So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River…land now occupied by the…Hittites…” Genesis 15:18-20)

Reliable record

God’s promise to give Abraham innumerable descendants was accompanied by a parallel promise. In addition to all of the people, the Lord would also give these descendants a place to live. Specifically, He would give them the section of land stretching from the eastern edge of Egypt to the Euphrates River, a section of land known then as Canaan.

In those days, Canaan was populated with various tribes and clans of people; and the Bible tells us that among these there was a group of people called the Hittites. The Hittites have a significant presence throughout the Old Testament and are mentioned over forty different times.

What’s so significant about that? Well, after the Hittites had been destroyed, the world’s memory of them began to fade altogether until the only surviving record of them was in the Bible. No other historical sources referred to the Hittites, and for many years skeptics mocked the Bible because it made reference to this people group. "Surely, the Bible must be wrong because nobody else knows anything about the Hittites," critics said.

Then, in 1870, a discovery was made. A group of tablets known as the Tel el-Amarna Tablets were uncovered in Egypt, and they clearly identified the existence of an ancient race of people called the Hittites. Not only that, but as archeologists dug deeper, they found more evidence of the Hittite’s existence. This obsolete people group was described as having the third most powerful empire in the ancient world at one time.

Again, just a few years previously, people were discrediting the Bible because it was the only known record that referred to the Hittites. In hindsight, however, the Bible’s validity has been powerfully confirmed, and is trustworthiness concerning historical people, places, and things should never come into question.

Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Genesis 15:5 (NKJV)

Star struck

God promised Abraham that he would be the forefather of a great nation, but Abraham still needed reassurance. He was an elderly man without any children of his own. Time and circumstances seemed to be against him, and in a moment of heartfelt expression, he shared his dismay and confusion over his situation. "God, it’s been a while, and I’m still waiting for You to keep Your promise!" he prayed. (Genesis 15:2-3)

In that moment, the Lord reaffirmed His promise. Although there was no physical heir at that moment, there would be…and from this heir a host of descendants would be born. As a matter of fact, Abraham’s descendants would be innumerable, just like the stars in the sky, which can’t be counted.

Now, here’s what’s interesting about this last statement about the stars. At the time this was written, and for many years afterward, mankind believed there was a fixed number of stars that could be counted. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who lived 150 years before Christ, believed there were only 1,026 stars in space. Later, the Roman scientist Ptolemy asserted there were 1,056 stars.

All of this data was based on the fact that these were the only stars people could actually see at that time. But as telescopic inventions extended our view farther and farther into the vastness of outer space, we became aware that there are actually more stars than any one person could count. The best estimate we have is that there are 100 septillion stars in the sky…that’s a 1 with 24 zeros after it! It’s a number so huge you can’t possibly count to it.

The Bible declared the stars could not be counted, and for much of human history that seemed like a scientific error. But as man’s science has gotten better, the Bible’s accuracy has only been affirmed…strikingly so!

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great…. Genesis 12:2 (NKJV)

Promised people

This promise had every appearance of being a cruel joke. It was given to a man well past the prime of life. His wife was also well past her child-bearing years, and she had been unable to conceive. As a realist, you’d have to conclude that the ancestral line was going to end with them. So the promise of being the source of a great nation was anything but likely.

But what prevented this promise from being a cruel joke was that God was the One who gave it. Against all natural odds, God was determined to do something through this man and his wife, something that would not only produce a son, but an entire race of people who would be unrivaled in terms of greatness. The couple was Abraham and Sarah, and the people of promise would be the Jewish race.

Now, it needs to be noted that the Jewish people have faced more adversity than any other people group. The world has witnessed wave after wave of persecution and genocide against the children of Abraham – even as recently as the Holocaust in Nazi Germany in the 1940s. And despite the unprecedented attacks against them, the Jewish people have continued to thrive and flourish in unprecedented ways.

Consider the following: Although comprising only 0.02 percent of the world’s population, Jewish men and women won 29 percent of the world’s Nobel Prizes from 1950-2000, despite losing one-third of their total population during the Holocaust. Today, the Jewish nation of Israel has the largest number of start-up companies per capita, is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation, and has more museums per capita than any other nation in the world.

The greatness of the Jewish race is undeniable, and so is the reliability of the record that first foretold of God’s promise to establish and bless them unlike any other group of people the world has ever known.

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. Genesis 9:1 (NKJV)

Tower of power

Immediately following the flood, God told Noah and his sons to repopulate the earth. He wanted the human race reestablished and spread out all over the world. But mankind did the exact opposite. A few generations later, the human race consolidated their collective powers by building an enormous tower.

And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4)

"A tower reaching up to heaven? What’s that all about?" The motivation for creating this structure was to demonstrate the glory of mankind and how they could rival God when they stuck together. It was a form of defiance against the Lord, who wanted the people to disperse.

