Sin and Its Consequences: A Biblical Timeline

By Donald H. Roy Ph.D.

Well, a book about "sin" might not be too compelling these days given that the subject hardly ever appears in day-to-day conversations--perhaps only in theological settings, and even there, the subject is rather rare these days as well. But one might find this Sin and Its Consequences--A Biblical Timeline a satisfying exception to this commonplace reaction, for it uses the theme as a vehicle to take the reader on a fascinating journey through the entire Bible, from the first sin recorded there and its devastating results to the death of sin and the banishment of its worldly chieftain and his minions. Yes, it does consider most of the sins recorded in the Old and New Testaments and how God dealt with them--this to help explain what Moses meant when he wrote, "The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty" (Numbers 14:18).

That is, the book helps to understand just what the implications of "by no means clearing the guilty" might be and how it is relevant to how we live and think today. The story line follows God's dealings with His images from Adam and Eve to the end-times as recorded by Saint John in his book of Revelation. There is much linking and contextual material, including numerous images and discussion of the geopolitical settings related to the scripture which carries the main story line.

The book deviates from canonical scripture to present in two add-on excursuses the author's views on why God arranged the creation of His first two images, Adam and Eve, just the way He did and on what the fallen world to which they were banished was and is like. Also presented are the author's noncanonical views on what Saint John saw in the seven thunders of chapter 10 of his apocalyptic journal. The views expressed there are the result of many years of thinking about what Saint John might have seen and heard as those thunders sounded and why he was told to "seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down" (Revelation 10:4).

The purpose in addressing this issue is to somehow bring the notion of what God might consider as the most egregious sins of modern times to the reader's mind and, perhaps, compel her or him to think about the subject as well. After all, this business of sin is no small matter. It doesn't have to be morbid either, but Jeremy Taylor expressed it well when he wrote:

No sin is small. It is a sin against an infinite God and may have consequences immeasurable. No grain of sand is small in the mechanism of a watch.

Finally, in addition to all of this, the book is a testimony or witness of the author to his faith as a Christian. To this engineer, the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ is beyond a matter of faith--it is so logical and so beautiful and so like God, that it just must be fact--why, how else could His fallen images be made perfect as he is perfect, righteous as He is righteous, sinless as He is sinless except by the perfection and righteousness and sinlessness of Christ imputed to us by faith and so make the believer a fit citizen of the Kingdom?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9781639859252

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Sinful Doings of Mankind in the Old Testament and How God Dealt with Them

Sin in Paradise—Where It All Went Wrong

Cain Kills Abel

An Evil People—The Great Flood (~2350 BC)

The Tower of Babel (~2250 BC)

The End of Primeval History and Beginning of the Patriarchal History

Sin and Sodom and Gomorrah (~2065 BC)

Israel née Jacob Is Born to Isaac and Rebekah (2050 BC)

Moses Leads the Hebrews Out of Egypt (1450 BC)

The Sin of the People—The Golden Calf

The Sin of Aaron's Sons, Nadab and Abihu

The Sin of the Son of Shelomith

The Sin of Miriam and Aaron

The Sin of the People in the Wilderness of Paran

The Sin of the Man Gathering Sticks on the Sabbath

The Sin of Moses Bringing Forth Water from a Rock

The Sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

The Sin of the People after Leaving Mount Hor

The Sin of the People at Shittim

The Death of Moses (1410 BC)

The Sin of Achan at Jericho

The Death of Joshua (~1390 BC)

The Beginning of the Age of the Judges (1471 BC)

The Sins of Eli's Sons

The Beginning of Israel's Unified Monarchy

Sin of King Saul in Not Utterly Destroying All the Amalekites6 and their Flocks

The Lord Selects the Shepherd Boy, David, to Replace Saul as King over Israel (1010 BC)

The Tragedy at Beth Shemesh and the Sin of David and Uzzah

The Sin of David and Bathsheba—Consequences of Forgiven Sin

King David's Sin in Numbering Israel

The Death of King David—His Son, Solomon, Assumes the Throne (970 BC)

The Sins of King Solomon

The Death of Solomon (930 BC)

A Kingdom Divided—The Unified Monarchy Ends (930 BC)

Rulers and Prophets of Israel and Judah

The Sins of the Kings and of the People of Israel, the Northern Kingdom

The Sin of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel—Naboth's Vineyard

