The Outrageous Grace of a Sovereign God Text: 2 Chronicles 33:10-20
Introduction: The Unforgivable King
We live in a sentimental age. Our culture has a very high opinion of man and a very low opinion of sin. We have managed to convince ourselves that our trespasses are minor infractions, slight stumbles, and that God, if He exists at all, is a doting grandfather who would never dream of taking offense. But the story of Manasseh, king of Judah, is a bucket of ice water thrown on that kind of thinking. If you want to understand the grace of God, you must first understand the heinousness of sin. And Manasseh gives us a master class in heinousness.
Before our text begins, the Chronicler has already detailed the breathtaking scope of Manasseh's wickedness. He was the son of the godly king Hezekiah, but he took a sledgehammer to every one of his father's reforms. He rebuilt the high places, erected altars to Baal, and made Asherah poles. He worshiped the stars. He put carved idols and pagan altars right in the Temple of Yahweh, in the very courts where God had placed His name. He practiced sorcery and witchcraft. And, in the most grotesque act of pagan devotion, he burned his own sons as offerings in the valley of Hinnom. 2 Kings tells us he "shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another" (2 Kings 21:16). Jewish tradition holds that he had the prophet Isaiah sawn in two.
This was not a king who made a few mistakes. This was a man who systematically, enthusiastically, and publicly declared war on the God of his fathers. He was a walking, breathing, governing anti-covenant. He was, by any human standard, unforgivable. He was the monster under the bed of the Old Testament. And our text picks up right after God has sent prophets to warn him and the people, and they simply refused to listen. They plugged their ears. This is the setup for one of the most shocking displays of sovereign grace in all of Scripture. If God can save Manasseh, then there is no one, and I mean no one, who is beyond the reach of His scandalous mercy.
The Text
Then Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore Yahweh brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. And when he was in distress, he entreated Yahweh his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Then he prayed to Him, and He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and returned him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God. Afterwards, he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of Yahweh, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. And he set up the altar of Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he said for Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to Yahweh their God. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, even his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are among the chronicles of the kings of Israel. His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the Hozai. And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his place.
(2 Chronicles 33:10-20 LSB)
Sovereign Hardship (v. 10-11)
We begin with the deafness of the king and the severity of the Lord.
"Then Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore Yahweh brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon." (2 Chronicles 33:10-11)
Notice the direct line of causation. God speaks, man ignores, therefore God acts. This is the unwavering pattern of covenant history. God is not a passive observer of human rebellion. He is the sovereign Lord of history, and He uses pagan armies as His rod of discipline. The commanders of Assyria did not just happen to march on Jerusalem. Yahweh brought them. This is a frontal assault on any deistic notion that God winds up the world and lets it run. No, He governs it, down to the movement of armies and the capture of kings.
The description of the capture is brutal and humiliating. They took him "with hooks." This was a common Assyrian practice for high-value prisoners, a hook through the nose or lip, attached to a leash. This idolatrous king, who had bowed to everything but Yahweh, is now led about like a beast. He is bound in bronze chains and hauled off to Babylon. This is what the Bible calls the kindness of God. God loved Manasseh too much to leave him in his proud, idolatrous rebellion. So He sent affliction. He sent ruin. He sent humiliation. This is what we might call severe mercy. God will wreck our lives to save our souls. He will bring us to the end of ourselves so that we might, for the first time, come to the beginning of Him.
Desperate Repentance (v. 12-13)
In the darkness of a Babylonian prison, the light finally breaks through.
"And when he was in distress, he entreated Yahweh his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Then he prayed to Him, and He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and returned him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God." (2 Chronicles 33:12-13)
The text says, "when he was in distress." It often takes the hook and the chains to get our attention. It is in the foxhole that men begin to pray. But this is not mere worldly sorrow, a regret at being caught. The text says he "humbled himself greatly." This is the core of true repentance. It is not just changing your behavior; it is a fundamental change of mind, a shattering of pride. He stops justifying, stops blaming, and casts himself entirely on the mercy of the God he had so grievously offended.
And what is God's response? "He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication." This is the heart of the gospel. God is not reluctant to forgive. He is eager to forgive. He delights to show mercy. The Chronicler, writing to the post-exilic community, is holding up Manasseh as Exhibit A of God's restorative grace. If God can hear the prayer of this man, from the belly of the beast in Babylon, then He can certainly hear the prayers of His chastened people and restore them.
