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THROUGH THE BIBLE, THROUGH THE YEAR: Daily Reflections From Genesis To Revelation
John Stott is without question one of the most beloved and significant pastors and authors of the last fifty years. Named by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the world's 100 most influential people and
432 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
104 people are currently reading
273 people want to read
About the author
John R.W. Stott
305 books553 followersJohn R. W. Stott is known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist, and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. A leader among evangelicals in Britain, the United States and around the world, Stott was a principal framer of the landmark Lausanne Covenant (1974). His many books, including Why I Am a Christian and The Cross of Christ, have sold millions of copies around the world and in dozens of languages. Whether in the West or in the Two-Thirds World, a hallmark of Stott's ministry has been expository preaching that addresses the hearts and minds of contemporary men and women. Stott was honored by Time magazine in 2005 as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World."
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 24, 2022
There are two things that often trouble me with devotionals: 1.) They don't really engage the biblical text; they just use it as a launch point to say something loosely, or not at all, connected to the text, and 2.) They tend to be overly prescriptive, i.e. "here's what you should be doing to be a better Christian." Thankfully, John Stott does neither of these things with this devotional. Instead, what we have here are solid expositions of the biblical text in Stott's usual easy-to-understand, yet meaty, way of writing that give us nothing but the good news of the Gospel. What's more, this devotional takes us on a walk through the whole biblical narrative from Creation to New Creation in one year, showing how the Bible is one cohesive narrative telling the story of God's redemption of the world in Jesus Christ. For all wanting to get a better grasp of the Scriptures and for those wanting to soak in the promises of the Gospel, this is highly recommended!
August 24, 2009
This is one of three books I use daily. Somehow, John Stott has the gift of describing what is going on in various portions of Scripture in a way which enables the reader to almost BE there, on the scene. Whether the church year calendar is in the Gospels, where I nearly feel the dust in my sandals as I listen to the Messiah instruct, rebuke, commend, or just love; or in the Great Throne Room of Revelation 4 and 5, where I am overcome with awe-- Mr. Stott makes it very real, and very --well, recognizable, as impossible as that should be for the twenty-first century reader!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, for the believer who truly wants to walk through the Scriptures and do more than just observe, but really LIVE them.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, for the believer who truly wants to walk through the Scriptures and do more than just observe, but really LIVE them.
September 14, 2022
Great devotional book that is rich in theological truth and practical application.
December 30, 2019
This book is an excellent daily devotional which will take you through an overview of the whole Bible in a year. Stott is highly readable and I found this book to be truly insightful. One of the best Christian devotionals I've ever used. Highly recommended.
November 22, 2025
One of the authors I like recommended this author, or perhaps even this book, and now I can't remember which one!
I like John Stott's perspective, tying all the Biblical passages together. Because I like to study a passage in depth, I tend to become myopic about it, without pausing to remember how it connects to the whole. Stott provided good Biblical connections between stories, and brought out several things I hadn't related to each other before. He had an excellent understanding of the framework of how it all hangs together.
It is a Bible reading program that ties the Biblical story to the liturgical calendar. A reader can begin in January, of course, like I did, but it's meant to begin in Sept with the Old Testament, coming upon the birth of Christ with Christmas, and so forth. So, I began at about week 18, I think, but then wrapped around through the end and then followed with the beginning until I had read the whole thing.
Although I don't commonly follow the liturgical calendar, I have done an occasional Advent study over the years, and one study that focused on Lent. I have never spent so much time studying Lent and Easter within a single year before. It was very good. I much prefer this book for Lent to the prior one that I did. The prior book focused mostly on forgiveness, which is an excellent theme, but didn't often talk about Christ. I would much rather hear about Christ as the focal point, with the topic of forgiveness included, like Stott did. Christ is the center piece of the scriptures, after all.
One caveat is that I don't know that I would've enjoyed the book as much as I did if I had started in Sept. There were some dubious things in the early weeks that I'm not sure I agreed with, and I'm glad that skipping that until the end kept it from tainting my enjoyment of the rest. If I had read it first, it would've colored all the rest of the book for me.
Favorite Quotes:
“Still today one of the devil’s favorite occupations is to make God’s permitted things tame and his prohibited things attractive. He portrays God as an ogre who is denying us what is good.”
“Job’s own combination of self-pity and self-assertion is clearly to be rejected. So is the comforters’ recommendation of self-accusation. The attitude proposed by the young man Elihu could be called self-discipline… But even this explanation is only partial. The right attitude that human beings should adopt toward God is that of self-surrender.”
“And no one is more trustworthy than the God of the cross. The cross does not solve the problem of suffering, but it gives us the right perspective from which to view it.”
