5 Steps to Reading The Bible All the Way Through in 12 Months or Less

By Larry Farlow

Do you want to read the Bible all the way through but feel it is too big a task?

Have you started reading the Bible many times but stopped short of finishing it completely?

If so, this book is for you.

In it I cover five steps that allow you to successfully read the Bible all the way through in a year or less - things like choosing a translation, making a plan and staying on track. When you've finished this short book you'll be equipped with the knowledge and skills you need to do what many have never done, read the entire Bible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry Farlow
• Release date: Sep 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386177135

Book preview

Why Read the Bible All the Way Through?

God's Word is One Seamless Story

The Bible is an amazing book. However, it's not really a book but sixty-six books written by 40 different authors across hundreds of years. One of the things that make it so amazing is despite the number of different authors and extended time spans, it tells one seamless story from beginning to end.

Of course, as Christians we realize this is because ultimately the Bible has one author - the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul tells us in I Timothy 3:16 that All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. Despite this we often read the Bible piecemeal, a passage here, a verse there and, while there's value in that, we can miss some important biblical truths that way.

Malachi 3:6 tells us that the Lord never changes and Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. One of the best ways to learn that or at least have it reinforced for us is by experiencing that truth through the pages of the scriptures. As you read in the Old Testament about God choosing Abraham to be His and of Abraham being justified by faith and then you see that same dynamic played out in His dealings with His people throughout history, up to and including the New Testament, God's immutability is reinforced.

And what about things like His holiness or His justice? These are attributes of God that recur over and over throughout the pages of the Bible. Only when you're familiar with all parts of the scriptures does that become clear. In fact, I believe the lack of respect for God's holiness and His justice that we see today is a direct result of a church that has no familiarity with large portions of God's Word.

Unfortunately, a lot of us learned Bible stories, especially the ones in the Old Testament, as disjointed morality tales with the hero being Daniel, or David or Isaiah. But the truth is these are not morality tales they are links in the chain of the story of redemption, a story that began, not in Bethlehem but in the Garden of Eden:

Sometimes called the proto evangel Genesis 3:15 says:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.

This is the first reference in the scriptures of God sending a savior and from that point forward, all the way to the cross, all of scripture is about God doing just that, preparing people and circumstances so that at the right time (Romans 5:6) Jesus Christ could come into the world and bruise the serpent's head.

All of scripture before the cross leads to the cross; all of scripture after the cross points either back to the cross or forward to Christ's second coming.

If you doubt this, look at how Jesus himself viewed the scriptures. In the last chapter of Luke's gospel, the risen Christ appears to travelers on the road to the village of Emmaus. As they walk along they talk about the recent events in Jerusalem, Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion, and express their disappointment in how these