2 Kings 21 Bible Study (Manasseh & Amon Reign in Judah/Manasseh's Idolatry) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Father, we ask that if any of us have not been satisfied with your love, that you would use this bible study to awaken affection in each of our hearts toward Christ. And, Lord, we pray that we would be convinced of how sure your compassion is for each of us, especially as we come to this chapter in this book. And Lord, lastly, we pray that every truth that is explored and explained would not just merely be filed in our minds, it would be adorned in our conduct. That we would, as Titus tells us, to adorn the doctrine of God so that the world may witness how beautiful this gospel is, how precious your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, truly is. So even now, Lord, we submit every faculty of our being.

We ask, Lord, that you would protect the transmission of truth, that any scheme of Satan that would try to interfere would be canceled, That you would help us overcome any sin, any unbelief, anything of the flesh that would obstruct the promises of God flourishing in our lives. And so Lord, even in the delivery of this message, in this time of expounding, help. May Christ alone be seen. May He alone be heard, and may He alone be adored. We ask these things in His living name, the matchless name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. As we are approaching the end of the book of second Kings, I was curious to know how many kings we have left to study. Well, in the final five chapters of the book of second Kings, there are a total of seven monarchs to explore together in this book. Now that may seem like quite a bit considering the pace of our study on Friday nights, but not all of these rulers receive equal real estate. Two out of the seven are given significantly more attention than the others.

The first is Manasseh, who is the son of Hezekiah. The second is Josiah, one of the most prominent reformers in the Kingdom Of Judah. And as we come to second Kings 21, King Manasseh will be the focus of our study this evening. And as we turn there, we might expect that this young man will continue leading God's people on the path of faithfulness as he receives the baton from his righteous father, Hezekiah. Tragically, we are going to learn instead that one of the greatest spiritual leaders in Judah's history fathered the most wicked man in Judah's history, Manasseh.

That claim is a conjecture. By the way, that is exactly what the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, says about this man, Manasseh, in the very chapter we are going to delve into together. And as difficult as it may be to learn about someone who went in the complete opposite direction of such an inspirational man like Hezekiah, there is much to glean from this man's life. He is infamous. Yes.

He is problematic, but he has been placed in our bibles for our upbuilding, for our encouragement. And as we come again to this chapter, realize that in verse one alone, there is a meal for our meditation. Let's start by looking at three things from the introduction of this chapter by looking at some details. Are you there with me? Second Kings 21 verse one and verse two.

Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hezepah, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. Three things I wanna point out. Number one, let's consider Manasseh's age. 12 years old.

12 years old occupying the most powerful seat in Judah. Now, we've studied enough of the book of Kings to not be so surprised that such a young man, a child really, has been elevated to such a position. But when we connect Manasseh to his father, this this little instruction here, this little detail should be a special interest to us. Remember that Hezekiah was supposed to die in his thirties, but he was granted how many more years to live? Fifteen.

Fifteen years to live. Manasseh was 12 years old. Implying what? That he was born a few years after Hezekiah was miraculously healed, after he was delivered from this deadly disease, which helps us understand a second observation. The name of this new king, Manasseh.

We've seen this name before in our study of the Old Testament. And it made me wonder if Hezekiah named his son Manasseh for a similar reason why Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh. Because in Genesis forty one fifty one, Joseph said in calling his name Manasseh, I will do so because God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. The name Manasseh means making to forget. And I wonder again if Hezekiah did something similar because of the joy that Manasseh brought to his life, offering a similar relief from his own pain that he had to endure.

And more than that, the reward, the sense of reward that he would not die without a direct descendant. Could it be that that was one of the reasons why he lamented on that bed as he turned his face to the wall, knowing that there wouldn't be continuation from his line. Some would say so. But, oh, it made me think. If Hezekiah would have prayed differently, if he had just got a glimpse of the trouble and the harm that Manasseh would bring to the people of God?

We can't say for certain. However, as dark as Manasseh's story is, he will be a powerful example of the New Testament truth that wherever sin abounds, grace abounds more. Thirdly, another thing to consider. This is all just from verse one. His administration.

