An Unlikely Conversion

2 Chronicles 33, “An Unlikely Conversion”

If we had to name the most dramatic, unlikely conversion in the Bible, many of us would likely say the Apostle Paul. And for good reason: when he was known as Saul of Tarsus, he was about as antichristian as he could be. Although he had a zeal for the Bible and what he believed he knew about God, Saul of Tarsus persecuted Christians unto death. He pursued men and women long distances to drag them back to Jerusalem for judgment. His name was known and feared among the church. And yet, by the grace of God, Jesus had mercy upon him when personally appearing to him while on the road to Damascus, calling him to Christian faith and ministry. The last person anyone expected to be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus was Saul of Tarsus, but it happened.

That is the New Testament. But we might point to another example in the Old Testament. There too exists the story of an unlikely conversion. There we find a man who was the least likely among men to seek God in true faith…but it happened. His name was Manasseh, and his story (like that of his unrepentant son) is found in 2 Chronicles 33.

Time was getting short for the southern kingdom of Judah. The nation was barely 100 years away from what would become their Babylonian captivity. The kingdom had begun four centuries earlier as the unified kingdom of Israel, had split into north and south a century later, leaving a succession of Davidic kings sitting on the throne in Jerusalem for ~360 years.

They had not all been good kings, but the latest was one of the best. Hezekiah was a great king, truly desiring to see his nation follow the Lord. One of his first national policy priorities was to get the temple back in working order, and he did it. Soon, a Passover followed, one of such magnitude that had not been seen since the days of Solomon. When later faced with the threat of Assyrian invasion (who had already conquered the northern kingdom), Hezekiah relied upon the Lord, taking all his concerns to the God who proved Himself faithful. Hezekiah wasn’t perfect as he stumbled a bit along the way, but in the end, he always turned to the Lord in faith.

The accounts of his son and grandson would be much different. Their walks with the Lord would be (for much of their lives) non-existent. For Manasseh and Amon, they did not merely stumble in their faithfulness to God; they were actively opposed to God, resisting Him as much as possible. Thankfully, for one of these men, life changed dramatically. Manasseh, despite his vehement opposition to God, finally surrendered to the Lord in faith. Sadly, his son’s testimony was far different as he died in unbelief.

In these two men we see both the danger of rejecting God, as well as the hope that exists for repentance and faith. Manasseh almost waited too long; Amon definitely waited too long. Don’t you wait too long! As long as we have breath, we have the opportunity to turn to the Lord. Do not waste the opportunity you’ve been given.

2 Chronicles 33:1–25

• Manasseh (1-20).
• Evil beginnings (1-11).

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

1. Right from the start, his name stands out as different. “Manasseh” = “cause to forget.” It was an unusual name for a king of Judah. The name was first given to the eldest son of Joseph while he was prime minister of Egypt, and Manasseh became one of the largest tribes of northern Israel, having land on both the west and east sides of the Jordan. No other king of Judah was named Manasseh, so what was this boy doing with this name? Was the otherwise faithful Hezekiah looking north? Was this related to the otherwise unknown family history of his mother Hephzibah? Simply his name is insightful. For much of his life, Manasseh forgot about the Lord and caused his nation to forget the Lord, as he turned away from the reforms of his father Hezekiah. 
2. Manasseh was still a young boy when he rose to the throne, only “twelve years old.” This led to the longest reign of any of the kings of Judah, having a total reign of “fifty-five years.” Many scholars believe that the first 10 years of his ‘kingdom’ was a shared co-regency with his father Hezekiah. If so, then it perhaps it was during those 10 years with his dad that seeds were planted for later down the line.
3. Whatever else would come later in his life, Manasseh initially started out in much evil, which is summarized by the Chronicler in v2. He modeled himself after his grandfather Ahaz; not his father Hezekiah. Like Ahaz, he did “according to the abominations of the nations,” (28:3). Had Manasseh ever met his evil grandfather? No, not if the estimated years of their reigns are correct. Ahaz died in 716BC, and because Manasseh was 12 when he became king in 687BC, it means his birth year was 699. Manasseh may not have ever met his grandfather, but he was still surely influenced by him.
   1. Take care to your legacy! The things you do today potentially plant seeds down the line for generations yet to come.

