A Word in Season: A Monument of Mercy (2 Chronicles 33:12–13)

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Manasseh of Judah is one of those proverbially wicked kings in the biblical record.

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In 2 Kings chapter 21 and in 2 Chronicles chapter 33 we see him in all the ugliness of his rebellion.

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Despite having a godly father in Hezekiah, Manasseh, who had seen the might of God in dealing with the wicked, nevertheless from an early age did what he willed.

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He became king at the age of 12, he reigned for 55 years and much of that time was spent in flagrant rebellion against God.

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Whether it's in the 2nd book of the Kings or the 2nd book of the Chronicles, the catalogue of Manasseh's wickedness is dreadful.

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He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, not only sinning himself but doing all he could it seems to lead others in a way of godlessness.

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He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the

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Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. He ticks all the wrong boxes, not only does he follow in the footsteps of the worst of his forefathers, yet he becomes like and even exceeds the wickedness of the wicked nations that the

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Lord had cast out. Idolatry characterises his reign, he builds altars for the false gods and the high places and even brings a carved image into the very house of God in which the

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Lord had said he would put his name. He caused his sons to pass through the fire, perhaps indicating child sacrifice, and he practised soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery and consulted mediums and spiritists.

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Here is a man who has abandoned the God who he should have known as the

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God of his fathers and worshipped and served, and the Lord God was provoked by Manasseh.

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He seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations who had gone before them, and so God dealt with Manasseh.

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He brought the king of Assyria down and the king of Assyria captured him and took him away to Babylon.

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Now you might say that someone like Manasseh deserves the judgement of God, that Manasseh is a prime example of what it means for God to be just in punishing the ungodly.

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Perhaps you look at him and perhaps you see something of yourself in him and say but I'm like him in my rebellion against God, or perhaps you know others and you think of them as examples of great wickedness and transgression, and perhaps there is even something either in us that says how could

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God ever forgive me, or that looks out and says why would God forgive them, or I hope that God will show himself just and not show mercy upon them.

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And yet consider what the biblical record says about Manasseh. Chapter 33 of 2nd

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Chronicles and chapter verse 12. Now when he was in affliction he implored the

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Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed to him.

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And he, the Lord, received Manasseh's entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

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Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Brought low because of his sin,

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Manasseh turned to God. He pleaded with the Lord. He humbled himself before the

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God of his fathers greatly. He knew enough of the character of God from the histories that he had heard and that he knew, to know that God was not only just in punishing sin, but merciful in forgiving sin when a sinner came in true faith and repentance.

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And so Manasseh poured out his heart before the Lord, confessed his iniquities, pleaded for mercies, praying to God.

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And God received him. Now you might say that's not fair. And I'd say no, in one sense it's not.

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It is mercy. Manasseh you see becomes one of the great monuments of mercy in the

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Old Testament record. A man who, despite his flagrant rebellions against God, was received with mercy and compassion when he turned back to him.

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Indeed it was God's mercy that persuaded Manasseh fully and finally that the

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Lord was God. That distinctive act of true divinity, forgiving those who call upon his name.

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That is the God that we know. That's the God of the scriptures. That's the

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God who forgives sin and who can make us as much monuments of mercy as Manasseh ever was.