Bible Study Tools reports: “statistics show that most people professing faith in Jesus have never completely read their Bible.” Many get through Genesis and possibly Exodus before running out of steam. They “become overwhelmed by the number of chapters (1,189) and verses (31,102) there are.”

So how does one approach the bible without feeling overwhelmed by the scope of this challenge? Here are some thoughts.

1. Plan to Read the Bible in a Year

Settle in for the long haul rather than treating Scripture like any other book. If you are accustomed to consuming literature in a short space of time, remember that this is no ordinary beach read. The Bible is not escapist fiction; the idea is to absorb the words and let the truth of God’s power and love sink in. Scripture’s purpose is to teach you about the person of God and who you are in relation to him. There is a life-giving purpose to Scripture. But it is difficult to grasp if you try to hurry through it and call “the Bible” merely another one of a handful of other completed titles in a growing list.

There are many Bible Reading Plans which enable you to tackle the Bible in 365 days, spreading the chapters into manageable chunks. There are numerous ideas for tackling God’s Word every or almost every day, whether chronologically or reading a bit of the Old and the New Testament every day together. Most people can imagine covering a chapter or two in one sitting. When you plan to approach small chunks at a time, sometimes you will even be impatient to read ahead.

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After the Exodus, God instituted laws which included various sacrifices the Israelites were to make as a way of atoning for their sin. By these means, they were able to “maintain a covenant relationship with Him”, wrote one scholar. Blood would have to be shed in order to stress the importance of God’s holiness and the seriousness of our transgressions against him. Leviticus lays out the various offerings which “were temporary and needed to be repeated regularly.”

The Israelites went on making sacrifices, but they also continued sinning and falling away from God. They failed to keep their end of the covenantal arrangement which was laid out in Leviticus 26: If the Israelites followed his commands, said the Lord, “I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people” (v.12). If they did not, “I will set my face against you” (v.17).

Even when they met their sacrificial obligations, however, the Israelites’ religious observance would not and could not save them because their hearts were not fixed on God. Often, when they followed the law, it was to find their righteousness in the ability to do so, not out of a sense of devotion to God and love for their neighbors. Jesus proclaimed as much as he rebuked the Pharisees who would “tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:4). This was religion without love, showing that they understood the rules, but not the heart of God.

When Christ came to earth, he showed the Israelites what it means to love and obey God. He prayed and sought the Father’s will. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). He never sinned, and by his life he reminded the Israelites that the fruit of a law-keeping, righteous relationship is obedience to the Lord with love.

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Carolyn Morris-Collier remarked in a recent article that revival could be burgeoning at Oxford, a place where secular thinkers have traditionally looked down their noses at men and women of faith. “I came mentally prepared for the ridicule I’d been told Christians inevitably receive in academia. [...] Instead of aggressive antagonism, I experienced unexpected spiritual openness from my friends and classmates.”

Morris-Collier believes her experience is due to growing mistrust of secular institutions once considered bastions of reason, including government. Moreover, “in an age of dating apps, polyamory, and porn, many young people are exhausted by the burden of self-made morality.”

Perhaps Oxford and other great universities are ready to see a major revival; maybe not. Some revivals build, grow and last for years while others fizzle out almost as soon as they begin, as both the Bible and modern history has shown us. Why do some revivals build for decades and become phenomena while others fall flat virtually right out of the gate?

Here, we will examine examples of revival, both before and after the coming of Christ, and the features which caused them to succeed or fail.

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John Piper remarks on the 131 times we see the word “grace” in the ESV translation of the Bible, most of which are found in Paul’s letters. “No wonder he’s called ‘the apostle of grace.’” One thing all of those letters have in common is that they were written after Jesus died and rose from the grave. Charis, the Greek word Paul would have used, means “favor, kindness, blessing [...]. In the New Testament, ‘charis’ primarily refers to the unmerited favor and kindness of God towards humanity.” This word is also related to salvation.

Why are grace and Easter so closely connected? Here are five ways Easter demonstrates God’s grace towards us.

1. The Grace of Salvation

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8).

We celebrate Easter to remember that Christ’s death saved us; he was the offering God demanded to atone for our sins. We cannot earn salvation. We must address the cross, look at it, and contemplate that gory offering of God’s only Son. We then let our gaze shift to the empty tomb where Christ conquered death and offered us the gift of victory over death – over the sins which separated us from God.

But we cannot accept the second gift without first receiving the crucified Christ. We get to the empty tomb through the cross. While we want the shiny, celebratory grace right away, we first have to see how our undeserved gift was bought for us by the One who received undeserved punishment. The one person who never sinned was our spotless lamb.

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9). This is what the heavenly chorus declares to Christ, the Risen Lamb, seated on the throne of Heaven. We join them because of his grace.

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