3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

1. The text almost reads as if Manasseh looked at all the reforms of Hezekiah, deciding to systematically turn back each one. Hezekiah witnessed a grand revival in the land of Judah, but it sadly did not last. Of course, real revival is more than surface level change in customs and environments. Just because we build certain churches and take away various pagan practices, it doesn’t mean that revival will automatically come to our culture. Those circumstantial things help, but what is truly needed are changed hearts. Revival isn’t merely cultural; it is individual. Unless people give their love to the Lord God, then they will inevitably give their love to other pagan things. – Such was the case with Manasseh. Obviously, he rebuilt the pagan places, but the people chose to engage with them.
   1. We cannot blame anyone else for our own sin. Our leaders might be stumbling blocks and poor examples, but our sin is our own. 
2. Specifically, the first item listed by the Chronicler was how Manasseh reinstituted idolatry throughout the land. These were the various “high places,” the “altars for the Baals,” the “wooden images,” and the various ways of worshipping the stars (“the host of heaven”). Recall that one of Sennacherib’s public attacks against Hezekiah was that Hezekiah removed all the various places throughout the land where people could worship. What Sennacherib (via his generals) didn’t understand was that those were all wrong ways of worship. Those were false places of worship to false gods. Just because people ‘worship’ doesn’t mean that their worship is acceptable. Unless it is real worship offered to the real God in real faith, it is meaningless (and possibly sin!).
3. Not only was there idolatry throughout the land, Manasseh instituted idolatry in the temple. Right in the temple of the most holy God – the temple which YHWH God personally chose for His name to dwell, Manasseh built idolatrous altars for astrological use. But as bad as that was, Manasseh engaged in worse…

6 Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

1. Don’t miss the gravity of this. Manasseh was the Davidic king, the messianic He was only on the throne because of God’s unbreakable covenant made with David centuries prior. And this king engaged in the abominations of child sacrifice and witchcraft. To make one’s children “to pass through the fire” is to say that they were burned to death in the worship of Molech and other pagan gods. As the Chronicler said earlier, this was the one of “the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.” This was what the Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, and others did. This was why God commanded Joshua to utterly destroy them, exterminating them and the last vestiges of their culture from the land. (While Joshua was faithful in his given duties, the rest of the children of Israel fell short in their follow-through!) Those cultures were under the holy righteous wrath of God, under His ban, and they were rightly judged unto death. Yet there was the Davidic king doing the exact same thing. He gave his children over to horrific death. He engaged in witchcraft and various other paganistic forms of ‘magic.’ This was downright Satanic.
   1. Before we point too many fingers in shock and horror, let us acknowledge that our own culture engages in much of the same. We might not heat up metal idols to see children burned to death; our culture just dismembers babies in the womb and scrapes out the body parts. Or, it confuses vulnerable young people, leading them to surgical mutilations and irreversible hormonal change. All this is so cherished by our culture that they hold to it with religious fervor, treating any criticism of it as a hate crime. Let’s be clear: it is just as Satanic as anything done by Manasseh in the throes of his sin. Our own culture is just as deserving as judgment as the ancient king.
2. Is it any wonder that the Chronicler described Manasseh as provoking the Lord to anger? Our God is the righteous God. He hates evil in all its forms, while loving the widow, orphan, and otherwise defenseless. To abuse children in this way surely provokes the Lord to much anger, testing the limits of His patience. And there are limits! At some point, God acts. He would act with Manasseh – He would act with the entire kingdom of Judah, bringing the Babylonians to judge them. Surely, He will also act with the United States and other nations of the post-Christian western world. We, whose nations have abandoned the gospel and Biblical morality, will be judged for our many sins. And there will be none for us to blame except ourselves, for we provoked God to anger.
   1. The good news is that it is possible to be saved from the wrath of God! This is the invitation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. All the sin we commit that deserves the righteous judgment of God, was all put on Jesus’ shoulders at the cross. It was for our sin that He died, paying the highest of prices drinking down to the dregs the cup of God’s wrath. Culture aside, we each individually provoked God to anger; Jesus provides for us our propitiation. Jesus satisfied the terms of our divine judicial sentence, offering us full forgiveness and freedom.
   2. This is the message we take to the world! We may not be able to save every person in our culture, but we can ensure that the people we know, know the gospel. We can ensure that they know where salvation and forgiveness is found. We can implore them to turn to Jesus in faith and be saved. 