More specifically, the duration of it. How long did he reign for? Fifty five years. That is the longest reign in Judah's history and it was a record held by the most vile man. Why?

How can it be? I mean, you compare with David, you compare with Hezekiah even and you wonder, how is it that the Lord allowed such an individual to remain in such a position of power and polluting his people for this many years? We're not told. But it is a strong reminder that life and a long life is not always a sign of God's approval of how one lives, is it? Let me add this, it's not law it's not how long you live, but how you live that matters.

It's not the quantity. It's not the number of your years, but how those years are lived. Hezekiah did mourn his twenty nine years of governance than Manasseh would do in nearly twice that time. And when it comes to Manasseh, the only details that we are granted about his reign are the evil crimes that he committed. That's really a large portion of this chapter, all the hideous things that this man performed in that length of time.

And it would do us good to briefly look at some of these things because it will help us. It will it will really make an impact on our study's conclusion. So I I believe that there are at least five categories, five indictments to Manasseh's evil in the verses that we have not read yet. And so let's do this. Let's read these slowly and consider just how heinous and deplorable and twisted Manasseh was.

Look at verse three. For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. Highlight the first part. He rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed. Now remember, up to this point, Hezekiah was the only king who had the boldness, the courage, the love for God to dismantle and remove these stations of sacrifice that took the people away from the central place of worship where God's name was supposed to be called alone, and his son reintroduced them.

And there are those who, I think through this, there's a wonderful lesson for those who would question the legitimacy of reformation or a move of God like a revival by pointing out the absence of lasting impact as supposed evidence. And if you're one of those skeptics who would rethink if something was genuine, if it was really something of the Holy Spirit, because long term it doesn't seem to have produced righteousness and and fruit, remember this. It would be unfair to discount how God used Hezekiah to bring spiritual reform to the kingdom. It's possible for one generation to undo the work that the godly have done in past years. That's entirely possible.

And it doesn't discredit what God has done before. That could be true in a local church, in an institution, in a city, in a denomination. What we find here is that Manasseh's first egregious crime was that he reversed his father's reforms. And more than that, he resurrects Baal worship. And the adoration of Asherah, like the days of Ahab.

And beyond that, he institutes astral worship. What does it say here at the end of verse three? That he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. So he ascribes divine titles to stars and planets. And he actually invites people also to sacrifice and revere them.

And this is something that the Lord specifically prohibits in Deuteronomy 17 verse three. That the people of God were not to look at the sun and the moon and all the other celestial things and ascribe divinity to them and worship them. So this is the first thing that he does. He he reverses what Hezekiah reformed. Secondly, look at verse four.

And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, in Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. The severity of this trespass is not just in the fact that he builds these false altars, it's the location of these altars, where he placed them. Where was it? In the house of the Lord.

The very place where God had consecrated to be about him and him alone. And so what we see here with Manasseh is that he had total disregard for the sacredness of the house of God. He could care less about how holy it was. He could care less about what God asked of those parameters and those materials and what was to take place in terms of activity. And the sense that you get already is that there is a progression here going on of escalating defiance.

It it starts here with the high places, these external areas where the people of Israel could conveniently worship, not just conveniently worship the true God, but other gods. And now we're moving into the very heart of worship. The place that God said he would meet with his people is being defamed. It's as though Manasseh has no problem defying God to his face. And this evil is emphasized.

It's highlighted as it is repeated in verse seven. Scroll down to verse seven. And the carved image of Asherah that he had made, he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. This is blasphemy. This is gross.

So not only does he place altars, he places an image of a demonic God in the very courts of God. There's an erasure here of God's presence and his exclusivity, his beauty, his glory. At at best, if you can say that, he he's he's being placed with these gods, which is just a horrible thing to even say. At worst, it's Manasseh here trying to remove God altogether from the scene. So the second thing that he does here is that he desecrates the temple of God.

Thirdly, this is gonna be familiar to us, unfortunately. Look at verse six. And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. Manasseh sacrificed his children, and you get the impression that this man is highly motivated to honor virtually everything except the true and living God.

