It's a wonderful year that begins

It's the beginning of a wonderful year. It got off to a great start during our New Year's Day prophetic day, where I shared what God had placed on my heart for this year. This year we are going to seriously embrace God's Word. And it's already begun. Once again, we have started a year-long Bible reading plan, this time in chronological order.

Sometimes during Bible studies I ask questions about the context and location of an event and I realize that there is a lot of ignorance at this level. We know the 'who' and the 'what', but not always the 'when' and sometimes even the 'why'. However, to benefit fully from the Word of God, it is important to understand the sequence of events described there. And since the canonical order of the books of the Old Testament in Hebrew (or the New Testament in Greek for that matter) does not follow the order in which the events took place, a chronological reading can be useful.

If we cannot say with certainty the absolute accuracy of every element of the chronological order as proposed by historians and theologians, especially with regard to the positioning of the epistles (the historical books of the Old Testament pose fewer difficulties), it still remains of great use. We have just read the first eleven chapters of Genesis and before moving on to Abraham, we take a look at Job. You remember Job, a book inserted somewhere in the middle of the Old Testament, well, it would seem that this story would be chronologically situated very early in the Old Testament narrative.

Furthermore, the events in the lives of the kings become easier to grasp when we read the same stories at the same time in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, interspersed with the psalms and prophets; examples abound. The same is true of the New Testament, where our chronological reading involves reading the Gospels simultaneously. So instead of reading them one after the other as is customary, we will read event by event in all four Gospels simultaneously. An important point that is often overlooked is the fact that, unlike historical books such as 1 Samuel, within each Gospel, the narrative is not chronological.

So it would be interesting to follow a linear sequence of events in Jesus' life from birth to his ascension. The other important point is that this kind of reading allows us to see the remarkable concordance in the expression and presentation of the same events in the four Gospels, remarkable because we know that the four were intended for different audiences, which certainly influenced the style and choice of words. Of course, the Gospel of John stands out more clearly from the three Synoptic Gospels, but still without discord.

So, how can we not invite you, if you're willing, to take this journey with us? It's estimated that it takes fifteen minutes a day to read the entire Bible in a year. Personally, I think it takes a little longer if you want to take the time to check things, ask questions, study more deeply, etc., but the bottom line is that it's very doable. So if you're short on resolutions this year, why not decide to read the entire Bible with us? Just click on Bible reading to download the reading plan, in two versions: a summary version or a detailed version with pretty colored tables. Have a great year in the Word of God.

Shalom!