In response, the Bible tells us the Lord did something to change their dialects so they spoke various languages instead of just one. They began to "babble" in each other’s ears, which is why this structure is now known as the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:7-9). As a result, mankind was limited by a language barrier and could no longer collaborate on a global scale, and language barriers still exist to this day.

But there’s another interesting aspect of this. Historically, there were those who believed this biblical account was merely a legend. Then, in the late 1800s, an ancient stone tablet was uncovered in the Middle East. It was translated by an archeologist named George Smith, who was in the service of the British Museum. It describes the building of an enormous tower and says the structure offended "the gods," who scattered the workers by confusing their speech.

Obviously, this is describing the same event we have here in the Book of Genesis. It’s a powerful testimony to the historical accuracy of God’s Word and how worthy it is of our utmost trust.

“Make yourself an ark…” Genesis 6:14 (NKJV)

Fact not fiction

Let’s face it: The biblical account of Noah’s Ark is an incredible story! God sees the sinfulness of mankind. He decides to send a great flood to purge the earth. He speaks to Noah and tells him to build a boat that will carry his family and all of the animals to safety. It’s an account as epic and enduring as anything!

But for some, it’s hard to embrace the reality of something so amazing. They relegate the Ark to a cute bedtime story or sweet décor for a child’s nursery because, after all, those things couldn’t really be factual. Could they?

It’s interesting that the Bible includes the exact specifications for building the Ark (Genesis 6:15). When we compute the dimensions and proportions of this vessel, we see it would have been shaped like a rectangular box with a width to length ratio of one to six, the same ratio used by many naval vessels today. Not only that, but the Ark would have had the carrying capacity of about 520 railroad cars. So it was very seaworthy, and it was very big!

When we break down the number of required animals on the Ark, we find they would have occupied about sixty percent of the total volume, leaving plenty of room for Noah’s family as well as storage areas. We also read that God told Noah to waterproof the inside as well as the outside of the Ark (Genesis 6:14), and to build it with windows for ventilation and gathering fresh rain water (Genesis 6:16).

The closer we look at the Ark, the more we see how it was based on excellent engineering and practical design. It’s not a far-fetched legend like many of us assume.

When we connect this with the anthropological fact that most ancient cultures such as the Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Hindus, Greeks, Chinese, Brazilians, Peruvians, and even Aboriginal Americans have traditions of a great flood through which a man and his family were preserved, it’s clear Noah’s Ark is rooted in reality. And that’s one more proof of the Bible’s reliability.

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)

It’s elementary!

The Bible is very specific and deliberate in telling us how God created the first human being. Without apology, and in unmistakable terms, Scripture states that the Lord formed man’s physical body out of the dust of the ground.

Just in case we missed it, He goes on to call him "Adam" (Genesis 3:9), which is linguistically linked with the ancient Hebrew word adamah, which means earth or ground. So the scriptures leave absolutely no wiggle room; the prototype for the human race comes from the ground we walk on.

"Ha! See, that’s why I have such a hard time believing the Bible. It’s really hard to get on board with the idea that Adam was created that way. This sounds like something out of a fairytale. If anything, things like this are an argument against taking the Bible as true and trustworthy."

Hold that objection for a moment, and consider the following scientific fact. Every human being on the planet has a body that can be broken down into sixteen basic elements. Those sixteen elements also comprise the earth’s crust – or in biblical terms, "the dust of the earth." So instead of being a far-fetched fable, the biblical account of Adam’s creation is actually scientifically accurate. It tells us the one ingredient God used, and on an elementary level we see that same ingredient embedded in each of our bodies.

We’re dirt! But that’s not an insult. It’s a testimony to why the Bible is worth believing. Long before mankind had any sense of chemistry or physiology, scripture identified where our physical frame ultimately came from. Look at your hand, your foot, your body as a whole, and recognize what it’s made of. Then, be impressed at how the Bible declared it with absolute authority and accuracy.

"He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:14 NKJV)

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)

The way of the world

Perhaps the greatest proof we have of the Bible’s authenticity and reliability is the one we tend to take most for granted: the world around us. "How so?" We need to go back to the beginning of the biblical record, back to when God had just created a perfect paradise populated with two perfect people, Adam and Eve.

Everything was ideal. But God warned Adam and Eve against one thing: partaking from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they did, things would change forever. Death would enter into their condition, at first spiritually and then, over the course of time, physically. Their perfect world would become a perishable world.

According to Genesis 3:6, Adam and Eve did eat the fruit of that free, they did disobey God, they did invite sin into their existence, and they did initiate the process of death and decay. God’s word of warning came to pass, and we still see the evidence everywhere we turn.

Earth isn’t a perfect place. It’s a perishing place. There’s a popular push to portray our world as tracking in a positive direction. The theory of evolution clings to this notion with whitened knuckles. It says Planet Earth is progressively evolving into a better place with better people.

