I want you to take your Bibles with you tonight and turn to 2 Kings chapter 21. We're going to read most of this chapter tonight and we're going to be in 2 Chronicles 33 as well. The story we're going to talk about tonight is the story of King Manassah.
Now there is famous and there is infamous. George Washington is famous. Jeffrey Dahmer was infamous. Winston Churchill was famous. Adolf Hitler was infamous. Charles Spurgeon was famous. Jack the Ripper was infamous.
Of all of the kings of both Israel and Judah, Manassah is the one who is the most infamous. When you think of bad kings, you probably think of King Ahab and Jezebel, the wicked king of Israel. Actually Ahab was tame compared to King Manassah. Manassah makes a strong case for being the wickedest person in the entire Scripture.
We get to read his story tonight. Are you in 2 Kings 21? Let's read together.
Let's start by reading the first three verses of this chapter because I want to lay out the pedigree of Manassah.
[1] Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah.
[2] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
[3] For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
2 Kings 21:1-3 (KJV)
Manassah was the son of one of the most godly kings in all of the Bible. He was the son of Hezekiah. He was actually born during the fifteen years that God gave Hezekiah extra time. He was born during overtime. Manassah got to reign for 55 years. This is the longest reign of any king in both the history of Israel and the history of Judah.
When you think about the other kings of Israel and Judah that were wicked, Manassah stands out in that he knew better. Manassah didn't come from the Northern Kingdom, where there wasn't a good king at all during their entire history. Manassah is the son of one of the godliest people in the history of Judah.
And yet he was straight-up wicked. Let's read a little bit more and find out how he was wicked.
[4] And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
[5] And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
[6] And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
[7] And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
[8] Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
[9] But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.
2 Kings 21:4-9 (KJV)
Listen to some of the stuff this guy did. His father had destroyed all of the high places, all these places where people worship false gods, and Manasseh built them back on purpose, purposely undoing what his father had done. He goes and starts building altars to Baal and worshiping Baal. He goes and brings altars into the temple and brings false gods into the temple. He brings the idolatry of the Babylonians, which is kind of new, and starts setting that up in the temple. He brings in pornographic idols to Ashtoreth and sets those up in God's holy temple.
He sets up altars for child sacrifice and offers his own children, his own sons, as child sacrifice, burnt alive outside of Jerusalem. He personally goes to witches and wizards and deals with mediums. This is a wicked, wicked man.
And listen, he wasn't doing it in a vacuum. It's not like God stopped talking. Some of the greatest prophets that lived in the Old Testament prophesied during the reign of Manasseh:
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Habakkuk
- Zephaniah
These guys stood up and preached against the sins of Manasseh. Look at verse 10:
[10] And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying,
[11] Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:
[12] Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
[13] And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.
[14] And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;
[15] Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.
2 Kings 21:10-15 (KJV)
God used these prophets to stand up to Manasseh and tell him that he was going to judge him with the same standard that he judged Israel and Samaria. The same thing was going to happen to Jerusalem as happened to Israel and Samaria. God said, "I've been patient with your people ever since the days of Egypt. I've been patient for a long time and I'm done being patient because of your wickedness."
Look at verse 16:
[16] Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
2 Kings 21:16 (KJV)
When God looked at this long 55-year reign of Manasseh, God said, "You have shed so much innocent blood that you have filled the streets of Jerusalem with innocent blood. You made Judah sin. God had given the kings the responsibility to lead people to the Lord, and Manasseh had spent his entire long reign leading people away from the Lord, doing evil in the sight of the Lord."
Now the Bible doesn't tell us this, but Jewish history tells us that the prophet Isaiah died a martyr's death, being sawn in half while he was alive with a wooden saw. This is probably true because Isaiah's name is not referenced, but this act is referenced in Hebrews chapter 11, where it talks about how some of God's saints were sawn asunder. Do you want to guess which king history thinks cut Isaiah in half with a wooden saw? It was Manassah, and that was not out of character for him at all. He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.
So let's read the last couple of verses here about Manasseh's life, verses 17-18:
[17] Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
[18] And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
2 Kings 21:17-18 (KJV)
So that's it then. Manasseh dies, Manasseh's buried. Good riddance. His son Amon reigns in his stead. Another one bites the dust. Another wicked king is gone from the scene. Good thing.
Manasseh was awful. We've talked about the Mount Rushmore of the good kings of Israel and Judah, and we've talked about who should be there: Hezekiah, Solomon, and David. It's pretty easy to see that Manasseh was the worst, the absolute worst king, maybe the most wicked person that we are introduced to in the entire Bible.
He is a murderer. He is a devil worshiper. He is a killer of the prophets. He is somebody who is working hard to get God's people to stop following the Lord. He's a desecrator of God's house, putting pornographic, devil-inspired idols in God's holy temple. Other passages of Scripture tell us that it's because of the sin of Manassah that God decided to send Judah into captivity.
So here lives this king and he is bad, bad, bad, and he dies. But is that it?
Actually, it isn't. As Paul Harvey used to say, "And now the rest of the story." Because for some reason the book of 2 Chronicles gives us an amazing detail that the book of 2 Kings does not. 2 Chronicles 33 includes all of the list of terrible things that Manasseh did. But it also includes a story that, for whatever reasons, Kings does not, and it changes this whole thing.
Look with me at 2 Chronicles 33. The first 10 verses essentially repeat everything in 2 Kings 21. Not as much detail, but it lists all of the awful sins of Manasseh.