He revives Baal and Asher worship. He promotes the adoration of astrology, and now he stokes the fire of Molech worship. In second Chronicles 33 verse six, a parallel account, we're told here that he actually sacrificed his sons, plural. So not just one son, but many of his sons and our hearts should absolutely shatter as we are witnessing a descendant of David committing such bloodshed and having this tampering, this defiling of the royal dynasty. There's something special about the seed of David as we know and here's Manasseh carelessly, murderously in a deplorable manner, bringing this line to near extinction.

This wickedness is jaw dropping. There's there's a reason why we're feeling this build up in our righteous indignation. That's what the author is intending here and there's still more. Number four, we read in the same verse. He engaged heavily in witchcraft.

We've seen very little of this in the history of Israel's kings and Judah's kings. The closest thing to this is I believe Saul, when he appealed to a witch to give him some kind of consolation and direction as he was at war with a foreign enemy. But that's not what we see with Manasseh. We find Manasseh here instituting satanic worship. Leviticus nineteen twenty six forbids this, forbids the telling of fortune and the interpretation of omens, a law that Manasseh freely disobeyed.

Let me just make a side note here because you'd be surprised to know how many people who claim that the Bible is their compass, like to check their horoscopes from time to time, like to dabble with tarot cards, make a few phone calls to people who claim to predict the future. You are dabbling in the demonic. And this is something that not only the Old Testament condemns, but it's found in the New Testament as well. You don't need anything else except God, His word, and His precious spirit in your life. Beware of what seems to be harmless and widely accepted.

I know of people who have opened up torment in their lives because they thought that they can innocently entertain things that are clearly satanic. Just a side note. Number five. This is really a summary of Manasseh's devilish habits. Verse seven and verse eight.

And the carved image of Asherah that he had made, he said in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. Now highlight the first part of verse nine, but they did not listen. And Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. But they did not listen.

Number five, the pinnacle really of the problem here is that he had completely ignored God's word. It moves me here to discover that what the Lord said to David and Solomon, that's what we read in verse seven and verse eight. Right? That what he had said to David and to Solomon his son was something meant for Manasseh and the people of Israel in his day. That's just another proof text to confirm that although the Bible was not written to us, it was indeed written what?

For us. For us. That's how we should approach the text. That's how we should approach the oracles of God. You know, many people find it very frustrating to enjoy reading and studying the Scriptures personally and individually.

And one of my first go to instructions for any person is to firmly establish in your thinking that I am coming to the Bible. Yes, to study it as objective truth, but to receive it on a personal level. What is God saying to me? What is he saying to me? Not so you can find some promise to fulfill your dream, not necessarily so.

What is he saying to me about himself? What is he saying to me about man? What is he saying to me about myself? If I'm in him, if I walk away from him, what is he saying? You gotta personalize it.

This is his voice for you, though in its immediate context, it was two others. The Lord spoke something to David and Solomon and it was supposed to be received by Manasseh and his generation, and they totally disregarded it. And it's really a wonderful comment to wrap up all that Manasseh did in terms of the evil that he committed. They did not listen. Please don't forget this.

Many evils can be committed when a person no longer is moved by the promises in God's word and the warnings in God's word. That's what we find in verse seven and verse eight, do we not? Where's the promise? Look back at verse seven or verse eight more specifically. I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers.

That's a promise. You're permanently here. I will not let any outside force, I will not let any kind of power displace you. I will keep you here forever. And the warning follows, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them.

They did not listen. There's even a greater danger when we find ourselves unfazed by a messenger of God who reminds us urgently and passionately about the Word of God. So here we're told here that they did not listen to the written word. Right? But in the parallel account, there's an added detail.

So here what it says in second Chronicles 33 verse 10. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. So in second Kings, I believe the emphasis is on the the Word of God, the written Word of God because there's a quotation. But in second Chronicles, I believe it's the prophetic voice of God that is ultimately meant to point the people back to the Word of God. Brother and sister, if you consistently find yourself unmoved when the word of God is open and when it is heralded and when it is explained in the spirit, be on alert.

