In The Beginning
If you’re here because you’ve challenged yourself to read along with me, to read the Bible from cover to cover, in 90 days, then our first week is here!
Day 1 of 90: Bible Reading Plan (Read Genesis 1-11)
In the beginning:
Genesis is the true, actual detailed explanation of just how the earth was formed and man created. I love the Bible; it’s the only history book we have that is completely accurate because it’s filled with the holy written word of God.
God wasn’t created in Genesis. God is infinite. He always has been and always will be.
“In the beginnings God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
If you’ve never read the Bible, then maybe you just haven’t read through the prologue of Greatness; the book of Genesis, because it’s going to be filled with the kind of drama and love that most best sellers are made of. This one is different. The Bible is filled with so many cliff hangers. Genesis reveals God’s love for us, takes us through the pain and separation brought on by the sinfulness of men and the problems that have plagued the human race because of that sin, and tells us of His love for us and how He’s already got a way planned for us to be reconciled to Him, as we’ll find out in Genesis 3:15. This is where it all begins!
Genesis
In Genesis we learn that God spoke everything into existence. . . In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, the waters, the light, day and night, grass, and all the moving creatures of the earth; he created man and woman. One thing remains the same, He consistently told them to be fruitful and to multiply. Multiply. Everything He breathed life into, He ordered to be fruitful and to multiply, each after their own kind; that’s including us, we’re made in His own likeness, own image. We’re suppose to be fruitful and multiply. This is practical and spiritual. Procreate and have babies. Disciple and make fishers of men: GO, tell the nations of His name!
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
In Genesis 1:26 we get to catch our first glimpse of the Trinity. This will come back full circle <<<spoiler alert>>> as we find later in Revelations that there’s a Lamb (THE LAMB) slain from the foundation of world (Rev 13:8)
“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26
“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelations 13:8
Okay so let’s just start over, because I’m getting excited, let’s just walk through this. Are we going to walk through this? If you’re still here, let’s skim through quickly what’s going on in these few chapters . . . so much suspense, love, drama, hate, and grace!
In The Beginning: God creates everything! All of creation; earth, water, heaven, and all life. ALL OF IT! Wow! He saw all the He had made and said it was good and He rested. Then He places Adam and Even into the Garden of Eden and blesses them. God gives them everything; they get to rule the earth and THEY GET TO WALK WITH HIM! I can’t even deal with this.
Could you imagine? I can’t. Wow. Amazing.
Then everything’s classy in the Garden of Eden, and there’s a perfect unity with their maker. The two (Adam and Eve) were naked; because they were innocent. They were completely free to eat from the garden, any tree in the garden, except they were to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The only rule that the two had was to not eat of this tree, they understood this rule, they lacked nothing, and they got to walk with Him in the garden. But He gave them free will; the ability to choose; make choices for themselves. Then Eve was seduced by the serpent. He was such a sneaky snake, he began to question Eve, asking, “Did God really say that?”, to plant the seeds in her head. All he had to do was to get her to question God; to question what God said. To doubt God, and so she did, and she ate the fruit. When she doubted God it caused her to rebel against Him; her rebellion against God would alter the course of the history of the world forever. (By the way, our sin never affects just us, our sin stretches past our persons and has far reaching consequences.) So in her rebellion she encouraged Adam to take the forbidden fruit, and it’s here we find that this is what opened their eyes and showed them that they were naked. They tried to hide from God. He covered them. They get expelled from the garden, that way they can’t eat from the tree of life anymore. Cherubim were placed east of the garden and a flaming sword that pointed every way, which were both placed there to prevent the tree of life from being eaten from.
There’s hope for the weary! God gives us hope! The snakes going to nip the woman’s seeds heal; Christ (Satan is going to attack us, hurt us, try to lead us astray/tempt us, etc.) but ultimately her off spring (Eve’s seed – down the line, her descendant – Mary’s baby, King Jesus) will crush his head! (Jesus’ blood sacrifice on the cross, making atonement for our sins, bringing all of the sins of the world onto Himself.) This is God’s grace and provision for us! A plan for redemption!
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush] your head and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15
After the fall, Adam and Eve had children, and their first two sons were Cain and Abel. These men made sacrifices to God and God favored the sacrifices that Abel made so Cain murdered Abel; in turn God punished Cain by making him go out to a life of wandering. There’s a lot more to that story – we’re skimming.
Noah builds an ark! The people are just whack! They’re acting like fools, they’re disobedient, their hearts are rebellious, and they’ve just broken God’s heart. He tells Noah to build an ark because He’s going to flood the earth. He told Noah to bring the animals and his family and get going. There was a lot of water, Noah and his family were spared, and the animals lived and multiplied; and God reinstated His covenant with Noah. Then a lot more stuff happened – we’re still skimming.
Tower of Babel! The people multiplied and in Shinar. The people desired to erect an incredible tower that reached to the heavens, one that would make them famous, and God took them down a peg or two. He confuses them with different languages before this happens, and then the people all scatter (the nations scatter). Did I mention we’re going to skim through?
Abraham: Father of the nations
Tomorrow we’re going to read about how Abraham hadn’t heard of God but He showed up and God told Him to move, and this guy did it! He didn’t haven any reason to leave this land or trust this God or to do anything; he just had faith! Some guy, prompts from some voice from the heavens, asked him to do something like that?! Abraham obeys God, though. Abraham builds altars of remembrances and worship to the Lord. (I mentioned a couple days ago in my blog post, “My Year In Review”, how it’s been important to me to have altars of remembrance, even though the Bible doesn’t tell us to do that, I do it. Maybe it’s just journaling, writing down answered prayers, etc. It’s something that helps me and that I enjoy. Just an idea for those who might want to do something to help them remember. We say we’ll never forget the important stuff (small or big) but we do.)