But it gets really interesting in verse 11:
[11] Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 33:11 (KJV)
This shouldn't be a surprise, right? The Assyrians were awful terrorists and they'd already had it out for Judah. God had the captain of the hosts of the king of Assyria come and take Manassah away. History tells us they put a ring through his nose and dragged him to Babylon in captivity. This longest-reigning king of Israel or Judah ends his reign in utter humiliation.
But then something amazing happens. Look at verse 12:
[12] And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
2 Chronicles 33:12 (KJV)
Manasseh, the worst king, the wickedest man in the Old Testament, is being judged by God — and he deserves it. He's being humiliated and imprisoned by the Babylonians. And he deserves it.
But he does the strangest thing — he cries out to God. Not the false gods he put altars up to in the Temple. But the true God. He really humbles himself and repents and cries out to God.
And do you know what God does? To this man who is the wickedest man in the entire Old Testament? To this man who killed sweet baby innocent children, who put pornography and prostitution in the Temple, who sawed men of God in half, who did everything he could in his whole life to make God angry?
What does God do to him? Does he say "Huh? You??? You think you have the right to pray to me?? You who have made such a mess of my people? You who have scorned all my laws?? Go away Manasseh."
How many of you think that is what God did?
That's not what God did. Look what God did in verse 13:
[13] And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.
2 Chronicles 33:13 (KJV)
God heard his prayer and God restored him.
Do you know what I think? I think Manasseh is in heaven today. I think he is there at the feet of Jesus with the very prophets he sawed in half, with the very babies he offered in fiery sacrifice.
God restored him. God gave Manasseh his kingdom back. And for the last, I don't know, maybe four or five years of Manasseh's life, he was actually a really good king.
Look at verses 14-15.
[14] Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.
[15] And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of 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 cast them out of the city.
[16] And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:14-16 (KJV)
Manasseh spent the last years of his life building up the city, protecting it, and getting rid of the gods and idols he had set up, pointing people back to the Lord. Trying to restore the worship of God that he had destroyed.
Wow. Just wow.
Church, when I started studying for this message, I thought it was going to be about a wicked man and how bad a person could get. A lot of this chapter, and in fact the whole part recorded for us in 2 Kings, is about that. Manasseh was bad, but this isn't a story about a wicked man. It's a story about a gracious and merciful God.
So with that in mind, I just want to remind you of three things that this story reminds me of.
1. We should not lose hope for people, no one is too far gone for God.
If there was ever a man we could look at and say, “That guy is just too far gone. That guy will never trust Christ. That guy will never turn back to the Lord,” it would be Manasseh. Probably five decades of his life were spent in outright rebellion against the holy God. he knew what he was doing. He had the prophet speaking to him, and he had the example of his godly father, Hezekiah. He knew what he was rejecting, and he did it anyway, with spite, for five decades.
And yet in his midnight hour he turns back to the Lord.
Maybe you have a son or daughter you've been praying for who has rejected the Lord and is living in sin. Other people may look at them, and you may look at them and say, "There's no way. They've rejected too much for too long. They could never come back to Jesus. They could never come and trust God now. They've made their decision."
Don't lose hope. Keep praying.
God might bring affliction into their life and make them realize how much fools they have been. They might turn to Him wholeheartedly in repentance, like Manasseh did.
So don't lose hope.
The second thing that I think this story teaches us loud and clear is...
2. No one is beyond the grace and mercy of God.
I don't want to go over and over the sins of Manasseh. Here are the categories of sins he committed:
- Religious: He openly worshipped false gods.
- Spiritual: He communed with demons.
- Against children: He sacrificed children in beautiful, brutal, barbaric ways.
- Sexual: He brought pornography into the house of God and defiled the temple.
- Cruel: He murdered the prophets.
- Intentional: His sins affected others.
Manassah just kept piling the sins up, higher and higher and higher, building a stronger and stronger record of sin. I want to tell you something about the sins of Manassah: they were not stronger than the blood of Jesus.
Surely surely, as wicked as you may think yourself to be, you've not come close to the wickedness of Manassah.
From time to time, someone will say, "You don't know what I've done!" Yeah, but I know what others have done, and God has forgiven them. I know what Manasseh did, and God forgave him and restored him.
God's mercy is radical, far more than us. I think most of us, if we had been in Judah and we'd been godly people, would have wanted to see Manasseh judged. We would have wanted to see him burn. We wanted God to just let him have it, but God let Jesus have it in Manasseh's place.
You see that's how grace works. God doesn't forgive people who don't need his forgiveness. God forgives sinners. God forgives the wicked.
And that leads me to one more thing I want to bring your attention to that this story reminds me of.
3. Manasseh got to heaven the same way we did, through the mercy and grace of Jesus.
So, as we close tonight, let me ask you: who have you given up on? Maybe it’s someone in your family, maybe it’s a friend, maybe it’s even yourself. Manasseh’s story isn't just about his redemption—it’s about the God who offers it. If the wickedest man in the Old Testament can be restored, there is no one—absolutely no one—outside the reach of His grace. If you've been waiting for a reason to keep praying, this is it. The story isn't over yet.
Do not think for a second that you get to go to heaven because you're good. You do not get to go to heaven because of your church attendance record, your Bible memorization plan, how many times you've read through the Scriptures, or how many times you prayed. All of us go to heaven the same way: through the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus.