Be aware that you are in a perilous position, that your soul is in danger. Becoming dull of hearing is a symptom of a dull soul. And that's precisely what we find here. They had no personal engagement or reverence for the word of God and even when it was presented through fiery lips, they paid no attention. Dangerous.

And in case we're not convinced of the monstrous and horrific sins that this man committed, the Lord provides a summary, I guess, you can say, through his prophets in the next part of second Kings 21 as they pronounce judgment on Manasseh and his people. Look at verse 10 of second Kings 21. If you haven't noticed, we're we're going through this entire chapter. Usually, we're slower with our bible study, but I believe it will be more beneficial to zoom out and consider the whole story to know greater impact. Look at verse 10.

And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all the Amorites did who were before him and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who fears of it, or hears of it rather, will tingle. You have studied kings enough to know that whenever there is a wicked ruler who emerges, he's usually compared to a previous wicked king, either in recent or far distant memory. So it'll read something like, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord as such and such. Remember this? It's a pattern in the book of kings, both first and second kings.

But when it comes to Manasseh, there is no comparison to a previous king in Judah. There isn't even a comparison with a wicked notorious king in Israel, the Northern Kingdom. Who is he compared to? The inhabitants of the land of Canaan before the people of Israel came in to take over. The Amorites, one of the several nations that populated the promised land before they were expelled.

And not only is Manasseh compared to the Amorites, we're told that he did worse than them. Feel it. What was this man doing to actually outshine the evil of those that God had to vomit out of this piece of real estate? And this is intentional, obviously led by the spirit, but the careful student of the Bible is supposed to follow this up with a question. Well, if God expelled the Amorites among other Canaanites from the land for their evil, what is he going to do with the kingdom of Judah?

Exactly. That's the point. We're supposed to realize exile has to be on the way. God must if he has just deal with this people accordingly, and he will. He's about to do that.

And in the same way that the Lord waited for the iniquity of the Amorites to reach its full measure, remember that the Lord said that to Abraham in Genesis 15? He has been doing the same with his own people, and we have now reached the brim of his patience. So he says, I'm gonna do three things. We read one of them in verse 12. Let's look at it again.

Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. In other words, the news of this manifestation of my divine chastisement will be so severe and so shocking that it will be like an alarm in people's ears. What's interesting is that this picture of the ears tingling appears in other places in the bible always connected to a pronouncement of judgment. Jeremiah was called to preach a message that would cause people's ears to tingle. Samuel, when he was just starting out in ministry, would also have that same responsibility.

And I believe there's a wonderful contrast between being faithful with God's word, even if it is a a hard word to to give and receive, with what Paul told Timothy about many false teachers who will do what? They will try to scratch itching ears. A faithful messenger of God will speak the word of God even if it causes ears to tingle. And a false teacher will seek to always scratch what people want to hear. Manasseh and his people can expect to hear something that will cause them to not even believe what their ears are hearing.

That's the first thing. What's the second thing? Look at verse 13. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. There are two other things here.

The first one is he's gonna stretch over Jerusalem, these measuring tapes and lines. Now, here's what's interesting. These tools are used to actually build when you wanna construct something. And there's a reversal here. I'm actually gonna use this to destroy.

What are we supposed to make of this? That God's judgments are precise. They are faithful. They are reliable. They're never exaggerated.

They're never never out of, uncalculated anger or frustration. No, no. He knows exactly what to give to those who have broken his law. I'm going to destroy precisely On the basis of what you have done, I will give to you the judgment that deserves, that it deserves. And lastly, I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside upside down.

Meaning what? This land here that signifies the plate, I'm gonna remove all the citizens from it. All of you that have lived here and have enjoyed this land, you will be cleansed from this place. And that's clarified in the very next verse. I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger anger since the days of their fathers coming out of Egypt even to this day.

Do you see that? How the Lord has been waiting for the sins of his people to reach a certain extent before he executes judgment. So how does Manasseh respond? This is what the prophets are saying now. Judgment is on its way.

You've been found wanting, and here's what we read in verse 16. Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood. And if you consider the context, I believe what this also means is that he killed some of these prophets till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another. Besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. This guy is hopeless, if you're honest.

