The Apostle Paul once
referred to himself as “the
chief of sinners.” I trust that
he meant it. After all, the closer any man draws to God, the more undone he is
by his own sin legacy. Paul could not fathom of anyone with acts more grievous
or stains darker than his own. Any sin is sufficient to estrange any person
from God. Yet, what truly devastates any of us is a glimpse of God’s holiness,
which shines the light of truth upon all of our sins, revealing them to be the
horrors that they truly are.
However, if we can step
back and look at things from an historical perspective, reflecting on the
damage that one man’s actions have done to the world around him, Paul is hardly
the first man we think of when we consider the most evil men who ever lived.
Paul’s claim to the title “chief of sinners” is
challenged. It was a real claim to him, but it takes on an aura of rhetorical
flourish for most of us. If we simply limit the competition for chief of
sinners to Bible characters, I am not persuaded that Paul would even qualify
for the tournament, much less make the Sweet 16 or the Final Four.
In the annals of the Old Testament, there may be no more notorious sinner than
Manasseh. He was as evil as any king who ever led Judah. What is somewhat
perplexing is that he was the son of Hezekiah. Manasseh’s father was not a perfect king, but he did walk as closely
with God as any king since David, and no king in Judah more righteous than
Hezekiah ever followed him.
… 5He
trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like
him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before
him. 6For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from
following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded
Moses. 7And the Lord was with him; wherever he went
out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not
serve him. – 2 Kings 18:5-7
Nevertheless, great
advantages and a sound fatherly example did not prove sufficient to restrain
Manasseh from the vilest sins conceivable for any king over God’s people. Everything that his father had built in terms of
restoring the worship of JEHOVAH in Judea, Manasseh dragged down. Hezekiah fought
against idolatry. Manasseh reintroduced it with brazen abandon. He even erected
idols IN the temple of God.
Still, undoing his
father’s reforms barely scratches the surface of the despicable things Manasseh
did. He worshipped the heavenly bodies. He practiced divination, sorcery,
witchcraft, and he consulted mediums. HE OFFERED HIS OWN SONS AS SACRIFICES TO PAGAN DEITIES! Under
Manasseh, Judah fell into such a deep spiritual morass, that God’s judgment
against the nation could not be reversed. In fact, the inspired historian specifically
referenced the sins of Manasseh in later days as the cause behind the fall of
Judah.
… 3Surely
this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his
sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had
done, 4and also for the innocent blood that he had shed.
For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not
pardon. – 2 Kings 24:3, 4
Not even Paul could list
anything quite like that on his resume when applying for the moniker, “chief of sinners.”
But, there is a “page 2”
of the story as Paul Harvey might have put it, not so historically significant,
but even more captivating. An earlier siege sponsored by the Babylonians
actually occurred during Manasseh’s reign. The military commanders of the king
of Assyria attacked Jerusalem and took Manasseh captive. As their prisoner was
Judah’s king, the Assyrians felt compelled to do all they could to humiliate
him. They carried Manasseh away to Babylon, bound in bronze shackles and with a
hook in his nose. However …
… when he was
in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and
humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13He
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. – 2
Chronicles 33:12, 13
Down is not the worst
place to be, especially, if by the grace of God it causes a man to see the
helplessness of his own estate and to cry out to God. That is precisely what
Manasseh did.
It would be difficult
for even the most tender of Christians to look upon Manasseh’s repentance
without some degree of skepticism. I distinctly remember when
serial-killer/cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer professed to have turned to Christ. There
were people in my church who scoffed; they did not buy it for one minute. One
of my favorite people ever was a tenderhearted prison minister. She went
through seasons when even people close to her thought she might be a little
gullible when she rejoiced over some inmate turning to God. I do not mean to come
across as gullible by mentioning such anecdotes. I lack the insight to monitor
the authenticity of another person’s repentance.
This I do know: God’s
grace is more than adequate to remove all such stains. The great Reader of
human hearts sees that which we cannot, and God was moved with compassion in
response to Manasseh’s pleas. Not surprisingly, God will always be right even
when the skeptic is wrong. The repentance of Manasseh was genuine. Once the
king was restored to his home in Jerusalem, he did what he could to reverse the
harm he had done. The damage was too great, and the future of the nation was
sealed, but Manasseh was a changed man.
Have you ever wondered
if there is such a thing as going “one sin too far”? Take comfort in knowing
that Jesus came to save sinners and simply put, God’s grace is greater than the
deepest sin of even “the
chief of sinners,” that is,
whoever really owns the title.
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