Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—March 2023

East Tallassee Church of Christ

March 15, 2 Chronicles 33

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. - 2 Chronicles 33:12-13

I don’t know how many people I’ve talked to through the years of my ministry who doubted they could be saved. They did not see how God could forgive them for the sinful things they’d done. I tried to assure them that the blood of Christ was powerful and effective enough to cleanse any and all sin in the lives of those who come to God through him. I’m sure these people didn’t mean to suggest that even Christ’s perfect sacrifice and atoning blood was insufficient. But that’s the sad conclusion they reached about themselves and the precious blood of Jesus.

I believe the story of Manasseh can help people who struggle with the idea that God would forgive them. Manasseh was born after God added 15 years to his father Hezekiah's life. Manasseh was only a twelve-year-old boy when he became king, and he reigned longer than any other king of Judah. For most of those years, he was a terrible person and a terrible king. He is remembered by most folks as an evil man, and he was evil. He earned that dark reputation. Remember when Jehu boasted to lure all the followers of Baal, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much?” Jehu only said that to lure them to a big meeting where he put them all to death. But Manasseh really did what Jehu only pretended he was going to do. Manasseh served Baal and other idols more than anyone who had come before him. He did evil like the nations the Lord drove out of Canaan. But he even went beyond the Canaanites, doing even worse than they had done.

Manasseh undid all the good his father had done. He restored the altars and idols that Hezekiah had destroyed. He worshiped the host of heaven. He even desecrated the temple Hezekiah had reopened and restored. Manasseh defiled the temple of God, bringing in altars to other gods and sacrificing to them right in the house of the LORD. He was so deep in idolatry that he burned his children alive as sacrifices to the pagan gods. He practiced witchcraft and all the dark arts that God had forbidden. By his powerful influence as the king, he turned the nation of Judah away from God (again) to embrace idolatry more than ever before.

But 2 Chronicles 33 tells us something else that is less known and often goes unsaid about King Manasseh. Late in his life, he repented of the evil he had done and humbled himself before God. After he had been captured by Assyrian forces and taken to Babylon, he turned to God in humility and pleaded with the LORD. God's compassionate heart was moved when he heard the king's plea. The LORD returned Manasseh back to his throne in Jerusalem. There the formerly evil king spent the rest of his life building what he had destroyed and restoring the temple he had desecrated. He commanded his people to return to the LORD, but they continued in idolatry.

If God would hear a sinner like Manasseh and show him mercy, you and I can be assured that the Lord would forgive us. Manasseh is like Paul in the New Testament. The great apostle of Christ reflected on his time as Saul the arch- persecutor of Christians before his conversion. He called himself "the chief of sinners" and said that Christ saved him to display his perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

After his 55-year reign (most of it spent doing evil), Manasseh died and was buried in his own yard, and not with the honored kings of Judah. His influence was strong for evil. He left his

people in idolatry. His own son who succeeded him as king was more influenced by his father's lifetime of evil than by his late repentance. Amon would do all the evil his father had done, and would not repent of his sinful practices.

O dear reader, how we cherish and put all our trust in the amazing grace of God that saves sinners like us. Let's remember that we use our influence most strongly on those closest to us, and not lead them in the wrong way. And when we've done wrong, we need to humble ourselves, turn to God and let his will control us and change our ways.

Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.