Right? You read this, you think there's no way. The fact that he ruled and reigned for fifty five years should disturb us. And really, I'm not going to read it, but if you look at verse 17, it just ends the way most kings end. It just gives a summation of his rule.

It's just his obituary and we're told that he slept with his fathers and we move on to the next king. It's one of the most disturbing portraits of any ruler in the Bible. But that's not really how it ends. So if you remember studying Hezekiah last week, then you'll recall that he did not die in his pride, but that the Holy Spirit gives us a different vantage point in second Chronicles where we realize that he did eventually humble himself. And in like manner, second Chronicles tells us how Manasseh actually died.

And I like to think that although this man shut his eyes to the righteous example of his father, he did remember how he ended his last fifteen years of life. And he also humbly repented. This is why in a way, I've been speeding up in this chapter because I want us to really focus on how this man turned around. So let's go to second Chronicles briefly. And I want you to see what the Bible says about him.

Second Chronicles 33. I find it a little ironic that Manasseh's name means making to forget because his actions suggest that he did not take one thing to heart about his father's instruction and example. Assuming that Hezekiah kept his promise after he was healed. Remember that there was a chapter in Isaiah where we have we have a look into his journal entry once he was restored to complete health. One of the things that he said was in Isaiah thirty eight nineteen.

The living, the living, he says, thank you. As I do this day, the father makes known to the children your faithfulness. So we have every reason to believe that though Manasseh was a young child when his father died, he was old enough to understand what it means to worship the true God. What God has done for his father, for God's people throughout history, in recent history. So that makes you wonder, how is he so faithless?

My mind went straight to something that you see repeated in the book of Proverbs. Where there's this appeal that the framework of the book of Proverbs is a father speaking to his son. And right at the opening of Proverbs, we read in Proverbs one eight, my son do not forsake your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching. Implying that it's possible for you to do so, to ignore what you've heard, to despise what you have been instructed about. You know, it was Spurgeon who said, now it is a notorious fact that men who do go wrong after a good training are the worst men in the world.

That may seem harsh, but there is some truth to that. Men who have received good, righteous, holy training and still live in a manner as Manasseh lived, in complete defiance to the truths that they've been granted for guidance in life are oftentimes the worst. And this is a reality that you and I are gonna revisit in this Sunday. Receiving illumination does not guarantee transformation. Each of us is responsible for the revelation that we receive in this life.

And the level of light that we are granted will determine the accountability we will have for the truth that has been provided oftentimes through our parents. And that's what we find here that this man, as Spurgeon said, demonstrated a behavior that is unspeakable, and yet it was not in vain. Something happens to this man. Something so remarkable, and it's found there in second Chronicles 33. Look at verse 10.

Chronicles is not too far from second Kings, as you know. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore, the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound them with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Here's what's so fascinating about this. I think there are at least three observations we can make. And I don't wanna make too many so that we lose track of the main point of the study, but I want you to first consider the sovereignty of God. Look again at verse 11.

Therefore, the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. Look at that phrase, brought upon them. Who did? The Lord. Scroll down to verse 13, the middle of it.

God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem. Who's orchestrating all of this? It's God. God is the one who removed the protective layers for the people of the Syria to come in and to ransack the place and to confiscate Manasseh and others. And God was the one at the right time that had Manasseh return to his home.

And we're supposed to move be moved by the absolute power and authority of our God, that although he is shifting nations, he at the same time is using that to give one particular man a final chance to repent before it's too late. So understand that the ways of God are not just all powerful, they're incredibly wise. And God can accomplish many things at the same time beyond your knowledge and mine. We are often fixated on one or two dimensions. And the Lord here is doing multiple things.

And consider that for your own life, that you think one thing is happening, one thing is being accomplished, when in fact there are thousands of assignments being fulfilled. I wonder what the people of this time on the world scale were thinking as Assyria was moving in, as Babylon was now also growing in their power. All these things are taking place and yet what's in view here is one particular man in the state of his soul. This is remarkable. The sovereignty of God in one person's life, even though he's moving the world to get his attention.

