What Lies Beneath?

Introduction

Will you please open your Bibles with me to Ezekiel chapter 18? Ezekiel chapter 18. When you think about fathers in the Bible, and you think about the impact and the responsibility that they have on their children, you really reach two strong conclusions that the Bible is clear on. The first is that the father, like the mother, is responsible for training up their children to know and serve the Lord. The second, though, is that while that is the case, the father does not suffer for the sin of the son, or perhaps more importantly, in today’s climate, the son does not suffer for the iniquity of the father. You see that in Ezekiel chapter 18. Look with me in verse 19. This carries with an important idea, though, beyond just do we are we born with sin.

In verse 19 of Ezekiel 18, yet you say, Why should not the son suffer from the iniquity of the father? When the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor will the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. And so, of course, we understand that while it is important and a critical role that the father and yes, the mother play in raising the child to know the Lord, there is a separation of responsibility, and that is that each and every one of us will independently be judged by our God in that great day.

But what’s interesting about that is that when you look at fathers in the Old Testament, you see a specific train that’s really interesting to me. When you think about the time of the people of Israel. They were all united in the kingdom under Saul, David, and Solomon, but then Rehoboam came. And it’s around 1 Kings chapter 12 that the kingdom splits, and you have Judah in the south and Israel in the north. And from that point on, Israel has not a single good king. But Judah has a few. But what’s interesting about the few of Judah is name one of those good kings of Judah. Are you thinking of Hezekiah? Hezekiah was a good king, by and large. He served God, he feared the Lord. In fact, he was blessed for doing so.

But what’s interesting about Hezekiah, and that’s a bit of a head scratcher, if you will, is that his son was King Manasseh. Manasseh reigned about 55 years, and beginning around the period perhaps of the 690s, it seems that he perhaps started his reign and some sort of co-reign with Hezekiah. But what’s interesting about whatever date you put on that, it’s this side of Israel being taken into captivity. If Judah should have been on high alert at any time in their history, in the time of the split kingdom, it should have been we need to praise God, we need to stick with God right after Israel has been taken into Assyrian captivity, and King Hezekiah is leading them, more or less in the ways of the Lord.

And yet Hezekiah, this good king, one of the bright spots on the blip of the radar that is the kings of Judah and Israel’s history. His son is Manasseh. And how wicked is King Manasseh? Look at me at 2 Chronicles chapter 33 and drop a marker there if you have one, because that will be our text this morning. In 2 Chronicles chapter 33, good, great King Hezekiah had what son? In 2 Chronicles chapter 33 and verse 1, Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign. And he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. You want a punctuation mark on this?

Look at verse 9. Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. Good King Hezekiah had terribly wicked son, King Manasseh. But this story is one of my favorite Bible stories because Manasseh’s character isn’t left in that wicked state like it is in the account in Kings 21. But when you think about King Manasseh, think also about his son. Who reigned in his place? Well, Ammon, for a brief time. Ammon was a wicked king, but do you know who Manasseh’s grandson was? King Josiah. A good king. So you think about how the scrolls, you have Hezekiah good king, who fathered Manasseh, mostly wicked king, who fathered Ammon, wicked king, who fathered Josiah, good, God-fearing king.

How is that possible? Regardless of how that came to be. I think it’s important to note what changed Manasseh because he is the difference in this entire link of kings, because he was exceedingly wicked. And yet what 2 Chronicles chapter 33 teaches us, among other lessons that we will examine shortly, is that we can all turn to God. And for those of us who have, we can be motivated and should be driven in the same way Manasseh was to turn from his great wickedness. I started reading in verse 2, and let’s pick up with me in verse 3 now. Let’s talk about all the wickedness that Manasseh did in his reign. Yes, he reigned about 55 years, and let’s note what most of his reign was characterized by.

Beginning in verse 3. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Ashrath, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the son of Hinnem, and used fortune telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made, he said 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.

