6

Summary
These chapters of the prophetic book of Isaiah contain Isaiah's visions from God concerning the judgment of His people. The people of Israel have turned their backs to God, participating in vain rituals, idol worship, and all manner of transgressions, while still trying to make sacrifices unto God. He compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah, but in His mercy compels them to become clean and "cease to do evil."

While the first chapter voices God's displeasure at the sins of Judah and His offer of forgiveness, the other chapters focus on prophetic revelations of judgment for the wicked who do not turn from their evil ways. The righteous will be spared. A parallel is drawn between a protected vineyard bearing wild grapes.

Chapter 6 details Isaiah's vision of the Lord on His throne surrounded by six-winged seraphims crying "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." Finding himself in the presence of God, Isaiah declares himself a "man of unclean lips." One of the seraphims takes a hot coal and purges Isaiah's lips. The Lord gives Isaiah a mission to prophesy a judgment to the people.

What I knew
A few key verses from these chapters, plus the entirety of the sixth chapter, I had heard preached or referred to several times. One of my best friend's favorite verses (and increasingly mine) is found in 1:18

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

which is a very beautiful verse promising forgiveness of sins.

I recognized a couple of places that have been referenced in songs: "beat their swords into plowshares" (2:4); "neither shall they learn war anymore" (ibid); and, of course "Holy, holy, holy" (6:3).

What I learned
There are many levels of prophecy I discovered so far in Isaiah. Based on some cursory research just on the book as a whole, I found out that some of the prophecies have been fulfilled in captivity of Judah by other nations. Other prophecies point to end times.

Doctrinal Significance
The doctrines of holiness, righteousness, and seeking forgiveness are clearly laid out in these chapters of Isaiah. Also found here is God's promise that He will honor righteousness by preserving those who seek His forgiveness. At the same time, the unrepentant and those that give empty sacrifices without any change in their way of living will be judged. This judgment is not reserved for just the people of Israel. There were many things pointing to the judgment of nations that do not honor God and His righteousness.

Bible in a Year Challenge

I present a new reading challenge that's a couple thousand years in the running: To Read the Bible in a Year.  Since I have already determined to read 100 books in a year, I consider this one to be the ultimate foundation of that reading challenge.

Today I began a 52 week Bible reading plan, partly because I have never read the Bible completely and was going to attempt it this year. But when our pastor made a request that all the congregation participate this year in attempting to read the Word over the course of the year (and even provided a daily guide to follow), I was doubly determined to do so.

I have to admit my severe slackness in reading and studying the Bible like I should. I tend to let everything in the world distract me or take priority over even a cursory glance at the scripture. So now I have the urge and method to increase my biblical exposure from whenever we read at church to a daily and personal study.

In addition to reading the Bible, I am going to attempt to apply what I read as I review at select points.  I will provide a summary of the text, what I knew before I read it, what I learned from reading, and finally what I see to be part of the doctrinal significance of the passage.