7 He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had 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; 8 and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers—only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.”

1. The Chronicler already described the various astrological altars that were placed in the temple. Apparently, Manasseh went a step further, setting up “a carved image” of some sort. He went the ‘full idol’ in the temple of God. Instead of worshipping the true God who is invisible, who alone chose to reveal Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, Manasseh chose to echo his ancestors with the golden calf at Mt Sinai by setting up his own “carved image” in the holy temple of God.
   1. Might this prefigure how the future Antichrist will set up his own idol at the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem? Quite possibly, yes. Many believe that the person of Antichrist will have at least some Jewish ancestry, and while he will initially make a covenant of peace with the nation, he will bring an end to sacrifice and commit the abomination of desolation, by not only desecrating the temple altar, but also by setting up an idol in its place (Dan 9:27; Mt 24:15; 2 Ths 2:3-4; Rev 13). Manasseh’s action at this point shows a shadow of not only what would be fulfilled in history by Antiochus Epiphanes, but also what is yet to happen during the Great Tribulation. 
2. As to this specific act from Manasseh, it was a direct affront against the ancient covenant that God made with David and Solomon. And there would surely be covenant consequences to accompany it. No doubt, the Chronicler intends to foreshadow the Babylonian captivity in this. God promised not to “remove the foot of Israel from the land,” as long as they were “careful to do all that I have commanded them,” which they obviously did not Although there had been a handful of faithful kings throughout Judah’s history (Uzziah and Hezekiah, for example), most had been evil. Manasseh wasn’t unique in his idolatry; he was unique in the excess of his idolatry. He was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and God declared during Manasseh’s reign that He would bring judgment upon them. 2 Kings 21:14–15, “(14) So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, (15) because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’ ”” It was specifically because Manasseh had done these abominations that God said this would come (2 Kg 21:11). What was to come? Judgment and captivity. The very things that were promised in the ancient covenant of Deuteronomy were the things that would sweep over Judah and Jerusalem.
   1. Our God is a merciful and gracious God…but He will not forever extend patience over sin. At some point, His righteous judgment falls. And when it does, it is swift and severe.

9 So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

1. A final summary is given. Manasseh led the charge in this return to paganism, having “seduced” the people of his kingdom, but it is doubtful he had to twist their arms. Apart from the Lord, each of us easily runs to sin. That is the natural state of our flesh. (And it is why even born-again Christians continually struggle with temptation. As long as we live, we have to deal with the sinful weaknesses of our lives…things that will one day be removed when we finally stand before the Lord face to face.)

10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. 11 Therefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.

