Skip Heitzig - The Bible from 30,000 Feet: Soaring Through the Scriptures in One Year from Genesis to Revelation

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Verses marked P HILLIPS are taken from J.B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Verses marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Cover by Darren Welch Design, Mount Juliet, TN

Interior design by Janelle Coury

Editing by Steve Miller

Published in association with William K. Jensen Literary Agency, 119 Bampton Court, Eugene, Oregon 97404.

The Bible from 30,000 Feet is a trademark of The Hawkins Childrens LLC. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the trademark THE BIBLE FROM 30,000 FEET.

THE BIBLE FROM 30,000 FEET

Copyright 2017 Skip Heitzig

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-7029-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-7369-7030-3 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Heitzig, Skip, author.

Title: The Bible from 30,000 feet / Skip Heitzig.

Other titles: Bible from thirty thousand feet

Description: Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2017. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017003963 (print) | LCCN 2017015669 (ebook) | ISBN 9780736970303 (ebook) | ISBN 9780736970297 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: BibleIntroductions.

Classification: LCC BS475.3 (ebook) | LCC BS475.3 .H45 2017 (print) | DDC 220.6/1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017003963

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This book is dedicated to all of Gods people

who believe the Bible is important enough

to read,

to learn,

to know,

to apply,

and to obey.

Your words were found, and I ate them,

and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart

(Jeremiah 15:16).

A depth of gratitude is due to the late Dr. George Campbell Morgan, who pastored Westminster Chapel in London during the early 1900s. He was always a man of one book. He knew the Bible and was committed to teaching the books of the Bible to his Friday night Bible class, which thousands attended weekly. His famous birds-eye view outlines of books of the Bible gave me the initial inspiration for this work.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee also must be mentioned since his daily radio broadcast, Thru the Bible, was my daily bread for years in the early part of my Christian walk. His practical, rubber-meets-the-road approach gave me great encouragement.

Pastor Chuck Smith was my pastor for many years, as well as a friend and mentor. Inspired by both aforementioned men, Chuck took his congregation through every book of the Bible, giving me both a satisfied heart and a hunger for more. All three of these great expositors have passed from the earthly scene, but their influence lingers on in my life. All three, as the writer of Hebrews declares, being dead yet speaketh (Hebrews 4:11 KJV ).

My heart is full of gratitude for my wife, Lenya. She kept insisting that this book be written to equip people with the principles of Scripture. She has faithfully been by my side for decades and has poured more encouragement into me than any other single human being.

Quentin Guy has helped out immensely by taking my rudimentary notes on each book of the Bible and working closely with me to craft a literary expression. Because of him, this book is readable! Thanks, Quent.

Thanks to Brian Nixon and Lorin Bentley for their labor of love in providing both helpful advice and actual content.

Thanks to my faithful assistant, Laney St. Martin, who made sure that my writing schedule was kept sacred so I could finish the manuscript.

A humble shout-out to the flock of Calvary Albuquerque! I love their love for Bible teaching. Every time I wonder, Arent they sick of me yet?, I look out to see them coming back for more.

Special thanks to Bob Hawkins and the fine folks at Harvest House Publishers for believing in this cruising altitude approach to Scripture and for their insights, edits, and support.

CONTENTS

I t takes just under seventy hours to read the Bible straight through at a moderate rate. But most people would never approach it nonstop like that. To do so would be tedious. However, if that reading time were spread out over the course of an entire year, it would average out to about an hour and twenty minutes per week.

This weekly approach breaks down the Bible into more bite-sized chunks, allowing you to set aside time for meditating upon and applying the Bibles meaningful truths. In your hand is a tool that will help you to do exactly that. In fact, I want to make a deal with you: Give me a yearfifty-two weeksand Ill give you a working understanding of the message of the Bible. I will help you to see it as a whole, understand and apply the main principles of all sixty-six books, and show you how it all fits together, revealing a panorama of Gods mind and plan as revealed in Scripture.

When you fly at 30,000 feet (the relative cruising altitude for most commercial aircraft), a glance out the window reveals a broad, curved horizon and the shifting blur of the ground below. You have a sense of the massiveness of heaven and earth, but not the details of everyday lifeno buildings or cars or people, and certainly none of the triumphs or struggles of human hearts as they engage with one another at ground level. So when you consider the title of this book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, you might wonder how you could get anything meaningful from looking at the Bible from such a great height. Just think of all the things youd miss, you might say. And while that would be a struggle with any other book you might read, the Bible is different.

The Bible is unlike any other book you will ever read, unlike any book that has ever been written. Its both personala love letter from God to usand historicalan account of Gods interactions with His people over thousands of years. It gives us the big pictureGod creating the world and everything in it, the forming of nations, Gods plan of redemptive historyand the intimate detailsJesus pouring His heart out to His Father in Gethsemane, David describing his brokenness after his affair with Bathsheba, Hannah praising God for her miracle child Samuel. It is certainly worth the effort to consider every single paragraph and verse, and the nuance of every word. But there is also value in stepping back from the details and considering the larger scope. We can sometimes miss the forest for the trees and lose our bearings of the larger story amid the numerous details. Therefore both approaches are neededup close and farther away.