Title: Astonishing Hope For The Truly Wicked
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. 13 And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
Manasseh never should have been born. His father, King Hezekiah, was 38 years old when he got sick and the Lord told him through the prophet Isaiah, “You are going to die. You are not going to live. Put your house in order.” Interestingly enough, Elizabeth Clephane, the Scottish hymnwriter I mentioned last week, was the same age, 38, when the Lord called her home. But Hezekiah, though he was mostly a good man, was not quite the hero of faith that Elizabeth Clephane was. Because when God told him to prepare to die, he complained. He thought he deserved better because he had been so good. 2 Kings 20:3 says he prayed to God saying, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And the text says that he wept bitterly.
So God gave him 15 more years of life. And that was the worst thing that ever happened to him. 2 Chronicles 32:25 says that his heart became proud. Rather than relying on the Lord, as he had done earlier in life, he sought to rely on Babylon. He tried to form a political alliance with pagan Babylon, even to the point of showing off the temple treasures to them in a transparent attempt to say, “Look how rich I am! See what a good ally I would be.” Well, if you choose to link arms with Hitler it will come back to bite you. The prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah that future generations would pay dearly for his foolishness, and they did. Later on the Babylonians ransacked the temple and destroyed the city.
But there is something else that happened during those 15 years of extra time in Hezekiah’s life. His son Manasseh was born. The Bible says that Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. So he was born during this 15 year window. Manasseh became the longest-reigning king in the history of Israel and Judah - 55 years. He was also the wickedest king. The Bible says he did more evil than the pagan kings who were in the land before the Israel became a nation. The Bible also says that he led the people of Judah to behave wickedly. Among other things, he was a mass murderer. 2 Kings 21:16 says that that he shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. The streets ran red with the blood of the innocent during Manasseh’s reign. Among his victims were some of his own children. 2 Chronicles 33:6 says that he sacrificed his own children in the fire. The purpose of those sacrifices was to curry favor with a demon that was represented by a foreign idol.
Last week I mentioned that Job was probably the holiest man in the entire Old Testament (though maybe Daniel and Joseph could be mentioned in that conversation.) But today we are looking at the opposite extreme, and considering what may well be the wickedest man in the Old Testament. There were a total of 39 kings in the nations of Israel and Judah. Some of them were pretty bad, but Manasseh was the worst. You could not find two men more different than Job and Manasseh. They represent for us opposite poles of moral behavior.
Would there be any way to get through to Manasseh to turn him around? I can illustrate how difficult that would be. Two weeks ago a coworker of mine at Flavorchem, Isaac, came to me and said, “I’ve got good news.” Isaac himself has been a Christian about 5 years. Before that he was an atheist, didn’t believe in God at all, much less Jesus Christ. But God did a work in his life, and through some severe trauma and he trusted Christ. The good news he wanted to share with me was that his brother-in-law was coming to Christ. His sister’s husband. The surprising thing about that was that his brother-in-law had always been a hard-core atheist himself, very opposed to hearing anything about God or religion or Jesus.
But recently a coworker of that brother-in-law said to him, “You love your sons, right?” Of course. He has two sons, both teenagers. “You would do anything for your sons, you would lay down your life for them, right?” “Yes, yes, I would die for them.” “Well,” he said, “that is how much God loves us. Jesus laid down his life for us. Jesus willingly died for us just the way you would willingly die for your sons.”
Somehow that struck a chord with this man. I don’t know that that approach will work for everyone. But the idea that he could be loved by God in the way that his sons were so deeply loved by him affected him. It rattled him in a good way, and drove him to acknowledge the God who, up to that point, he had refused to believe in.
What if we tried that approach with Manasseh? Imagine saying to him, “Manasseh, you know how much you love your children?” He would have stopped you right there and said, “Love them? I burned them in the fire when I needed a favor from Molech.”
How do you make spiritual headway with a man like that - a man so wicked that you can’t even appeal to him on the basis of something so fundamental as fatherly affection? Manasseh brings to my mind the handful of people I have known through the years who are so evil that I literally don’t want to be in the same room with them. To me these few people seem too far gone, too toxic. Like they’re the living dead. With such people you think there is no way you could make spiritual progress with them because you can’t gain a foothold in the sheer vertical wall of their stone-cold narcissism. There seems to be no humanity that you could appeal to.
The prophet Isaiah wasn’t able to get through to Manasseh. According to ancient Jewish tradition, Manasseh killed the prophet Isaiah by having him sawn in half. That story isn’t in the Bible in so many words, but it may be referred to in Hebrews 11:37, which says of certain heroes of the faith, “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword.” That might refer to what Manasseh did to Isaiah.