And I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses. And yes, as we read verse nine, Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. In verse ten, the Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. I think it’s a critical detail here to think what were God’s expectations for his people. Well, in verse eight, he would bless them if they would do what? Do you see it in verse eight? If only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them.

And yet we find in verse ten the word of the Lord has come to Judah. He’s telling them, You need to turn from all this wickedness that they were being led into by evil King Manasseh. And as we know from verse 11 and on, it was a warning that had teeth. Because you see in verse 11, 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. I think when you think about Manasseh in 2 Chronicles 33, you see him identified in three different ways, and we’ve already seen, we’ve seen one of them, and we’re about to see a second. First of all, he was described as a horribly wicked king.

Go back to verse 3. Just try to keep a quick tally of all these wicked things. In verse 3, he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah had torn down. Talk about backward progress. He erected altars to the Baals, to Ashraf, worshipped all the hosts of the heavens. He built altars in verse 4 in the house of the Lord. He built altars in the two courts of the house of the Lord, verse 4 and 5. Verse 6, he burned his sons as an offering to a false God. He used fortune telling omens and sorcery. He dealt with mediums and necromancers. And verse 7 perhaps puts it plainly, he provoked the Lord to anger. He carved an idol. He led Judah to more evil than the nations that the Lord had destroyed.

This was a wicked king. And yet, when they’re taken into captivity, what do we see about him? Yes, in verse 12, in verse 11, they were taken into Babylon. He was dragged away, how? With chains of bronze and hooks. But verse 12, and when he was in distress, he entweded 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. I think if you underline a phrase, look at the end of verse 13. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Because that’s going to signal a change. Because yes, he was a wicked king.

Then he was led, and what happened to great King Manasseh, king of Israel, king of Judah, who was enticing them into all kinds of evil. He was dealing with sorcery, he was worshipping all kinds of idols. But what happened to this king, this undoubtedly proud man who had rejected God. He was brought to his knees, perhaps literally. And he was in distress. And he was in a state of utter desperation. And it changed him. And what we see is it changed him for the better. He was a humbled man, unlike another king, King Ahaz, who the chronicles write, when he faced distress, he turned away from the Lord. And he offered to Assyrian God because he thought he would provide the deliverance, not Jehovah, the Lord.

You think about what you see with the rest of King Manasseh’s life. Is after he recognizes who God is, note what he does. This is where I think the lesson really takes place this morning. Afterward, he built an altar outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the fish gate, and carried around Ofel 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 restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and thanksgiving. And he commanded Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel. This is a greatly changed man, although we would be remiss to not read verse 17. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed the high places, but only to the Lord their God. So kind of a mixed bag of results there. What we understand is very true and automatic. You can’t just turn to God and have all the consequences of your sin be removed. Judah was still caught up in idolatry, despite the fact Manasseh was a changed man. But what I want to focus on this morning is not the despair of having to turn away from a life of sin and it catching up to you, but to focus on the fact that Manasseh changed.

1. God Expects Obedience

He did it. This was a wicked man, and whatever you think about yourself, if I were to have made a list, and I thought about this, of all the things that he did. He erected the altars to the Baals, he served all the hosts of heaven. He erected the Asheroth. He sacrificed his sons in fire. He dealt with necromancers and mediums and spirits and omens and fortune telling. This was a wicked man. But God did what? When he prayed to God, God heard him and God delivered him. Praise God, amen. If he can be saved, if King Manasseh can turn, I can too. And well, I want to focus on that lesson quickly. I do want to see that God expects obedience. You saw that in verse 8.

Their deliverance, Judah living in the prosperity that God had allowed them to, was contingent. In verse 8, we’ll read it again. If only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them. It was contingent upon doing the will of God. In Deuteronomy chapter 28, you see a clear example in the beginning verses, and then halfway through, you see, here’s what God’s going to offer the people. Great blessings if you will serve me. But if you do not serve me, you will be cursed. Including and up to taken into captivity. Something that Hezekiah and Manasseh and the people of Judah should have known at this point in history, perhaps better than any other, because just 30 years before Israel had been taken into Assyrian captivity.

