A Year Through the Story
Introduction
Many believers read the Bible chaotically. A little here, a little there, a Proverb here, a Psalm there, then jump to the Gospels, and then the infamous roulette method of closing your eyes, opening the book, putting your finger on the page, and opening your eyes to see what fate has chosen for you. None of that makes sense.
Other believers are more systematic and follow a structured plan for reading the Scriptures. But most plans out there have you playing Bible hopscotch. You read some Old Testament, some New Testament, and back and forth you go until you’ve read the New Testament multiple times by the time you’ve finished the Old Testament.
However, there is another way, though it may feel awkward at first. A chronological plan may feel disorienting because most Bibles aren’t arranged in the order the events likely occurred. Chronological plans do something no other plan does. They preserve the story’s flow. Why is that important?
One often-overlooked truth about the Bible is that it is a single, coherent narrative. From children’s church onward, we teach the Bible’s stories, but we do not always connect them to the big story that unites them into a cohesive whole: Yahweh’s story. His tale is what the Bible is all about, and we should do our best to understand it.
Chronological reading plans help us read that story in the most likely order of events.
No one watches movies in random segments. We watch them from beginning to end so we can enter the story and grow with the characters. Books are no different. If you started reading The Lord of the Rings in the middle of the third volume, you would lack an emotional connection to any of the characters, and their actions in that phase of the story would lack the emotional weight Tolkien hoped you would have by that moment.
Reading the Bible chronologically will help you connect with the characters and see where they belong in the narrative. It will help you understand how everything actually unfolded and place characters, such as Isaiah, in the proper chronological moment in the text.
This Chronological Companion is a guide. As you work through the story, it will help you notice things you may have missed. In the following pages, you will find a fifty-two-week plan to read the entire Bible in chronological order. Reading the Bible this way can be easier with a chronological Bible. This guide largely follows the layout of the ESV Chronological Bible. But you do not have to purchase anything. Your existing Bible will serve you just fine.
Heaven and earth
This companion will also highlight the threads of both heaven and earth. Because most of the narrative focuses on the earthly portion, the heavenly portion is often minimized. If it is in the Bible, it is important, even if it seems strange. Psalm 82 begins by stating that God has taken His place in the divine council. In weeks where the heavenly thread is present, you will find a section titled A Note From the Council.
Many people begin their yearly reading journeys in January, starting fresh for the new year. This reading plan can be started at any time and is week-based rather than tied to calendar dates. The next few pages present the reading plan, with the weeks and passages broken down. This companion includes questions, space for notes, weekly previews of what you will be reading, and suggestions on what to look for as well.
As you begin this journey, do your best to read the Bible like any other book. It is a true story: Yahweh’s autobiography. You will no doubt encounter things you do not understand. Try to avoid the rabbit holes. Make a note in this companion to study it further another time, and keep going. Often, your confusion will be resolved later in the narrative, as in any good story.
Hopefully, by the time you reach the end, you’ll be transformed in ways you never imagined. Pick a start date, grab a pen and a highlighter, and begin your pilgrimage through the greatest story ever told.