Manasseh's Repentance

 

2 Chronicles 33:10-20

 

September 21, 2023

 

Manasseh's Repentance

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to 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 him 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.

 

Church, this is a very clear picture of a man who humbled himself before a holy God.  But my do as Manasseh’s, and the people of Judah?

 

Afterward, he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.  And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.  He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.  Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.  And his prayer, and how God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the Asherim and the images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers. So, Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

 

Have you ever said that a person is not redeemable, My bride has often said Bob as long as they have breath, they are redeemable, and Manasseh is a great example of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and grace.

 

Church, what if we the Church, believe how fond God is of His Church, and that is you, if enter by the right door? Isaiah 62:3, “The Lord will hold you in His hand for all to see a splendid crown in the hand of God.”  What about Psalm 37:5, “Commit your future to the Lord.  Trust in Him, and He will act on your behalf.”  We the Church have been told by many teachers and preachers, that we are dirty rotten sinners, but that is not close to who you are in Christ.  Yes, you are a saint who sins, but it should break your heart when it comes to your mind.  So as a saint, not because of some great act but because God’s Word says you are, be a good neighbor to all, show mercy, for it has been shown to you, and tell God often thinks for His many blessings.

 

From The Back Porch,

Bob Rice