How tragic that God’s people would reject him. And yet sometimes today we view God, the common consensus of God is he as some sort of wish ranting genie in the sky. We turn to God only when I need, I need, I need, and I want. And also what we believe about that God in mainstream is God will not really send people to hell, will he? Well, he really allowed his people to be taken into captivity. You saw that not only with the complete takeover of Assyria of the nation of Israel, but even in this story, even with the king who he delivered, he allowed Manasseh to be taken with hooks and bronze chains. Will God punish? Yes. Do we know that? Yes, because the Word of God reveals it to us.

2. No One Is Too Far Gone

God expects obedience. He expects a submission to his will. If there was ever a people who would be blessed to not have to worry about that. If there was ever a people that God would just say, okay, you have a past, would it not be the people of Israel, his chosen nation, the people he gave law to? The people who he inscribed with his finger, the very law that Moses brought down. You think about the nation of Israel. They had a special place to God, and yet both Israel around 722 and Judah in the early 600s, or around 605 BC, depending on which way you look at that, he let them go into captivity because they sinned. God expects obedience. A second point, quickly is that no one is too far gone.

If you look at 1 Timothy chapter 2, it’s the passage that Griffin read to begin our service this morning. What we see about God is that he has a strong desire. And this is the beautiful part of serving God is that not only does he expect obedience, but we know something about God that’s critical. In verse 3, this is good. It is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. What does our God desire? What does the very God who allow his people to go into captivity desire?

That all men be saved. Yes, I haven’t said it yet, although the the distinction should be clear. We’re not struggling with the law of Moses. We are struggling with sin against the law of Christ. And we are stuck in our sins without our God, who sent Jesus the Christ to be the ransom for all. And we need to be thankful that Jesus’ blood was shed on the cross. But we also need to be careful on two fronts. That one, we don’t psych ourselves out and say, I can’t come back. Because if anyone shows that you can come back to God and that God will hear the honest entreaty of a sinner. It is the story in 2 Chronicles chapter 33 that God heard Manasseh. And by the way, where did he hear Manasseh?

When he was at the bottom. When he was at his worst. Now perhaps I would submit to you that that’s why Manasseh turned. But let’s be careful of judging foxhole type of prayers. Foxhole promises. If the heart is sincere, God has shown time and again he will respond. In Acts chapter 22, how much worse can it get than the Apostle Paul? Look in Acts chapter 22 as he’s retelling of his conversion story. Note how he describes himself. And you may know these very descriptions. In Acts chapter 22 and verse 6, beginning, he says, As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me?

And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Who was the great apostle Paul? A murderer, a terrorist. He was someone who struck terror certainly in the hearts of Christians. He would go and drag them. He was on his way to bring them into prison, or perhaps worse. He was on their way to persecute Christians and in so doing, persecuting the Christ. Jesus explicitly says that. Can you imagine if we spoke with Jesus in his words? Well, why are you persecuting me? And yet, what do we know about Saul from verse 16? Ananias had words for him, and now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

If Manasseh can be forgiven, if Paul or Saul can be forgiven, I can too. But I want to take that to a second level because a lot of us are Christians. A lot of us know that God is good and will forgive us. That means that he will forgive others who we look at and say they have no shot. If you looked at King Manasseh during any point in his reign of what I characterize as the first about nine verses of 2 Chronicles 33, do you think that any of us would look there and in our collective wisdom say, there’s a man who’s going to turn to God? There is a man who’s not only going to turn to God, he’s going to go and he’s going to tear down all those altars that he built.

He’s going to change. He’s going to be a devoted servant of God. No. You know what I would say about that? We need to hide from him. That man will never change. We need to we just can’t wait till they replace him with another king. We need another Hezekiah. We don’t need him. We need a Hezekiah, but we’re not like God in that attitude, then are we? If God is willing to forgive everyone, if anyone can turn to God with a true, submissive heart, and God will hear them and forgive them and accept them. Should I not first have the same attitude in my mind towards others, but furthermore have the understanding that God’s grace applies to them just as much as I would like it to apply to me if we will serve God.