But as I mentioned consider secondly the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God in divinely ordained affliction. Divinely ordained affliction has a way of awakening the conscience even in the most calloused of men. When sermons bounce off of hearts, the sharpness of suffering has a way of cutting through it. When he came to the word of the Lord, didn't listen.

When it came to the prophets of the Lord, he paid no attention. When it came to hooks in his flesh and the heavy shackles around his shoulders and tying around his ankles and keeping his wrists together, that's when he began to think seriously about his sin and about the grace of God. The wisdom of God. That's what it took for Manasseh to be dragged out of his home and to be placed in a foreign dungeon before he even considered the goodness of God, the power of God, the love of God, the forgiveness of God. And don't miss this important point.

Look back at this here in verse 12, in the middle of it, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. That's so specific. The God of his fathers. The God that he heard his dad Hezekiah talking about. It it it came to mind here, Not in Jerusalem, not when he had unrestrained power, not when he was unhinged, the final moments of his life.

What he heard from his father came to him. Don't be discouraged because of the lack of fruit in your evangelism or the lack of fruit in your discipleship. Even if it's your your children, you're not seeing the maturity that you wanna see, you're not seeing the zeal you wanna see. I won't name the brother, but last Sunday we had a few membership interviews. And with every membership interview, we ask people to give a synopsis of their story.

And this precious brother had mentioned that another brother from this church, a few years ago, had handed him a nice Bible when he was totally lost. And he put this Bible away, and he didn't look at that Bible for three years. And in that Bible was a handwritten note, contact information, if he ever had any questions. And when he was at the lowest of the low, he fetched for that Bible. He wiped the dust off of it.

He opened it up. He went to the gospel of Matthew. He found that contact card. He came to this church and he got saved. Yes?

Three years. That seed was dormant for three years. You never know. Manasseh, what did he do? He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

Lastly, the mercy of God. He prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea. Now if we read Manasseh's story and restoration and isolation, it's still moving. But when you remember that we're witnessing Hezekiah's son repenting, that is even more incredible. Because the same God who heard the desperate faith of a man who was encircled by a foreign enemy known as Assyria, and who saw the tears of the same man who in his weakness turned to the wall to get some privacy and whispered a prayer is the very same god who swiftly heard the prayer of a miserable man like Manasseh.

How many times in studying Hezekiah's life we've seen how God saw him and heard him in that state of prayer, and he is no different with someone like this. How quick he is to respond to repentance. How eager he is to restore the repentant. It says that he was moved by his entreaty. What about all the things that he did in second Kings 21?

So great and so fierce is the mercy of God. He didn't keep Manasseh in that penalty box for a few more years. He immediately responded the moment he humbled himself. That's why we can freely tell sinners at a meeting like this, or when you're evangelizing on the streets, that if you were to confess Christ now, in that moment, if it's in genuine repentance and faith, you can be justified. A lot of Christians who believe in the power of the gospel are skeptical of that.

And I understand we have to be careful, we have to be slow, and we have to examine fruit, but don't ever for a moment think that God is not willing to, in a second, erase someone's record of sin. Such is the power, the depth, the royalty of that precious blood that flowed. So honorable in the sight of God that whenever anybody appeals to it, God will honor it because of that sacrifice. It's not so much the sinner. Yes, although he loves sinners, it's the price that was paid for sinners.

If we consider the power of the new covenant that makes forgiveness even more fierce than what we see here. There's an interesting sentence at the end of verse 13. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. What do you mean he knew that the Lord was God? I thought he called out to the God of his fathers.

Didn't he know exactly who he was speaking to? How was it that after he returned to Jerusalem, oh, he realized, oh, okay. Now I know that you're God. The word know here is not some intellectual ascent. It's not some knowledge, understanding, information that was deposited in his brain necessarily.

It's an experiential knowledge. So the way to properly understand this is that after Manasseh had repented, after the Lord showered grace upon him, there is this experience of God that he knew. There's so much that can be said. I mean, a whole sermon can be preached on that verse alone, the end of that verse. But I'll just say this.

