Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20040620.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSING IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part LVIII: Encouragement To Heed God In The WORST Of Evil Times
(2 Kings 21:1-26; 2 Chronicles 33:1-25 and 1 Kings 13:1-2)
  1. Introduction
    1. When evil people with evil deeds seem to abound in their sin, it is tempting even for the devout believer in Christ to want to throw up his hands and say, "What's the use of living righteously?"
    2. As an encouragement to heed God in the worst of evil times, we view the lives of king Manasseh and his son, Amon who ruled on David's throne shortly before God judged Judah by the Babylonian Captivity:
  2. Encouragement To Heed God In The WORST Of Evil Times, 2 Kings 21; 2 Chron. 33; 1 Kings 13:1f.
    1. Hezekiah's son, king Manasseh, practiced such great evil that God responded by promising to send the nation of Judah into captivity as He had the Northern Kingdom of Israel, 2 Kings 21:1-16:
      1. Though he was godly Hezekiah's son, Manasseh set his heart to practice great evil, 2 Kings 20:21-21:2.
      2. In fact, he did greater evil than had the wicked Gentiles God had caused Israel to displace from the land (2 Kings 21:9), and his wickedness is detailed in 2 Kings 21:3-8, 16:
        1. Manasseh built up the pagan high places that his father had destroyed and reared up altars to Baal and made a grove to the Asherah and worshipped the stellar bodies, 2 Kings 21:3.
        2. He even built pagan altars in the courts of God's temple: he built altars there for the gods of the stars (21:4-5), he made his sons pass through the fire (21:6a) and participated in the occult and spiritism, doing much to provoke God to wrath, 2 Kings 21:6b,c,d.
        3. Manasseh even set an image of the pagan Ashera in God's temple, an especially heinous sin in view of God's explicit statement to king David, Manasseh's ancestor, that the temple would be the central place that upheld God's name before men, 2 Kings 21:7.
        4. This deed was also quite reckless in light of the fact that God had promised to keep Israel from being taken captive by Gentiles were she to obey Him in the Mosaic Law, 2 Kings 21:8.
        5. On top of this, Manasseh killed many innocent people in Jerusalem, 2 Kings 21:16: Jewish tradition holds he brutally killed the godly and great prophet, Isaiah, Bible Knowledge Com., O.T., p. 580.
      3. Accordingly, God predicted He would bring great calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, treating it as He had Samaria in its fall and deportation to Assyria, 2 Kings 21:12-15.
    2. Yet, in great forbearance, God worked with Manasseh, giving him a chance to repent, 2 Chron. 33:11-16:
      1. 2 Chronicles 33:11 reveals God judged Manasseh for such sins to be taken captive by the Assyrians to Babylon with hooks being placed through his nostrils, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn.
      2. This event brought Manasseh to his senses, and he repented with God graciously restoring him to his throne, 2 Chronicles 33:12-13a.
      3. In this disciplinary action by God, Manasseh realized God was the only true God (2 Chronicles 33:13b), so when he was restored, he did much to remove idolatry from the land, 2 Chron. 33:14-16.
      4. However, he still tolerated the high places to be used for worship opposite God's explicit will found in Deuteronomy 12:5, Ibid., Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 2 Kings 33:17.
    3. Then, after Manasseh's reign, Amon ruled in great wickedness, so God allowed Amon to be assassinated in his own palace, 2 Chronicles 33:21-24 in view of Deuteronomy 28:15, 20.
    4. With the great wickedness of Manasseh and then of his son, Amon, we might wonder why God did not send Judah into captivity without giving Manasseh a second chance and without even letting wicked Amon come to Judah's throne. Yet, nearly 300 years before, God had promised the arrival of a king in Judah named Josiah who would desecrate Jeroboam's infamous altar at Bethel, 1 Kings 13:1-2; Ryrie, ftn. Since Josiah would arise after Amon according to 2 Kings 21:26, and since God so anticipated Josiah's stand against Jeroboam's infamous altar, He graciously held off Judah's judgment until Josiah arrived!
Lesson: So EARNEST was God that good king JOSIAH arise to DESECRATE Jeroboam's false idol that had caused SO MUCH EVIL in Israel, He VERY GRACIOUSLY worked with grotesquely evil Manasseh and tolerated his evil son, Amon to reign so that JOSIAH could ARISE and fulfill His will!

Application: Regardless of the great EVIL that abounds, if WE like good JOSIAH desire to live TRUE to GOD'S WILL, God will GLADLY PREPARE the way for us to DO so even as He did for Josiah!