1. The parallel account of 2 Kings 21 contains some of the prophetic warnings that God sent to Manasseh, but we don’t have a comprehensive record. Who were the prophets sent by God to the king? Potentially Isaiah was included among them, as (according to rabbinical tradition) he was killed by Manasseh, possibly referenced in Hebrews 11:37 as being “sawn in two.” Otherwise, we don’t know their names. 2 Kings 21 mentions plural prophetic “servants,” so there was at least one other besides Isaiah. Though we do not know all their names or words, we know that they were used by God. They were each faithful to their callings.
   1. Our own names will (in all probability) not be recorded in any history book. It doesn’t matter. As long as our names are included in the Lamb’s book of life, that is the only book that matters!
2. Of course, because neither the king nor the rest of the people repented, God brought judgment upon them. They refused to “listen” to the prophetic warnings given them, so they suffered the consequence. The Assyrian army came to town, defeated the defenses of Jerusalem, and violently took Manasseh to Babylon. The “hooks” referred to were likely nose-hooks (based on contemporary reliefs/depictions of the time). Between the hook in his nose and the chains on his limbs, he wasn’t going anywhere the Assyrians didn’t want him to go. It was a humiliating defeat for the Jerusalem king.
   1. It is also quite merciful! Assyria had already conquered Israel/Samaria to the north. They might have easily done the same to Judah. Once the capital city and king was conquered, what stopped them? Only God. It wasn’t yet time for the Jewish people to be carried away captive. No one would take them away until God ordained for them to be taken away.
   2. God still protects His chosen people! Though Israel is under near-daily attack from its terrorist neighbors, and though they are virtually abandoned by every nation of the world (including the United States), they will not/cannot be crushed unless God removes His sovereign hand of protection. Until that point, it is political malpractice and utter foolishness to curse those whom God has blessed (something our politicians will learn the hard way!).
3. Some Jewish scholars believe it is “impossible” that the Assyrian king would have led Manasseh to Babylon instead of one of the other Assyrian capitals, relegating the story to a mere symbolic foreshadowing of the Babylonian captivity.^[1] Yet this ignores the history of the Assyrian empire. The son and heir to Sennacherib (who was the king faced by Hezekiah) was Esarhaddon. Esarhaddon’s fourth son, yet chosen heir, was Ashurbanipal. He was the Assyrian king at the time of Manasseh’s trouble. Esarhaddon’s eldest son (Shamash-shum-ukin) was also given a throne, being pronounced by his father as king of Babylon. (Babylon was currently under Assyrian rule and remain so for another 50 years +/-). Thus, it is entirely possible for Manasseh to have been taken to Babylon, exactly as the Bible says. As to why he was taken there, we cannot say. Technically, the text says that the “captains of the army of the king of Assyria” captured Manasseh. Perhaps Asurbanipal sent to Jerusalem one of the divisions that reported to his brother, making it natural for the captain to return to Babylon. Whatever the reason for the event, we can know that the Biblical record is accurate. God’s word always is.

• Manasseh’s repentance (12-17).

12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

1. How awesome is this account of conversion! When Manasseh was at his lowest, he repented. Finally, he appealed to YHWH “his God,” meaning he prayed to God in true faith finally recognizing and receiving YHWH as his God. He “humbled himself greatly,” in sincere contrition for his sins, “prayed” to God…and God heard him! At the lowest possible point of his life (defeated, deposed, exiled), he turned to God in true faith, finding that God did not refuse him. Once Manasseh humbled himself and believed, God received Manasseh…just as God does with anyone who comes to faith! Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” We don’t know all the details of Manasseh’s conversion, but we know this much: he had to have had faith. And when he believed and expressed his faith to God in true humility, God rewarded him with deliverance. – That is what God does! He doesn’t turn away anyone who turns to Jesus in true faith. The man or woman who confesses his/her sins to God, asking Jesus to forgive because they know and believe Jesus died on the cross for their sins…God does Jesus does come into that person’s life, making him/her a child of God. That is what God does. He is merciful and gracious…and He is faithful to act according to His promise to forgive, rewarding those who seek Him in faith.
   1. Perhaps the question for you is: Have you ever sought Jesus in true faith? Have you ever called upon Him, imploring Him to save you, humbling yourself greatly before God? Many people claim to be Christian, primarily because they don’t fall into any other religious group. They show up in church a few times each year and align somewhat with Biblical western values. But they haven’t yet sought Jesus. They haven’t yet turned to God, consciously believing upon Him in true faith. Thus, they aren’t yet Christian…but they could be. Anyone can be.
2. Interestingly, the parallel account in 2 Kings 21 says nothing about Manasseh’s repentance. The only hint it gives is the account of his death and burial, implying a peaceful death and burial without mention of dishonor (unlike Ahaz ~ 28:27). It has been often said that 1-2 Kings is history from man’s point of view, while 1-2 Chronicles is history from God’s point of view. Manasseh is perhaps one of the clearest examples. Men remember him for his sin; God remembers him for his humble repentance and faith. We remember his criminal record, but God has put away his sins from him as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). When God forgave him, his forgiveness was total. God forever sees His redeemed people in grace.
   1. Aren’t you glad? We hold our sins against ourselves far longer than God does. When we are forgiven in Jesus Christ, we are truly forgiven! Thank Him and rejoice in your salvation!