"'Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding.' (v. 9). So God promises that he will guide us, but we must not expect him to guide us as we guide horses and mules. Why not? Because they have no understanding, whereas we do. God's normal way of directing us is through our mental processes, not in spite of them."
"The verse contains a beautiful balance, because its first part brings assurance to the despairing ('with you there is forgiveness'), while its second part sounds a warning to the presumptuous ('therefore you are feared'). Far from encouraging sinners in their sins, God's forgiveness promotes the fear of the Lord, or reverent awe in his presence, that leads us to depart from iniquity (see Prov. 16:6)."
“For pride and madness go together, as do humility and reason.”
"Moreover, a trinitarian Christian is bound to see in these three petitions [of the Lord's prayer] a veiled allusion to the three persons of the trinity, since it is through the Father's creation and providence that we receive our daily bread, through the Son's atoning death that we receive the forgiveness of our sins, and through the Holy Spirit's indwelling power that we can be rescued from the evil one."
"It is surely remarkable that, at the very moment when Jesus warned the city of judgment, he was weeping over it in love. Divine judgment (which is the main theme throughout Holy Week) is a solemn, awesome reality. But the God who judges is the God who weeps. He is not willing that any should perish. [2 Peter 3:9] And when in the end, his judgment falls on anybody (as Jesus said it will), God's eyes will be full of tears."
“How did he [Jesus] want to be remembered? Not for his example or his teaching, not for his words or works, not even for his living body or flowing blood, but for his body given and blood shed in death.”
Paradidomi – to hand over.
“Thus Judas handed Jesus over to the priests. The priests handed him over to Pilate. Pilate handed him over to the will of the crowd, and the crowd handed him over to be crucified …
“And in some passages the verb paradidomi reappears. For example, ‘the Son of God … loved me and gave himself for me.’ (Gal. 2:20)”
“Jesus insisted that his death was a voluntary act on his part, so that he handed himself over to it: ‘No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.’ (John 10:18).”
“Judas was moved by greed, the priests by envy, Pilate by fear, the crowd by hysteria, and the soldiers by callous duty. We recognize the same mixture of sins in ourselves.”
On the verse, “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’” – John 19:30:
“The Greek verb (tetelestai) is in the perfect tense, indicating an achievement with lasting results. It might be rendered, ‘It has been and remains forever accomplished.’”
“We seize on the assurance of the Revelation that one day there will be no more hunger or thirst; no more pain or tears; no more sin, death, or curse, for all these things will have passed away. It would be better and more biblical, however, to focus not so much on these absences as on the cause of their absences, namely on the central dominating presence of God’s throne.” – John Stott in on the seventeen mentions of the throne of God in Revelation 4 and 5
"I dressed the wound, but God healed it." - Ambroise Pare, Huguenot physician
I like John Stott's perspective, tying all the Biblical passages together. Because I like to study a passage in depth, I tend to become myopic about it, without pausing to remember how it connects to the whole. Stott provided good Biblical connections between stories, and brought out several things I hadn't related to each other before. He had an excellent understanding of the framework of how it all hangs together.
It is a Bible reading program that ties the Biblical story to the liturgical calendar. A reader can begin in January, of course, like I did, but it's meant to begin in Sept with the Old Testament, coming upon the birth of Christ with Christmas, and so forth. So, I began at about week 18, I think, but then wrapped around through the end and then followed with the beginning until I had read the whole thing.
Although I don't commonly follow the liturgical calendar, I have done an occasional Advent study over the years, and one study that focused on Lent. I have never spent so much time studying Lent and Easter within a single year before. It was very good. I much prefer this book for Lent to the prior one that I did. The prior book focused mostly on forgiveness, which is an excellent theme, but didn't often talk about Christ. I would much rather hear about Christ as the focal point, with the topic of forgiveness included, like Stott did. Christ is the center piece of the scriptures, after all.
One caveat is that I don't know that I would've enjoyed the book as much as I did if I had started in Sept. There were some dubious things in the early weeks that I'm not sure I agreed with, and I'm glad that skipping that until the end kept it from tainting my enjoyment of the rest. If I had read it first, it would've colored all the rest of the book for me.
Favorite Quotes:
“Still today one of the devil’s favorite occupations is to make God’s permitted things tame and his prohibited things attractive. He portrays God as an ogre who is denying us what is good.”
“Job’s own combination of self-pity and self-assertion is clearly to be rejected. So is the comforters’ recommendation of self-accusation. The attitude proposed by the young man Elihu could be called self-discipline… But even this explanation is only partial. The right attitude that human beings should adopt toward God is that of self-surrender.”