It is not accidental that Manasseh knew the Lord in a real and personal way after he truly repented. There are many people who are frustrated in the reality of God, of the reality of God in their lives. And they almost approach God making himself known to them in an arrogant way, in a way that tests him. May I suggest to you that what the Lord is waiting for you before he manifests himself is for you to be sick and tired of your sin, and to truly repent. Wholeheartedly repent.

So I've said this before. I don't wanna be redundant, but hopefully it helps. Somebody who grew up in a Christian home like myself, I responded to I've been to meetings where they had alter calls. I probably responded to 18 of them. Sometimes there were messages that were more inclined to be encouraging.

Other times, they were more inclined to be fearful. Then no matter how it was packaged, whenever an invitation went out, I just wanna make sure that, you know, if you're giving an invitation, the more times I can say yes, the better chances I believe I have of being accepted. So, yeah, sign me up. You want me to walk up front? No problem.

It means I go to heaven. I'll walk up front as many times as you want me to walk up front. Never born again. Never truly transformed. Never truly walking in the way that Jesus says you're supposed to walk if you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you even have the Holy Spirit, if you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, there is not a trace of that in my life up to the age of 20. And when I really was born again, at some point, I thought to myself, why did it take me calling out to God in a basement apartment in the second year of my college education for me to really know what it means to be born again? And it came to me. All those other times leading up to that point, I really still wanted the world. I wanted Christ, but down deep inside, I felt like church and Christian upbringing held me back from something that others were enjoying.

And so I I want that. I'll take Christ if you if you're offering him, but I also wanna indulge. I also wanna explore. And as long as my repentance was half hearted, I never really knew God. You will never really know God.

Even if you give him 99% of your heart, you'll not really know him. So is there any more proof of this kind of a thing? Yes. My mind went to a passage in Acts three nineteen and twenty, where Peter told those Jews, after miraculous healing of a man who was lame for many years, Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And he ends it by saying, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.

There are three things that are attached to three rewards, if you will, that are connected to repentance, To turn from your sin completely. One is that your sins will be blotted out. And the word there is so intense, it actually means for for a removal of ink from parchment. Like a deleting of record, as permanent as it may seem. Secondly, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

And more people would connect this with the third one in speaking about the promise of the messianic rule and reign, especially because Peter speaking to a Jewish audience as though to say, Israel, the sooner you repent and recognize your messiah, the sooner he will come and bring what he promised, one that will greatly outshine all the things that you've known in your history that is dependent upon your repentance, which I think is true largely. But I believe there's a personal application with the second point here. That there is a genuine satisfaction, cleansing, wholeness that is known only through the canal of repentance. So when does the presence of the Lord manifest? After you repent.

After you truly repent. Well, more can be said about that, but allow me to come to the last portion of second Kings 21 as we close together. So Manasseh, like his father, ended well. That's glorious. But then we have this little snippet about Manasseh's son.

And I'm gonna read it in one sitting here, and then just make a couple of brief observations that are connected to this man, Manasseh. Amen was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. Two years, Fifty five years? Two years? Wow.

His mother's name was Meshulamath, the daughter of Haruz of Joppa. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh, his father, had done. He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. And the servants of Ammon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house.

But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against king Ammon, and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his place. Now the rest of the acts of Ammon that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And he was buried in his tomb in the Garden Of Uzzah, and Josiah his son reigned in his place. It's even more specific in its explanation in second chronicles 33, but we won't turn there. All I wanna all I wanna say is, how is it that if Manasseh had such a radical repentance?

And what's beautiful is, on your own time, look at the rest of second Chronicles 33 and you'll realize just how true Manasseh's repentance was. He goes back to Jerusalem and he brings reform. Because repentance actually has fruit with it. It's it's amazing what he does with the little time that he has left. He did great damage, but he tried to undo his own wrongs.

But you know what he couldn't undo? His son. His son having a real faith, real walk with God, even after Manasseh repents. As hopeful as this Bible said, I hope has been to you, we have to be honest with how the scripture presents this situation. Repentance cancels guilt.