14 After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.

1. The first activities that are described are the steps Manasseh took to protect his people from military attack. His own recent experience with the Assyrians demonstrated that Jerusalem was obviously vulnerable, so he shored up the defenses in the areas that most needed it.
2. Question: Is this really a fruit of repentance? Some might wonder if building up the wall and defenses of the city was an outworking of Manasseh’s spiritual change, or merely a practical exercise. It was both. Certainly, it was practical…something which might have been done by any faithful king. But that is the point we see that it was also spiritual. Previously, Manasseh hadn’t been faithful. Upon his return from Babylon, he starts doing the things he was always supposed to do. It was his God-given duty to protect his people, so he did what was necessary to do it.
   1. When governments fail (or outright neglect) to protect their people, they fail in their primary ministry given them by God. Romans 13 describes the government as a God-ordained minister, specifically entrusted with the sword to be used against those who practice evil. When district attorneys refuse to prosecute violent offenders – when foreign-born criminals are not deported – when administrations allow citizens to languish as hostages or political prisoners…the government has failed in its most basic God-given duty. It is sin, and it surely ought to be forsaken.

15 He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. 16 He also repaired the altar of the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

1. Manasseh undid the evil he had done. He cleansed the temple, repaired the altar, and returned to the earlier reforms of his father. He got the temple worship back to the way things ought to have been done. – Hezekiah obviously hadn’t done everything perfectly with his son (who does?), but his overall example of godly faithfulness could not forever be ignored. The seeds planted early in Manasseh’s youth bore fruit later in his life. It took a while, was preceded by much hardship, but it wasn’t forgotten.
   1. We cannot make every decision for our kids/grandkids. We cannot make them have faith. We can plant seeds and pray for them. God alone knows what will come of it after we are gone.
2. The one ‘smudge’ on an otherwise clean window is the note in v17 about the people sacrificing on the high places. They might have been sacrificing to YHWH as God, but the most that can be said about it is that it was the wrong worship offered to the right God. It wasn’t as bad as it might have been, but it still wasn’t good. (Perhaps the previous example set by Manasseh was so deeply ingrained that he couldn’t get the people to change.)
   1. Again, just because we slap the label of ‘worship’ on something, does not mean that it is Biblical worship. Jesus said that we are those who are supposed to worship God in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:24). That means we worship God according to His word, by His invitation. God sets the terms on how we come to Him; not us. Our worship needs to be based on more than mere emotion; it needs to be based on the Bible. If what we do (say, sing) is not Biblical, it ought not to be done.

• Final summary (18-20).

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. 19 Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of Hozai.

1. Other records of his evil and repentance were kept, but they are lost to history. As valuable as they might be from the perspective of archaeology, they were not part of the Spirit-inspired canon of Scripture. 

20 So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.

1. Manasseh’s death is recorded, treated as honorable considering he was “buried in his own house.” His son “Amon” was named as his successor.

• Amon (21-25).