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:1-3
Old Testament
Day 1 Genesis 1 – 11
Day 2 Genesis 12 – 20
Day 3 Genesis 21 – 33
Day 4 Genesis 34 – 50
Day 5 Exodus 1 – 11
Day 6 Exodus 12 – 18
Day 7 Exodus 19 – 30
Day 8 Exodus 31- 40
Day 9 Leviticus 1 – 7
Day 10 Leviticus 8 – 15
Day 11 Leviticus 16 – 22
Day 12 Leviticus 23 – 27
Day 13 Numbers 1 – 8
Day 14 Numbers 9 -16
Day 15 Numbers 17 -25
Day 16 Numbers 26 -36
Day 17 Deuteronomy 1 – 9
Day 18 Deuteronomy 10 – 17
Day 19 Deuteronomy 18 – 26
Day 20 Deuteronomy 27 -34
Day 21 Joshua 1 – 10
Day 22 Joshua 11 – 24
Day 23 Judges 1 – 10
Day 24 Judges 11 – 21
Day 25 Ruth 1 – 4
Day 26 1 Samuel 1 – 16
Day 27 1 Samuel 17 – 1 Samuel 31
Day 28 2 Samuel 1 – 24
Day 29 1 Kings 1 – 22
Day 30 2 Kings 1 – 25
Day 31 1 Chronicles 1 – 8
Day 32 1 Chronicles 9 – 19
Day 33 1 Chronicles 20 – 29
Day 34 2 Chronicles 1 – 21
Day 35 2 Chronicles 22 – 36
Day 36 Ezra 1- Ezra 10
Day 37 Nehemiah 1 – Nehemiah 13
Day 38 Esther 1 – Esther 10
Day38 Job 1 – Job 23
Day 39 Job 24 – Job 42
Day 40 Psalms 1 – Psalms 21
Day 41 Psalms 22 – Psalms 60
Day 42 Psalms 61 – Psalms 90
Day 43 Psalms 91 – Psalms 115
Day 44 Psalms 116 – Psalms 150
Day 45 Proverbs 1 – Proverbs 15
Day 46 Proverbs 16 – Proverbs 31
Day 47 Ecclesiastes 1 – Ecclesiastes 12
Day 48 Song of Solomon 1 – Song of Solomon 8
Day 49 Isaiah 1 – Isaiah 27
Day 50 Isaiah 28 – Isaiah 66
Day 51 Jeremiah 1 – Jeremiah 20
Day 52 Jeremiah 21 – Jeremiah 52
Day 53 Lamentations 1 – Lamentations 5
Day 54 Ezekiel 1 – Ezekiel 22
Day 55 Ezekiel 23 – Ezekiel 48
Day 56 Daniel 1 – Daniel 12
Day 57 Hosea 1 – Hosea 14
Day 58 Joel 1 – Joel 3
Day 59 Amos 1 – Amos 9
Day 60 Obadiah 1
Day 61 Jonah 1 – Jonah 4
Day 62 Micah 1 – Micah 7
Day 63 Nahum 1 – Nahum 3
Day 64 Habakkuk 1 – Habakkuk 3
Day 65 Zephaniah 1 – Zephaniah 3
Day 66 Haggai 1 – Haggai 2
Day 67 Zechariah 1 – Zechariah 14
Day 68 Malachi 1 – Malachi 4
NEW TESTAMENT
Day 69 Matthew 1 – Matthew 28
Day 70 Mark 1 – 16
Day 71 Luke 1 – Luke 12
Day 72 Luke 13 – Luke 24
Day 73 John 1 – John 21
Day 74 Acts 1 – Acts 15
Day 75 Acts 16 – Acts 28
Day 76 Romans 1 – Romans 16
Day 77 1 Corinthians 1 – 1 Corinthians 16
Day 78 2 Corinthians 1 – 2 Corinthians 13
Day 79 Galatians 1 – Galatians 6
Day 80 Ephesians 1 – Ephesians 6
Day 81 * Philippians 1 – Philippians 4 (Morning)
Colossians 1 – Colossians 4 ( Afternoon)
1 Thessalonians 1 – 1 Thessalonians 5 (Bedtime)
Day 82 2 Thessalonians 1 – 2 Thessalonians 3 (Morning)
1 Timothy 1 – 1 Timothy 6 (Afternoon)
2 Timothy 1 – 2 Timothy 4 (Bedtime)
Day 83 Titus 1 – Titus 3 (Morning )
Philemon 1 (Afternoon)
Hebrews 1 – Hebrews 13 (Bedtime)
Day 84 James 1 – James 5 (Morning)
1 Peter 1 – 1 Peter 5 (Afternoon)
2 Peter 1 – 2 Peter 3 (Bedtime)
Day 85 1 John 1 – 1 John (Morning)
2 John 1 (Afternoon)
3 John (Bedtime)
Day 86 Jude 1
Day 87 Revelation 1 – Revelation 6
Day 88 Revelation 7 – Revelation 18
Day 89 Revelation 19 – Revelation 22
Day 90 – PRAISE!