It’s a powerful change of attitude from what’s original, from what’s known, from how we generally are. But what I want to focus on is the for the rest of the lesson this morning is how do we find God and have our life so changed like Manasseh did? I think this is the important part, because there were Christians, and we’re here early out at 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning, and we understand that God desires all men be saved. We know that God expects obedience, and yet, I think what’s interesting about this is that when you look at King Manasseh, you look at his story, you see, frankly, the change. He already was in his kingdom and he was wicked. Then he was in despair and he turned and he came back and he stayed committed to God.

3. We Are Not Blinded by the World

How can we do that? Well, first of all, like King Manasseh was, we need to make sure that we are not blinded by the world. Well, you look at 1 John chapter 2. King Manasseh was a king and undoubtedly enjoyed many blessings of doing so. Part of that was his ability to erect altars, to serve the Baals, but it was far more than that. The king of Judah enjoyed unique privileges that would have undoubtedly driven him away from God. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 15, you see the clear words do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24, Jesus adds, you cannot serve God and mammon. The point is we must choose who we will serve. We cannot love the world. Why do we not love the world, verse 17? The world is passing away along with its desires. The world is not from God. We have to be better than the world. We have to be different. And I think a lot of times I and we are distracted by it. We think about Manasseh’s change. He was away from his kingdom and his palace. He had been taken where? Into Babylon. He was driven there by hooks and with chains of bronze.

And yes, he was in distress. Yes, this was a man in desperation. And it changed him. But do we feel that desperation? Do we feel that we have to be persecuted for our faith? Or that we have nowhere else to turn? Because I gotta tell you, it’s hard for me sometimes to think I have nowhere else to turn when I have family who will support me, I have friends who will support me, I have a decent job, I have this and that, and you know what? I just don’t know that I need God as much as Manasseh would have. I mean, if I was over overseas fighting and I was in a foxhole, I would really need God. I would be desperate. Where is that fervor and that passion?

Isn’t that not how we should live every day, knowing that without God we have no hope? If that’s the case, then our life should be changed, and we will remove the obstacles that the world presents. We will not be blinded by the love of the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. We will be moved. We will be changed, just like Manasseh was. And you see, Manasseh did something for all his wickedness that I think Christians today could really learn from, myself being number one. When he committed to God, he radically changed his life. You see, Manasseh didn’t just call on God and go back and say, okay, well, I’m gonna do a little bit of what I was doing and serve God too.

4. Recognize Our Need for God and Be Humbled

No. At the end of verse 13, when the 2 Chronicles 33 account says, Manasseh then knew that the Lord was God. From then on, he went out, he tore down the altars. He was on a rampage to serve God. Are we like that? Or are we a little comfortable? Are we doing okay? We don’t have to push as hard because we have a nice building. We have a nice congregation here. Are we willing to serve like Manasseh served? Realizing that God deserves it. This is my life’s sentence and goal to be a slave of righteousness. See another part. When you think about the change of Manasseh, yes, at first he was wicked and he was blinded by the world, but then he changed. And it was that word in verse 11 and 12 that was clear.

He had an entreaty to the Lord. He humbled himself and he prayed to God. We need to recognize our need for God and be humbled. Look in James chapter 4. In James chapter 4, you see the book of wisdom that James presents has a point just right here. In James chapter 4 and verse 4, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is of no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you. You see, the humble heart, the heart that God accepts, the heart that God answered in Manasseh was a heart that was greatly humbled. In James chapter 4, in verse 10, the scripture is clear. God will exalt you. God will exalt us if we humble ourselves before the Lord. That humility comes from one place and one alone. And it’s an understanding of who God is versus where I am without Him.