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them. 23 And he did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

1. Amon’s own name translates either to “craftsman” or “faithful.” That might have been Manasseh’s desire for his son, but Amon was anything but His reign was notably short, especially when compared with the 55 years of his father. (The reason why is explained in the next verses.)
2. Amon obviously did not learn from Manasseh’s repentance, but instead modeled his own kingdom after the years of Manasseh’s sin. He refused to humble himself and repent, despite the very visible change in his father’s life. Instead, once Amon took the throne, he went back to the evil days, doubling down on all his father had done.
3. For Amon, his foundational years were influenced by Manasseh’s sin. We don’t know when the repentance took place in Manasseh’s life, but it likely took place very late. It seems probable that Manasseh did not repent until after Amon grew into his own. At that point, the damage was done. – Is it ever too late for us to repent? No…but sometimes there are unavoidable consequences from our years of sin (or neglect, etc.). Especially when it comes to parenting. Our kids are only young once. What we do during those years matter. (And sometimes, it breaks our hearts to think of our failures!) Those things aren’t necessarily impossible to overcome, but it certainly requires the work and grace of God. Once a child grows into a young man or woman, that young person needs to humble him/herself and come to faith. 

24 Then his servants conspired against him, and killed him in his own house. 25 But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

1. The fact that Amon was assassinated serves to underscore how evil the man was. Assassination of the kings may have been common in the northern kingdom, but it was rare in the south. Joash and Amaziah were both assassinated, and they lived nearly two centuries earlier. Thankfully, the people did not stand for the assassination. Amon may have been evil, but he was the duly recognized king, quite literally the ‘anointed’ king of Judah. He may not have acted as part of the Davidic/messianic lineage, but that was who he was. The “people of the land” arrested the murderers and enacted justice against them. Again, Amon may have been evil, but his evil was not solved by more evil.
2. What did make a difference was his successor. Again, the wording is unusual at this point. Normally, a king would name his own successor. In this case, the king was dead and his son was only eight years old. Even so, this was the right thing to do. The people did not abandon the Davidic covenant. They did what was right, receiving the next heir in Amon’s place, trusting God to raise him according to His own will. (And He did! Josiah would be a really good king…one of the best.)

Conclusion:

One chapter; two kings. Amon is treated almost as a footnote, for understandable reasons. Two years was not much time to accomplish much…although he brought in as much evil in two years as he could manage. The main account is that of Manasseh – perhaps the most unlikely testimony among all of the kings of the Old Testament. He was as evil as a king could get. Yet, by the grace of God, when he was at his lowest, he finally came to faith. Might Amon have done the same, given enough time? Perhaps, but it is impossible to know. All we know is what he did with the time he had…and he chose to engage in evil.

What are you doing with the time God has given you? We praise God for the opportunities He gives us for grace. We praise God that every day we wake is a new day to turn to the mercies available to us in Christ Jesus. Those aren’t opportunities to be wasted!

Too many people do. They think, “I’ve got plenty of time. I can always turn back to God later, asking Jesus to forgive my sins after I’ve gotten enough enjoyment out of it.” Not so. None of us knows the day and hour of our deaths. We don’t know how many heartbeats remain. At some point it will be too late to turn to Christ. We dare not wait too long!

But the good news demonstrated in Manasseh is this: when we do finally turn to Christ, we find He is right there, ready to forgive! No one is too far gone to receive Jesus’ mercy and grace. No one is “too much” a sinner who cannot be saved. If Jesus could save someone like Paul… If God can receive someone like Manasseh… Surely, God will receive people like you and me.

That said, it requires a response. We have to turn to Jesus in humble faith. Manasseh did in vv12-13. Granted, Jesus was not yet revealed as the Messiah of God, but of what Manasseh did know of God, he believed. Per v13: “Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.” He had faith in the covenant God of Israel, which means he believed upon the covenant promises of God to Israel…which includes the Messiah promised by God to Israel. God only saves one way: by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Manasseh looked forward to the promise of Jesus; we look back to Jesus’ fulfillment of God’s promise.

Have you trusted Him? Do you yet know that Jesus is God? Have you humbled yourself greatly before Him, imploring Him to save you? God hears the prayers that come from broken and contrite hearts – these, He does not despise (Ps 51:17). Turn to Christ today!

^[1] Adele Berlin, Marc Zvi Brettler, and Michael Fishbane, eds., The Jewish Study Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 1817.