Assyria Becomes the Agent of God's Retributive Justice—The End of Israel (725 BC)

Judgment upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah

The Babylonian Captives Are Permitted to Return to Jerusalem and Rebuild Its Temple and Walls (536 BC)

The Sin of Haman, Chief Minister to the Persian King

Chapter 2: From the Old Testament to the New Testament—Bridges and Pointers

The Governorship of Nehemiah, the Book of Malachi, a New Covenant, and Related Prophecies—A Bridge to the New Testament (460–430 BC)

Old Testament Prophecies of the Coming of the Messiah—The Promise of Sin Debt Paid

The Intertestamental Period—Geopolitical Events Affecting the Holy Land and Wannabe Canonical Writings11 (430–~5 BC)

The Sins of King Nebuchadnezzar and Coregent Belshazzar and Their Consequences as Given in the Book of Daniel

The Fiery Furnace—Chapter 3

The King's Temporary Madness—Chapter 4

The Handwriting on the Wall—Chapter 5

Daniel and the Lion's Den—Chapter 6

Chapter 3: The Death of Sin and the Death of Death—From the Good News of Christ to a New Heaven and a New Earth

The Birth of John the Baptist—The Forerunner

The Foretelling

The Fulfilment (~5 or 6 BC)

The Baptism of Jesus (AD ~27)

The Death of John the Baptist

The Sins of Herod the Great; His Son, Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch; and His Grandson, Herod Agrippa I, King of Judea

Herod the Great

Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch

Herod Agrippa I, King of Judea

The Ministry of Jesus the Christ—The Beginnings

Jesus's Temptation in the Wilderness

The Devil

The Devil in the Gospels

The Devil in the Book of Acts

The Sin of Ananias and His Wife, Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11)

The Devil in the Writings of Saint Paul

The Devil in the Other New Testament Writings

The Devil and Satan in the Apocalypse of Saint John of Patmos

The Devil and the Power of Scripture

The Domain of the Devil

Angels and the Holy Spirit and the Humanity of Jesus

The Ministry of Jesus the Christ—His Teachings about Sin

Jesus Meek and Mild?—Not So Much

Jesus's Take on the Condition of the Heart

Desire births deed. Deed births destiny. Therefore, master desire.

Jesus's Call to a Radical Faith—A Radical Obedience

The Good News

The Little Apocalypse

About Judgment

About Rewards in Heaven

Sin and Its Consequences in The Writings of Saint Paul

Sin and Its Consequences according to Other Writers of the Apostolic Church

Sin and Its Consequences in the Apocalypse of Saint John (AD ~92)

Conclusions—A Final Word

Excursus 1: The World of Adam and Eve after the Fall

The Seed of the Woman

The World to Which Adam and Eve Were Banished37

Excursus 2: The Mysterious Seven Thunders of Chapter 10 of the Apocalypse of Saint John

The First Thunder Sounded

The Second Thunder Sounded

The Third Thunder Sounded

The Fourth Thunder Sounded

The Fifth Thunder Sounded

The Sixth Thunder Sounded

The Seventh Thunder Sounded

About the Author

cover.jpg

Sin and Its Consequences

A Biblical Timeline

Donald H. Roy, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2022 Donald H. Roy, Ph.D.

All rights reserved

First Edition

Unless noted otherwise, scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, at:

http://godweb.org/nrs/index2.htm

Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

This monograph uses several verses from the King James Version Bible (Authorized Version) at: https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/

The King James Version Bible is in the public domain in the United States. (see: https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/king-james-version-kjv-bible)

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2022

ISBN 978-1-63985-924-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88505-645-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63985-925-2 (digital)

Registration Number: TXu 2-310-775

Registration Decision Date: April 09, 2022

Printed in the United States of America

To my wife, Elaine. If it wasn't for her unrelenting encouragement, coaxing, and tangible help, this book would never have seen the light of day. For three years (2018–2020), she stood right with me through radiation, chemo, and immunotherapy treatments; pleural effusion extractions; bronchoscopies; thoracic surgery; tachycardia; pacemaker implant; stroke; and the anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic; and somehow, she got me to finish the manuscript and actually seek publication of it. My goodness, what a blessing she is!