But oftentimes, it does not cancel ripple effects. Does not always reverse consequences. And that's what we find here. Your compromise in mind, especially if we are leaders in any capacity, can have lasting consequences. And so powerful are decisions to sin, especially in prolonged seasons of sin, that even though we may recover, those that we are affiliated with may not river ever recover.

So Manasseh is able to turn around, come to the Lord, and die in faith. His son was so influenced by his sin that he could never escape it for himself. Why do I bring this point up to you? Because as much as we want to enjoy and relish in the grace of God and it's always available to us, That should never ever for a moment encourage you to entertain sin with the hope that I'm gonna be forgiven and God is waiting to restore me. Yeah.

He may restore you, but you have no idea what kind of impact you'll leave on other people. I'll give you another example of this in case you're not convinced. So early in the story of Abraham, there's a famine in the land, and Abraham goes to a completely different place, the land of Gerar. In one instance, before that, he actually goes to Egypt. Now when he goes to Egypt, he lies and he gets into all this mess and all this compromise, and that's in Genesis 12.

But when you go to Genesis 13, we read there that he goes back to the altar that he built at first. So he he is restored to his worship and his love for God. And he's walking in the light again. Who went down to Egypt with him? It wasn't just his wife, his nephew, Lot.

Read the rest of Genesis 13. What you'll find is Abraham is restored in his fellowship with the Lord. Lot never recovers what he's seen and experienced in Egypt. Read it carefully. Their resources were so overwhelming both for Abraham and Lot that they had to split ways, and Abraham gives Lot the decision to make whatever direction his place of abode, his home, his new his new future.

And he looks towards Sodom. And the Holy Spirit is so specific in saying what it looked like to Lot. And one of the descriptions is it looked like the land of what? Egypt. So Abraham who led his family into Egypt to begin with was able to be restored, but Egypt never left Lot.

Fathers, older brothers, husbands, pastors, even mothers. Be careful the decisions that you make because there are others who are watching you. There are others you may be exposing your sin to. And, yes, God could, at a moment's notice, change the direction of your life. But who's to say that will be the same for those that you led in the wrong path?

So there should be at the same time this overwhelming sense of joy and delight and rest in knowing the grace of God, but also a fear. A holy fear, not a legalistic fear, but a genuine fear of the Lord to say, I know I'm not perfect. I know I'll never be perfect until the Lord glorifies his body. But with a story like this, oh, Lord, give me the ability to shun all sin, to reject it, to repel it, to deny it. Because sin is so cancerous, it never stays with us, does it?

He's able to contaminate people around us. And Manessa's story, although a gloriously hopeful one, is a sobering one to remind us that we may hate sin and love righteousness all the more. Let's pray and ask God to help us. Father, even if there be, a Manasseh type listening to this study today, we pray that you would break through any walls, any layers of iniquity that have made them insensitive to your conviction. Lord, before suffering may be their portion, we ask that you would use this Bible study to soothe them and to persuade them, to see repentance as a gift and something that you are willing to respond to immediately.

And, Lord, we do pray also for those who are walking in repentance. Perhaps being tempted to do something, thinking that it will be contained to ourselves, that even if there are consequences, it would just be for us, and we can manage them. Lord, destroy all deception. And help us to live as faithfully as possible so that we would inspire others to love you and not deny you or be deceived the way we might have been deceived. So, Lord, we pray that from now until the end, the fragrance of Jesus Christ would rest on us, And that our lives would be salt so that people would thirst and want living water.

Lord, tonight we rejoice in You and we thank You that You have placed this in our Bibles so that we can see just how splendid and glorious You are. Thank You that You've allowed grace to be the means to energize us to be godly. Lord, we give You all praise and honor tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. The praise team will come in a moment, but listen, don't rush.

If you wanna stand, you can stand. If you wanna remain seated and just pour your heart out before the Lord, you can do that as well. If you need to repent, repent that times of refreshing may come into your life. But let's just respond to this study and trust that the Lord hears us. If he was willing to hear a man like Manessa, how much more us who are in Christ?