“And no one is more trustworthy than the God of the cross. The cross does not solve the problem of suffering, but it gives us the right perspective from which to view it.”
"'Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding.' (v. 9). So God promises that he will guide us, but we must not expect him to guide us as we guide horses and mules. Why not? Because they have no understanding, whereas we do. God's normal way of directing us is through our mental processes, not in spite of them."
"The verse contains a beautiful balance, because its first part brings assurance to the despairing ('with you there is forgiveness'), while its second part sounds a warning to the presumptuous ('therefore you are feared'). Far from encouraging sinners in their sins, God's forgiveness promotes the fear of the Lord, or reverent awe in his presence, that leads us to depart from iniquity (see Prov. 16:6)."
“For pride and madness go together, as do humility and reason.”
"Moreover, a trinitarian Christian is bound to see in these three petitions [of the Lord's prayer] a veiled allusion to the three persons of the trinity, since it is through the Father's creation and providence that we receive our daily bread, through the Son's atoning death that we receive the forgiveness of our sins, and through the Holy Spirit's indwelling power that we can be rescued from the evil one."
"It is surely remarkable that, at the very moment when Jesus warned the city of judgment, he was weeping over it in love. Divine judgment (which is the main theme throughout Holy Week) is a solemn, awesome reality. But the God who judges is the God who weeps. He is not willing that any should perish. [2 Peter 3:9] And when in the end, his judgment falls on anybody (as Jesus said it will), God's eyes will be full of tears."
“How did he [Jesus] want to be remembered? Not for his example or his teaching, not for his words or works, not even for his living body or flowing blood, but for his body given and blood shed in death.”
Paradidomi – to hand over.
“Thus Judas handed Jesus over to the priests. The priests handed him over to Pilate. Pilate handed him over to the will of the crowd, and the crowd handed him over to be crucified …
“And in some passages the verb paradidomi reappears. For example, ‘the Son of God … loved me and gave himself for me.’ (Gal. 2:20)”
“Jesus insisted that his death was a voluntary act on his part, so that he handed himself over to it: ‘No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.’ (John 10:18).”
“Judas was moved by greed, the priests by envy, Pilate by fear, the crowd by hysteria, and the soldiers by callous duty. We recognize the same mixture of sins in ourselves.”
On the verse, “When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’” – John 19:30:
“The Greek verb (tetelestai) is in the perfect tense, indicating an achievement with lasting results. It might be rendered, ‘It has been and remains forever accomplished.’”
“We seize on the assurance of the Revelation that one day there will be no more hunger or thirst; no more pain or tears; no more sin, death, or curse, for all these things will have passed away. It would be better and more biblical, however, to focus not so much on these absences as on the cause of their absences, namely on the central dominating presence of God’s throne.” – John Stott in on the seventeen mentions of the throne of God in Revelation 4 and 5
"I dressed the wound, but God healed it." - Ambroise Pare, Huguenot physician
February 5, 2020
It's a little bit like doing your Bible reading with a famous theologian, reading this book daily. This is a great devotional book to follow for someone who is already familiar with the Bible and wants to have the Bible speak daily into their life.
December 19, 2023
Stott is one of my favorite writers and theologians of the 20th century, so this devotional by him didn’t disappoint! One note: he chronologically organizes everything based on the Christian calendar, so if you start in January you’ll start in the middle of the book.
December 27, 2009
Very good, comprehensive look at the Bible and its meaning. Great way to get an overview of the Bible through daily Scripture and meditation readings. Only takes a year!
January 9, 2020
Whew! We made it through this one!
Dr. John Stott provides lots of history in each daily reading ~ also, he uses, BIG words, which makes one stumble through the reading & dig into one's memory to recall the meanings of these words.
It's a challenge, for sure, & not one we particularly enjoyed. It was, however, enlightening in many ways & got us through the Bible in a year as promised.
We wouldn't choose this one, again, but all-in-all it was OK.
(BTW, totally different cover on the one we got from Amazon than the one shown above!)
Dr. John Stott provides lots of history in each daily reading ~ also, he uses, BIG words, which makes one stumble through the reading & dig into one's memory to recall the meanings of these words.
It's a challenge, for sure, & not one we particularly enjoyed. It was, however, enlightening in many ways & got us through the Bible in a year as promised.
We wouldn't choose this one, again, but all-in-all it was OK.
(BTW, totally different cover on the one we got from Amazon than the one shown above!)