Nobody could get through to Manasseh. Well, nobody but God. Verses 10 and 11 of our text in 2 Chronicles 33 say, The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.
That got Manasseh’s attention. Words meant nothing to him - he wouldn’t listen to God or the prophets. But then came the moment when the Lord completely wrecked his life. God gave permission to the Assyrian king Esarhaddon to invade Jerusalem, capture Manasseh and shackle him with chains. The text says that he put a hook in Manasseh’s nose. That’s literal. It is not a metaphor. We have ancient historical records to the effect that the Assyrian king would put a hook through the nose and or mouth of his conquered rivals and attach that to a rope so that the humiliated former king could be led along like a fish on a hook. Manasseh was dethroned, tortured, humiliated, and led away captive.
As I say, that got his attention. He humbled himself before the Lord, and cried out to him. He sought the Lord’s favor. And God did what God always does when sinners cry out to him in shame and remorse and penitent humility. God had mercy on him. The text says the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.
The Bible has a constant, consistent record of truly evil people calling out to God in their desolation, and God hears their cry and has mercy on them. Here is a rapid-fire list of 6 such individuals.
Number 1, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. At one point he set up a golden statue and decreed, “Worship this idol or you will be burned alive.” But later God afflicted him with an illness that turned him into a lunatic for 7 years. When he recovered he sought the Lord’s favor, and then he said this: Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Daniel 4:37)
Number 2, the king of Ninevah. The Ninevite kings were as cruel and violent as Manasseh. But in Jonah chapter 3 we read this: When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Number 3, the tax collector in a story Jesus told. The tax collectors of Jesus’ day were regarded as traitors to their own people. They enriched themselves by extorting money from fellow Jews so as to increase tax revenue for the oppressive Roman government. One of these human swine stood at a distance from the temple, ashamed to get near, looked down and said “God be merciful to me the sinner.” God was merciful to him. Jesus said he went home justified.
Number 4, the prodigal son in another story Jesus told. This idiot held his good father in contempt and demanded inheritance money ahead of time. Then he spent that money on liquor and prostitutes. He came to his senses, went home and in utter humiliation and shame begged his dad to take him back as a humble servant. His dad, a symbol for God in the story, received him with joy and forgave him.
Number 5, the criminal on the cross next to Jesus. We don’t know exactly what his crime was, most likely some form of terrorism. It was so bad that he himself acknowledged that he deserved to die a death by torture. In his shame he humbly begged Jesus to remember him. And as one preacher imaginatively put it, dying Jesus said, “Hold on death! I can’t die yet. There’s a sinner calling on me.” Jesus absolved him and promised him paradise.
Number 6, a man who actually confessed, “I was the worst of sinners.” That’s saying a lot. But the apostle Paul, before he became a Christian, hunted down Christians and signed their death warrants. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and when Paul realized he had been opposing the Son of God who loved him and died for sinners like him, he was so overcome with shame and remorse that he did not eat or drink for 3 days. Perhaps just hours before he would have died of dehydration, he heard the gospel of Jesus, believed, was forgiven and baptized. Thirty years later he was still remembering that moment, and wrote this (in 1st Timothy 1): I was a persecutor, a blasphemer and a violent man…Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
This constantly repeated pattern of God being merciful to the worst of sinners when they humble themselves before him in shame did not stop in the first century AD with the closing of the New Testament cannon. It has continued for 2,000 years right up to this present moment. The most famous example is probably John Newton. He was the captain of a slave ship in the 1750s. He said that earlier in his life he was so depraved that he bragged that there was no sin that he not committed. But God turned him around. He felt deep remorse for his crimes and he never forgot about them. Decades later he said, “I have lived for years with the company of 20,000 ghosts - those I made into slaves. Their blood is on my hands." John Newton became a pastor and an ardent abolitionist and labored hard to end slavery, and wrote the hymn Amazing Grace: "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Moving forward to this century we have David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam” killer who terrorized New York in the mid 1970s, killing 6 people and wounding 11 others. He’s still alive. He’s 72 years old, in prison. He acknowledges that he deserves to be in prison and will never get out – he will die there. He became a Christian some years ago, and he grieves the horrible crimes he committed when he was a lunatic. My nephew was a prison guard in the New York penitentiary system who knew David Berkowitz personally. He says that Berkowitz is a model prisoner and a man of God. What I am saying to you is that King Manasseh is not the only serial killer upon whom God has had mercy. These shocking stories of God’s grace on the pages of Scripture come alive in our day before our very eyes.
One more, and this will surely blow the mind of anyone who has not heard the story. Jeffrey Dahmer. I have decided not to speak to you here this morning of the specific nature of his crimes because they are too gruesome and graphic to be mentioned in polite company. I don’t want to trigger anyone or make you sick.
