reading the Bible "chronologically"

A few years ago I did some intense study of Islam. Part of this involved reading the entire text of the Qu'ran, which isn't a chronologically ordered text. To help me understand it, I looked up a scholar's ordering of the different chapters and read it through accordingly.

After reading all the Qu'ran, I realised that I couldn't be certain that I'd read every single chapter of the Bible. Although Bible knowledge is by no means a pre-requisite for salvation - that comes through Christ alone - it struck me that as a Christian with eight years of tertiary education it was pretty lame if I hadn't read the whole Bible!

So I found a chronological ordering of the Old Testament and am a bit over half way through reading the program. You can find a similar one here.

While I usually prefer reading books of the Bible from start to finish, I've found the chronological approach, which sometimes jumps between books, helpful.

• It has filled in the gaps in my knowledge of Bible history
• It has increased my confidence in the Bible as an historically accurate and historically coherant document - at points I can compare different accounts of the same events
• I am able to see prophecies being fulfilled and worked out, often centuries, or even millenia, after they were initially made (eg. Gen 12:1-3 is still being fulfilled today)
  

At the moment I am reading sections from 2 Chronicles and Isaiah. This is giving me a much stronger sense of the historical background to Isaiah, which in turn helps me to understand:

• why God expresses so much anger over sin in Isaiah (eg. Isaiah 1)
  
• what an incredible relief the promise of God's future saving actions (eg. Isaiah 2:1-5) must have been to a people wearied by centuries of spiritual failure, warfare, and corrupt spiritual and political leadership

If you are hunting around for a Bible reading system, I recommend the chronological approach!

PS Lest anyone mistake me for a Bible reading "guru", I should point out that it has taken me nearly two years to get from Genesis to Isaiah! I am not attempting to stick to a particular number of readings per day or per week, because I find that dated reading systems are a sure recipe for guilt and lapses! I have tentatively set myself a deadline of finishing by the end of this year, but have told myself that if I don't make it, that's ok!