Preface

The writer of this monograph (TWoTM) is a Sunday school teacher. Just as churches and businesses and theaters and schools were shutting down in early spring 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming lesson dealt with the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the destruction of the city and the temple in 586 BC—the lesson was never taught. The thrust of the lesson, however, had to do with recognizing that historical event as the wrath of God poured out on a sin-soaked city:

Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence. (2 Kings 24:20)

It occurred to this teacher that a study of the specific events wherein God invoked consequences for sins of commission and omission in both the Old and New Testaments may reveal new things about God, about how God views and deals with sin, about sin, and about how we are to deal with our own sin nature.¹ We already know that

The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty. (Numbers 14:18)

But I suspect there is much to learn about how God by no means clears the guilty.

So the writer decided to pull a golden thread labeled Sin and Its Consequences through the fabric of the Bible and see what pops up—what scripture is highlighted. This monograph captures the results of that exercise.

It is very important that the reader recognizes that the story is told via scripture. The words added by TWoTM are linking or bridging words that add explanation or clarification or historical context to the main story line. That main story line is conveyed by the scripture, and the reader is encouraged to read every word of it—skipping or glossing over none of it. Besides, it's the Word of God, awesome and beautiful and inspiring and, yes, well, sometimes, a little scary.

Now, the writer fully realizes that the notion of sin comprises little of contemporary everyday conversation. Even when the conversation is deeply personal or weighty philosophically, the rarity of which the word sin is addressed is striking. Josef Pieper explained it this way:²

We don't hear the word sin much anymore. Or so it would seem. At first glance, this observation can easily be verified: an average, ordinary conversation overheard at random will hardly ever mention the term. Of course, no one expects to hear a somber word like ‘sin' when people are just rattling on in their casual, everyday chit-chat. But even when they are engaged in serious discussions about pressing issues of the day, talking earnestly in such high-toned settings as salons, classrooms, or broadcasting studios—where the concept would seem appropriate—no, even here the word sin can find no place… Yet there is one sphere of discourse—religious language—where one does speak of sin without embarrassment, without having to overcome an inner resistance, as if the matter were quite obvious… This is why we so rarely hear the word in ordinary conversation: the word really refers to that place where each human being lives in the innermost cell of his person, a place to which no one else has any access whatever.

Nevertheless, it is the hope of this writer that the reader will not find the subject off-putting and will be willing to embark on what he or she may very well find to be a fascinating journey through the entire Bible from the first sin recorded there and its devastating results to the death of sin and the banishment of its worldly chieftain and his minions.

Now, the reader will soon notice that the definition of sin as a concept or even as a deed has yet to be addressed. This is deliberate on the part of TWoTM, because to set about tackling this issue opens the door to almost another monograph in itself. As a satisfactory definition, one would have to capture somehow its personal and universal scope, the stain it leaves on the perpetrator and the hurt that it inflicts on its victims, and, of course, God's abhorrence of it without scaling or declension. Further, it should give passing reference somehow to the soil in which sin is rooted, i.e., to the source of its initial stirrings, its nourishment, its impetus from which it emerges as a concrete deed; the notion of evil—not natural evil (destructive acts of nature which inflict pain)—but moral evil (abuse of a sentient being inflicted by a human agent capable of discerning right from wrong). Finally, one should make reference at least to the one who claims sovereignty over the domain of evil: that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9). To address the issue rightly, one might even be compelled to address Wesleyan versus Baptist versus Catholic takes on sin and the degree to which man can surmount its debilitating pollution of soul and life. After all, Saint Augustine himself devoted a large portion of his famous handbook³ to explaining why God permits evil to exist, fully aware of the sin that erupts from it:

God's purpose is to bring some great good out of evil; otherwise, he would not bother to sustain evil beings. In fact, God must think it is actually better to bring good out of evil, than not to permit any evil to exist.

Well, reader, it is a heavy load to bear, isn't it? So let's just end this train of thought with a simple definition that at least captures the true essence of sin; for this, we move into the realm of theology where the notion belongs in the first place and turn again to Josef Pieper:⁴

Sin in its reality means a failure that has been committed before a superhuman judging power who longs for reconciliation.

If nothing else, this definition at least puts sin where it belongs: in God's wheelhouse, where the notions of guilt and repentance and atonement and expiation and redemption and forgiveness must reside.