At his trial, Dahmer took full responsibility for his crimes. He said in his closing statement, “I know my time in prison will be terrible, but I deserve whatever I get because of what I have done. Thank you, your honor, and I am prepared for your sentence, which I know will be the maximum. I ask for no consideration.”
In prison, Dahmer asked for a Bible. He trusted Christ, and was baptized. He repeatedly affirmed that he deserved whatever punishment he got, including death. On November 28, 1994, a fellow prisoner, Christopher Scarver, bludgeoned him to death. Scarver later testified that Dahmer did not resist or cry out. In fact his last words, according to Scarver were, “I don’t care if I live or die. Go ahead and kill me.”
Last week I told you that I would like to meet in heaven the hymnwriter Elizabeth Clephane, a godly woman and a saint among saints. I’d like to thank her for her words and her example. It’s a stunning thing to realize that also in heaven we will be able to meet with King Manasseh and Jeffrey Dahmer, and celebrate with them God’s extraordinary grace to the worst of sinners.
All of the redeemed souls I have mentioned these past two weeks - from saints like Job and Elizabeth Clephane to beasts like Manasseh and Jeffrey Dahmer – all of them have something in common.
In a word, it’s shame. Embarrassment, guilt, regret, remorse. It’s the thing that drives them to God, in whom alone there is mercy, forgiveness, welcome, and then, ultimately, joy unspeakable in the presence of God.
It is for that reason that when, back in February, I heard a heretical sermon from a guest preacher at an evangelical church in which he condemned shame as a bad thing, I contacted the pastor of that church and said, “If you don’t preach a rebuttal sermon I’d be happy to do it myself.” That bad sermon and the discussion that followed with the pastor provided the impetus for me to prepare these past two messages for you here. Because I find that the efforts to reject shame and denounce it as a demonic thing have crept into the church - and that imperils the souls of those who are deceived by this false teaching.
Therefore I say to each of you in dead earnestness, “You don’t have to beware of shame.” You have to beware of pride. The heretical guest preacher said shame is a disfigurement of who we are and a dishonor of who God is. Wrong. Pride is a disfigurement of who we are and a dishonor of who God is. I beg you to recoil from the attitude that says, “I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.” That’s the poison, that’s the soul killer. The Bible says repeatedly, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” I have tried to show you that great saints like Job and Elizabeth Clephane humble themselves before God. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, notorious villains like King Manasseh and Jeffrey Dahmer, when they do the same, when they humble themselves before God, they find that God’s mercy extends even as far as them.
But you must know that there remain some people who don’t want God’s mercy. They don’t think they need it. They believe they are worthy of God’s love. And they are insulted by the notion that they must penitently beg God for the grace he freely offers.
This month, July 2025, an article appeared in the liberal Christian journal The Christian Century with the title “Dear Jesus, Am I Broken Enough Yet?” It was written by ex-evangelical Mackenzie Watson-Fore. In that article she lambasts her evangelical upbringing for trying to make her feel guilty. She ends her essay by writing that she wishes now she could go back to visit her 15-year-old self and take her younger self by the hand. Her 15-year-old self says, “Don’t I need to be forgiven?” Her adult self shakes her head and says, “Nothing is wrong with you. This is the good news.” The article ends there.
“Nothing is wrong with you.” Is that the good news?
The words “good news” are a literal translation of the Greek word for “gospel.” That’s what the word gospel means – good news. In all 76 occurrences of that word in the New Testament it never means there is nothing wrong with you. Rather it frequently refers to the fact that there is a Savior, Jesus Christ, who loves sinners so much he died for them, and rose again for them. Believe in him and you will be forgiven and saved. That’s the good news. He won’t force his forgiveness on you if you don’t want it because you don’t think you need it. But his forgiveness is there for the asking for any penitent souls who bow their heads humbly before him. That includes Job, Elizabeth Clephane, King Manasseh, Jeffrey Dahmer, and you, and me.
Let us pray.
Father in heaven, I pray that no one here would believe the devil’s lie that there is nothing wrong with us. Thank you for this opportunity to rebut the heretic who said that shame is a disfigurement of who we are a dishonor of who you are. Before this congregation I say to you publically that I am ashamed of my sin, and I am as much in need of your mercy as anyone else. God, you know how I stand in this pulpit not as a worthy saint qualified to condemn others and throw stones at them, but as a poor beggar who tells others where they too can find food. By your mercy use this spoken or written word to capture the heart of some poor sinner so that in his or her miserable shame he or she might turn to you and receive eternal grace through Jesus Christ your Son in whose name we pray, Amen.
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