In response to the Lord's undeserved love, Manasseh looked to him as the true God.
Who was the worst king to be buried in the tombs of the kings of Judah? Our Lenten tour of the final resting places of David's descendants has revealed some interesting characters so far. Was King Asa the worst? He built cities and equipped armies, but he also tried to construct his own salvation. Perhaps it was King Uzziah. Last week, we saw how his pride led him to enter the temple in an attempt to do the work of a priest. For his arrogance, the Lord punished him with the deadly disease of leprosy.
Yet there is a king buried among these men who drifted further away from the Lord than any of them. He was the son of the good, King Hezekiah. His name was Manasseh, and he might have been the worst king in the history of God's people.
The entire situation must have come as a shock to God's people. Manasseh's father, King Hezekiah, had been so very faithful. He had brought God's people back to worshiping the true God. But eventually, even the reign of a good king ends. King Solomon knew that as well as anyone. He once wrote, "Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It's so unfair!" (Eccl. 2:21)
Already at the beginning of his reign, King Manasseh proved himself to be as wicked as his father was righteous. Manasseh rebuilt the high places so that his people could worship false gods again. He even built altars to false gods in the very temple of the Lord!
All of King Hezekiah's godly reforms were being undone by Manasseh's counter-reformation. Manasseh practiced sorcery. He consulted mediums. Most shocking of all, he sacrificed his own sons by burning them alive.
Just one generation before all of this, believers could worship the true God in safety. Now, during the days of King Manasseh, even the innocent were in danger. The times had quickly turned violent. And if faithful believers were hoping for a short reign for this wicked king, they were sorely disappointed. Manasseh's reign of terror lasted 55 years. It was the longest reign of any king in Judah!
To say the Lord was disappointed would be an understatement. Through his prophets, the Lord gave Jerusalem a very clear warning: If they continued in their unbelief, the Lord would turn Jerusalem upside down.
But nobody listened.
Imprisoned, tortured, and broken, Manasseh was punished in Babylon.
So the Lord raised up the king of Assyria to defeat Manasseh and drag him into captivity. They bound Jerusalem's king with shackles and imprisoned him in Babylon. It was a fitting end for one of the most wicked kings ever. A hook through the nose was only the beginning. Imprisoned, tortured, and broken, Manasseh was punished in Babylon.
Manasseh's outright defiance may seem shocking to us, but in the season of Lent, we see that kind of stark defiance all around our Lord, Jesus Christ. The crowds yelled for him to be crucified. Pontius Pilate knew Jesus to be innocent, yet he sent him to his death anyway. The religious leaders rose up against Jesus by moving him into the teeth of a most gruesome death.
But there is one rebel who appears to supersede them all. His name was Barabbas. He was the murderous leader of a failed rebellion. He was on death row, and he deserved it. However, in a final effort to free Jesus, Pontius Pilate placed the criminal Barabbas alongside the innocent Jesus. It didn't work. The crowds chose to free Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Barabbas didn't seem to mind at all that his unearned freedom would come at the expense of the execution of an innocent man.
Barabbas wasn't the only rebel set free on Good Friday. All of us stand alongside Barabbas. We are all guilty of rebellious sins. Like King Manasseh, we deserve to be locked away in the dark recesses of a Babylonian prison. Except spiritually, we deserve an even worse punishment. We all deserve to stand on death row, facing an eternity of punishment in hell.
Deep down in that lowly prison cell, King Manasseh hit his low point. He had been a king of Jerusalem who once had power. He could do whatever he wanted. Now, he was the lowest of prisoners.
Then, surprisingly, everything changed. Maybe it was the physical pain and torture Manasseh received.
Perhaps it was because he was bound in Babylon, separated from his people. Maybe it was the humiliation of it all. Whatever the cause, the Lord changed Manasseh. In his depths of woe, King Manasseh prayed to the Lord.
In mercy, God heard and answered his prayer. He brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem, gave him his crown again, and placed him on the throne of David. In response to the Lord's undeserved love, Manasseh looked to him as the true God.
As sinful as you are, as guilty as you feel, forgiveness is yours through Jesus Christ, your King of kings.
You see, King Manasseh, wicked as he was, belonged to the kingly line of David. Having been shown mercy by his loving Lord, Manasseh looked ahead to the coming Savior now by faith.
And at just the right time, that Savior came. Like Manasseh, he descended into the depths. Unlike King Manasseh, Jesus gave everything up on purpose. King Manasseh was wicked. Jesus lived as our perfect substitute.
In love, Jesus gave up his throne. He stepped down into our sinful world. He came, and he found you in the depths of your sin and guilt. Then he took your place. He showed you mercy. He exchanged his holy, perfect life for yours.
As Jesus suffered the pains of hell for our sins, he cried out to his Father in heaven. But on that occasion, his Father didn't listen. Jesus had to be abandoned even by his Father in the depths to earn your pardon. And he won your pardon! It is finished! Your sins have been paid for. Your guilt has been taken away. You have been pulled out of the depths.
King Manasseh knew how that felt. Once God showed him mercy, everything changed for this once-wicked King. Manasseh restored the temple so that sacrifices to the true God could be offered there again. He commanded his people to believe and serve the Lord. And at the end of his life, the Bible tells us that Manasseh rested in his own house. It might seem like an ordinary burial place for a king, but for the king who deserved to die in a Babylonian prison, this final resting place was the reminder of God's forgiveness.
Jesus won that same forgiveness for you. As sinful as you are, as guilty as you feel, forgiveness is yours through Jesus Christ, your King of kings.
"Rescue me from those who pursue me, because they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, so I can give thanks to your name" (Ps. 142:6-7).
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