Manasseh

[Read 2 Chronicles 33:10-13]

And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

Most people know Darth Vader as a bad guy. For many of us, the first time we saw him he choked a guy by lifting him off the ground, captured the princess, and killed Ben Kenobi. He’s the ultimate evil.

Until Episode 6 winds down, and he makes a noble choice, ridding the galaxy of the Emperor and saving his son. At that moment, you cheer for the former bad guy who had a change of heart. We forgive his wrongs, right before he dies.

Manasseh was a man whose story is marked by evil. He’s ridiculously bad. 2 Chronicles 33:6 says, “He burned his sons as an offering…” in the valley of Gehenna, which Jesus uses in the New Testament to describe the opposite of life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Life in Jerusalem was more evil than in the days before God’s people entered the land.

Pretty bad. Is Manasseh redeemable? Can anything good come from this?

As it turns out, yes and yes. In the distress of God’s discipline, Manasseh humbled himself…and, God was moved. It’s pretty miraculous that a guy who seems so far gone would repent…but, it might be the bigger miracle that God would grant him mercy, return him to his throne, and give him a place in the ancestry of Christ. But, that’s what happens.

Are we ready to cheer for Manasseh? Are we ready to cheer for God overcoming evil for good? This is one of the most incredible repentance stories in the Scriptures, and I believe his name is written in the Book of Life. 

Pastor James Gomez
Prince of Peace Lutheran – Sturgeon Bay



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