The result of this encounter is not just a change of location, but a change of knowledge. "Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God." This is not intellectual assent. This is experiential knowledge, the kind of knowing that comes from being rescued from the pit. He had known about Yahweh his whole life, but now he knew Him. He had been brought from death to life, and the result was a true conversion.
The Fruit of Repentance (v. 14-17)
True repentance is never just a feeling or a prayer. It always bears fruit. It gets to work. Manasseh's conversion was not a private, sentimental affair. It was public, political, and practical.
"Afterwards, he built the outer wall of the city of David... He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of Yahweh, as well as all the altars which he had built... and he threw them outside the city. And he set up the altar of Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he said for Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel." (2 Chronicles 33:14-16)
First, he gets to work securing the city. He builds up the defenses. This is a picture of restored order. A man whose life is right with God will begin to put his house, his city, in order. Second, he engages in a radical purge. He tears down what he had built up. The very idols he had installed in the Temple, he now personally removes and casts out. This is what repentance looks like. It is a violent reversal. You must hate the sin you once loved and tear it out of your life, out of your home, and out of the Lord's house.
But he does not just remove the evil; he restores the good. "He set up the altar of Yahweh." He restores true worship. And he uses his royal authority to command Judah to do the same. True repentance leads to public testimony. He who has been forgiven much, loves much, and he cannot keep it to himself. But notice the sober reality in verse 17: "Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to Yahweh their God." This is a crucial detail. Manasseh's repentance was genuine, but he could not undo all the damage he had done. He had led the people so far into sin for so long that even his radical reversal could not completely root it out. This is a solemn reminder that our sins have consequences that can outlive our repentance. We are forgiven, yes, but the scars can remain. The cultural rot he introduced took generations to purge, and in many ways, was never fully purged before the final exile.
The Recorded Grace (v. 18-20)
The passage concludes by pointing to the official records, emphasizing that this shocking story is a matter of historical fact.
"Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, even his prayer to his God... behold, they are among the chronicles of the kings of Israel. His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin... before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the Hozai." (2 Chronicles 33:18-19)
The Chronicler wants his readers to know that this is not a fairy tale. Go check the records, he says. It is written down. The full account of his sin, his prayer, and his restoration is documented. Why is this so important? Because it grounds this incredible story of grace in the bedrock of history. God's grace is not a nice idea; it is a historical force that breaks into time and space and changes the course of wicked kings.
The record includes "all his sin" and "his unfaithfulness" right alongside his prayer and God's response. The two must be held together. To appreciate the height of God's grace, you must see it against the backdrop of the depth of our sin. The blacker the velvet, the more brightly the diamond shines. The story of Manasseh is the story of the gospel written in the life of a king. It is a story of total depravity met by sovereign grace, resulting in radical transformation.
Conclusion: No Sinner Left Behind
The story of Manasseh is in the Bible to destroy our pride and obliterate our despair. It destroys our pride because if a man this wicked can be saved by grace alone, then none of us can ever stand before God on the basis of our own righteousness. Compared to Manasseh, the best of us are paragons of virtue, but before a holy God, our righteousness is as filthy rags. We all stand in need of the same grace that saved him.
But it also obliterates our despair. There is no sin so great, no rebellion so entrenched, no life so broken that it is beyond the power of God's grace. Do you think you have sinned too much? Have you met Manasseh? Do you think your past disqualifies you? Look at Manasseh. The apostle Paul would later say that he was the chief of sinners, so that in him Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life (1 Timothy 1:16). Manasseh is the Old Testament's chief of sinners, a prototype of the same outrageous grace.
God did not wait for Manasseh to clean himself up. God took the initiative. He sent the hooks and the chains of affliction to bring him to his senses. And when Manasseh, in the pit of his own making, finally turned and cried out, God was not surprised. He was waiting. He was moved. He heard. He restored.
This is the God we serve. He is a God who specializes in impossible cases. He is a God whose grace is greater than all our sin. Whatever hooks and chains He may be using in your life right now, know that they are instruments of His severe mercy. He is bringing you to the end of yourself. Do what Manasseh did. Humble yourself greatly. Pray. And you will find, as he did, that Yahweh, He is God. And He is a God who saves.