Acknowledgments

The book Sin and Its Consequences, published by the American Unitarian Association in 1854, contains a sermon written by Rev. William E. Channing entitled The Evil of Sin. The opening paragraph of the sermon gives Reverend Channing's purpose in preparing the work:

My aim in this discourse is simple, and may be expressed in a few words. I wish to guard you against thinking lightly of sin. No folly is so monstrous, and yet our exposure to it is great. Breathing an atmosphere tainted with moral evil, seeing and hearing sin in our daily walks, we are in no small danger of overlooking its malignity. This malignity I would set before you with all plainness, believing that the effort which is needed to resist this enemy of our peace is to be called forth by fixing on it our frequent and serious attention.

I should like to invoke the same intent as one of my purposes in preparing the monograph before you.

From: IZQuotes (Permission) at: https://izquotes.com/quote/371383

Not until we clearly see that sin has battered, bruised and driven us to despair will we even begin to admit our need. Not until we grasp that sin has arrested, imprisoned, condemned and killed us will we reach out to Christ for justification and life. Sin is not a joke. We need not be morbid about it, but we should certainly check for it often within ourselves to avoid its deceptive, life-destroying bondage. (From: Rev. John W. Ritenbaugh, What Sin Is and What Sin Does, February 1996, https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/library/article/id/489/what-sin-is-does.html)

The monograph contains a few excerpts from textual internet works and a substantial number of images obtained from various internet sources. Almost all images have been taken from public domain sites (principally from, Wikimedia Commons) or used by permission from the copyright holder or by the purchase of a license agreement. Certain of the textual excerpts and images are claimed to be in the public domain as they meet the standards of the Fair Use provisions of Section 107 of the U. S. Copyright Act:

They are intended for educational purposes and deemed scholarly research. In addition, TWoTM will derive no monetary benefit from its publication. All revenues from sale of the monograph beyond editing, copyright, publication, and distribution costs (should there be any) will remit to:

Amazement Square—The Rightmire Children's Museum

27 Ninth Street

Lynchburg, Virginia 24504

The excerpts and art images and/or photos are from published works or sites which TWoTM believes were intended to be informational versus entertaining in nature. They help to enhance understanding of the related textual material and scripture.

The excerpts and art images and/or photos comprise a very small portion and not the heart of the copyrighted material. The one exception to this is found in the first excursus, The World of Adam and Eve after the Fall. The copyrighters of the material excerpted there, however, permit its use in other writings as long as it references the originating site.

The potential market for and value of the excerpts and art images and/or photos is in no way diminished by use in this monograph. In fact, it may actually enhance its value by relating it to scriptural material.

TWoTM would like to thank his editor, Mrs. Eileen Lass (thelassword.com), for her excellent professional work in proofreading and editing this manuscript. If proper spelling, consistency in formatting, proper grammar, and clarity of word choice has helped to make this work more compelling and apprehensible, then she is responsible for achieving these desirable ends.

Finally, TWoTM commends his literary agent, Suzanne McQuane of Fulton Books, for her perseverance in reaching out to me to acquaint me with the notion that my manuscript may be worthy of publishing and with the services offered by Fulton Books. And he thanks Jason Fredericks, his publication assistant at Fulton Books, for managing the publication process. It is a long journey to turn a raw manuscript into a finished book in several forms, and he guided TWoTM every step of the way with good judgment, patience, and competence. If this book has in any way been educational or entertaining or inspiring or led anyone to a healthy new perspective on the subject, then Suzanne and Jason are the ones to thank.

Chapter 1

Sinful Doings of Mankind in the Old Testament and How God Dealt with Them

A study to help understand what God found to be sinful in the doings of His images from creation to the beginning of the Silent Years following the book of Malachi, and what He considered appropriate penalty for such sin, including its timing and severity.

A study to help understand how the nature of sin changed and how God dealt with it as time flowed from creation to the beginning of the Silent Years.

Jacob Jordaens, Adam and Eve, 1640s (Public Domain) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jordaens_Adam_and_Eve.jpg

A study to help understand our own sinful nature, and how to deal with it.

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

The story begins in ~4000 BC.

Sin in Paradise—Where It All Went Wrong

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 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 die. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.