That is the definition of humility when you take the Almighty God who spoke and this world came into existence, the God who willingly sent Jesus to die on the cross to be the ransom for all. And then there’s me. What have I done in my life? I may not have sacrificed sons to a foreign God. I may not have built altars to the Baals or Astroth or worshiped all the hosts of heaven, but I have sinned. And my list of sins would be long if I wrote them out the way 2 Chronicles 33 writer wrote some of Manasseh’s.

I am stuck. I am not good enough. And even when I’ve taken advantage of the blood of Christ and I have been crucified with him, I’ve been resurrected with him in the waters of baptism, having my sins washed away like Paul did, I am still going to need forgiveness of my sins. I still need the grace of God. We don’t reach a point where we stop needing God. And if we recognize that, then our life is changed. Because if I always need God, I am always serving God. If I recognize who God is, I will devote my life to him. Manasseh had a desperation in his life. Don’t you know that what was weighing on Manasseh’s mind was certainly what weighed on Paul’s mind when he would say, I am the chief of sinners?

5. We Need to Serve God

That his life was changed by God. That he had done nothing to deserve it. In fact, he was an active agent against the Lord, and he turned, and God blessed him. Do we have that sense of thanksgiving to God? Do we have that sense of awe that God could take even me and forgive me of my sins and change me and allow my life to be devoted to Him, cleansed and pure, sanctified and set apart and holy. That’s a big difference. I think the bottom line is that we need to serve God. If you look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5, in the old law, they understood what it took to serve God. I think sometimes in America today, there is a struggle at what this really means.

In Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5, and yes, I’m aware that this is part of the old law. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5 here in this verse, you shall love the Lord your God. Look, look with me. I know you know this, but examine the text here. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Isn’t that what a Christian is? A Christian is someone who loves the Lord, serves the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might. You think about what are the obstacles to doing that. Why would we not just do that? We know who God is. We understand that He has saved us from our sins.

We understand that God alone offers salvation. Unlike Manasseh, many of us may not reach a time where we truly are in utter despair and desperation that we know that we can see. Because certainly spiritually we have gained that type of despair beyond what Manasseh faced in Assyria. We have faced it on a spiritual, eternal level with our sin. But for many of us here, we will never face the type of persecution that the first century Christians faced. We will never face the type of horrible atrocities that Manasseh would have faced being taken away by Assyria into Babylon. Manasseh recognized not only a need for God, not only his humility in spite of God, but that God was willing to be praised with all of his might.

Conclusion

He wasn’t blinded by comfort. I think we are. I think we can miss God in thinking about how easy life is. Because God is not going to be removed from the picture whether or not we serve him. God is and always will be. But our service to God can change. It can waver if we ever remove God from the spot that he belongs at, which is first and only to be served. It is only armed with that understanding that we will love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Taking the story of King Manasseh is very encouraging because it means I can change. But it’s also a great challenge because it means I must radically follow God. If Manasseh can do it and God can forgive him, then we should too.

Will you go to God in prayer with me? My dear God, the most gracious, wonderful, power and loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for showing us time and again how much you love us, how you have cared for us, and how you offer Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We pray that we don’t make the sacrifice in vain, that we take advantage of the very body and blood of Christ that he offered for us. Thank you for sending us your word that we may learn about you and your expectations for us. Thank you for allowing us to see stories like King Manasseh’s, that you are willing to take us, even when we’re enemies, if we will submit to you, if we will humble ourselves and repent.

Help us to have the heart of those who serve you. Help us to have the heart of David. Help us to have the mind of Solomon and his wisdom to focus on serving you. Forgive us, O Lord, of when we sin and when we stumble. Keep us as we go through the study. Help us to have an open mind and open hearts to learn all that we can about your will and to apply it to our lives. Help us to live with desperation, knowing this world is not our home. Help us to press on to that higher ground to serve you the way that you expect to be served. Thank you for all of your blessings, O Lord. It’s in your Son’s name we do pray.

Amen. We’re now dismissed to our Bible classes.