But that’s not true, according to the Law of Entropy. This scientific law, also called the second law of thermodynamics, is one of the most fundamental laws of physics and is universally accepted as true. Put forth by physicist Rudolf Clausius in 1865, it says the natural world tends to devolve from order into disorder. On their own, things generally don’t get better. They become worse. They perish.

This is perfectly consistent with what the Bible stated in the very beginning: Our world is getting worse, not better. So the next time you see an example of earth’s imperfection, let it remind you of the Bible’s perfect presentation of truth.

Naboth…had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 1 Kings 21:1 (NKJV)

Naboth During the reign of King Ahab, an incident took place involving a character named Naboth. Here’s what happened: As Ahab began to survey the area surrounding his palace, he noticed there was a vineyard adjacent to him. Naboth owned this particular plot of land, and the king wanted it in the worst way.

Consumed with covetousness, Ahab pleaded with Naboth to part with his land. He offered to give him another vineyard elsewhere or to pay him for it. Either way, Ahab didn’t care. All he cared about was getting that piece of property for himself. Notice Naboth’s response to the king’s offers:

But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” 1 Kings 21:3 (NKJV)

Naboth didn’t just see his land as a chip for him to cash in on. There was a greater significance and value attached to it that money couldn’t buy. It was inherited from previous generations. His land had been passed down to him from his forefathers and connected him to the past – to another time when God specifically gave that piece of land to Naboth’s descendants. God wanted this. He wanted His people to feel that kind of connection to their property and even made provision in His Law for them to retain their ancestral lands (Leviticus 25:1-55).

Reinforced by his conviction to honor all of this, Naboth refused to sell out to Ahab, who had no regard for the Lord’s ways. Taking a stand like this cost Naboth dearly – it resulted in his death (1 Kings 21:5-16). But it doesn’t change the enduring testimony that he was a man of conviction.

Our world needs people like that. We need people who’ve based their convictions on the will of the Lord and are willing to stand by them regardless of the pressure to sell out. Does that describe you? What are your convictions based on? How deep do they run?

A certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession…he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 5:1-2 (NKJV)

Ananias & Sapphira In the first formative days of the Church’s existence, an amazing phenomenon began to take place. As men and women began to repent of their sin and receive Christ as their Savior, they began to form a unique bond. They saw themselves as part of a family, and willingly decided to share their resources with each other.

This was a beautiful expression of the sacrificial love that Jesus said His followers would have (John 13:35). Everything was trending upward; the church was growing in size and spirituality. And then, something happened – something that God dealt with in a powerful way.

A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira saw how people were selling their possessions and sharing their resources, and they decided to join in – but for all the wrong reasons. They weren’t motivated by love but simply wanted the recognition of being great givers. So they pretended to give everything while hanging onto a portion of their proceeds.

Eventually, they were exposed and struck dead by God (Acts 5:3-10). But it’s important to understand that the Lord didn’t do this because they didn’t give away all of their money. The greater sin on their part was hypocrisy. They were pretending to be something they weren’t. They were pretending to have given away everything when they really hadn’t.

God wasn’t going to let this go unchecked, because He knew how subtle and damaging hypocrisy is. If left to fester, their hypocrisy would infect and cripple the Body of Christ before it could fully mature.

Nothing puts the brakes on the work of God like hypocrisy. It will bring spiritual progress to a screeching halt, as it did in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. Above all else, always be real with God and never pretend to be something you’re not.

Then Saul gave him [David] Michal his daughter as a wife. 1 Samuel 18:27 (NKJV)

Michal Some Bible characters serve as a cautionary tale, and Michal is certainly one of them. She was King Saul’s daughter, and her father arranged for her to be married to David.

When Saul made an attempt to kill David, Michal helped her husband escape (1 Samuel 19:12-13). Throughout the early years of their marriage, Michal seemed to be every bit the loving and loyal wife. And then something happened that completely changed the way she would be remembered.

After David was anointed king and subdued the enemies of Israel, he decided it was time to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the City of Jerusalem. The Ark represented the presence of the Lord and was the most holy and sacred object in all of Israel. In uninhibited joy and adoration, David danced before the Ark wearing a linen ephod, which was the customary attire of the priests (2 Samuel 6:14).

David’s desire for doing this was a pure expression of praise. But Michal watched him from afar and thought he was only making a fool of himself. Afterward, she criticized and mocked David for not acting like a more respectable king. But David reminded her that the Lord is the one who made him king to begin with, and that he wouldn’t back down when it came to expressing his adoration of Him. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that Michal was childless until the day she died (2 Samuel 6:20-23).

Two important lessons emerge from Michal’s life. First, we need to guard against being critical of others as it pertains to how they worship God. We may not identify with the way other people praise the Lord, but it doesn’t mean what they’re doing is wrong just because we don’t “get it.” Second, a critical heart leads to a barren life. When we’re always faultfinding, it has the effect of keeping us empty and fruitless ourselves. As we criticize others, we deprive ourselves.

Learn from Michal’s mistake and guard against being overly critical. It will only leave you lacking in the long run.