December 31, 2024
Good daily devo to establish a rhythm, but a little too short and simple for me personally. Downgraded to 3 stars for my personal recollection just because I thought Upmost For His Highest was also short and simple, but had more depth to it and spurred more thoughts
November 8, 2016
I've tried to read this when i was in high school, and failed it miserably, i'm not sure if i had actually read the whole thing. And i'm using 'read' very loosely here. If i did, it would've been literally getting through the words on the page, grasping nothing. Initially i read it two pages at a time (one spread) but eventually i slowed it down to just one page at a time to prevent myself from wanting to give up altogether.
Now that i'm older i thought i'd go through it again, and the problem i had with it began to surface quickly. It may very well just be me not liking the writing style or the way the message was sent across. But i found it very difficult to stomach. It wasn't as if it had the wrong doctrine, or that it was going off tangent to the gospel of Christ. Perhaps it was just written in a way that i didn't enjoy. For which it is not the author's fault, but me, the recipients'.
However, i have gotten through the whole thing from beginning to end (possibly again). I am glad that it went by a lot faster than going through the Bible (currently on 2 Chronicles), it really made me look forward to the rest of the Bible. This book is a great summary for a Christian to go through as a companion to the Bible. It covers all the major events in the bible, and spread out in more details for some as well. It covers context and themes, which is quite helpful for new Christians, or Christians who still have questions.
The most memorable part of this book was (of course, due to my sappiness) the first time i read this interpretation of why Eve was taken from Adam's rib, it was along the lines of:
"She was not taken from his head to lord over him,
nor from his foot to be trampled by him,
but from his side to be equal,
close to his heart to be loved,
and under his arm to be protected."
Let me just fangirl for a moment, and then find you the proper quote from the book on page 27, which was a quote from another book called 'The Book of Sentences' by Peter Lombard, and expanded on by Matthew Henry. Matthew Henry said that Eve was "not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."
*squeal!*
Now that i'm older i thought i'd go through it again, and the problem i had with it began to surface quickly. It may very well just be me not liking the writing style or the way the message was sent across. But i found it very difficult to stomach. It wasn't as if it had the wrong doctrine, or that it was going off tangent to the gospel of Christ. Perhaps it was just written in a way that i didn't enjoy. For which it is not the author's fault, but me, the recipients'.
However, i have gotten through the whole thing from beginning to end (possibly again). I am glad that it went by a lot faster than going through the Bible (currently on 2 Chronicles), it really made me look forward to the rest of the Bible. This book is a great summary for a Christian to go through as a companion to the Bible. It covers all the major events in the bible, and spread out in more details for some as well. It covers context and themes, which is quite helpful for new Christians, or Christians who still have questions.
The most memorable part of this book was (of course, due to my sappiness) the first time i read this interpretation of why Eve was taken from Adam's rib, it was along the lines of:
nor from his foot to be trampled by him,
but from his side to be equal,
close to his heart to be loved,
and under his arm to be protected."
Let me just fangirl for a moment, and then find you the proper quote from the book on page 27, which was a quote from another book called 'The Book of Sentences' by Peter Lombard, and expanded on by Matthew Henry. Matthew Henry said that Eve was "not made out of his head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved."
*squeal!*
January 14, 2009
This book is a great daily devotional that teaches through the Bible according to the Christian calendar year. Having just ended Advent at the end of 2008, it became a great way to start a new year-long devotional.
John Stott's teaching example is phenomenal: he gives a main scripture passage to focus on each day, followed by a three-fourths page reflection on that scripture lesson. Included in his commentary are great theological, church history, and practical spiritual formation concepts to reflect upon in conjunction with a meditation of the scripture.
John Stott's teaching example is phenomenal: he gives a main scripture passage to focus on each day, followed by a three-fourths page reflection on that scripture lesson. Included in his commentary are great theological, church history, and practical spiritual formation concepts to reflect upon in conjunction with a meditation of the scripture.
January 6, 2025
John R. W. Stott had a huge influence on me as a student in the 1970s as a preacher and Bible commentator. This book takes the reader through the Bible in manageable, daily snippets. As an Anglican, Stott follows the liturgical church calendar, but the book is a great Bible overview, whether one connects to the calendar or not. I will definitely return to in a future year. (Note: The year does NOT begin January 1, but with September, leading up to Advent, although one could start at any point during the year.)
October 7, 2011
My next big spiritual study goal completed! This is a great devotional that goes a lot deeper than just a feel-good biblical message. I actually learned things from this, rather than just having a "positive thought for the day" like a lot of devotionals can be.
September 13, 2010
So good.
July 31, 2016
Stott always has something to say that challenges us from the Word of God. This is a practical daily devotional.
August 30, 2014
A great way to travel through the whole story of the Bible in one year.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews