I’ve thought about this for years.

Wondering how many times the Bible teaches us Christians to do something “one to another,” in a common bond of love and respect.

I think it’s “time” to maybe share some of those thoughts here on the Website.

And, though the first actual “one to another” statement will not be presented until tomorrow morning, I will mention today that these “commands” seem to come in several different categories.

The largest group seems to concentrate on our being “unified” as Brothers and Sisters in Christ. As in Mark 9:50, for example. “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, AND HAVE PEACE ONE WITH ANOTHER.” Mark’s (really Jesus was talking) thought here must be considered “in context.” Our Western minds do not initially associate “salt” and “peace,” do they?

A second group of the “one another’s” of the Bible seem to emphasize “love.” (You can be at “peace” with someone without really “loving” them, you know!) Yes, occurring repeatedly in the New Testament is the clause “Love one another.” (I this morning found it 13 times in 12 verses!) Here’s John 13:34, Jesus: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye LOVE ONE ANOTHER; as I have loved you, that ye also LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” Wow, how thrilling!

Then yet a third group of such commands seem to focus on “humility.” Romans 12:16 is the classic example. “BE OF THE SAME MIND ONE TOWARD ANOTHER. Mind not high things, but CONDESCEND to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.” Yes, humility. Do not be “smart alecks” one to another! Or “know it all’s!”

Lastly a fourth group would need to be catalogued “miscellaneous.” Covering a range of subjects, issues of life. Like this one, very clear: “LIE NOT ONE TO ANOTHER, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.” Colossians 3:9, truthfulness.

Again, we shall delve a little deeper tomorrow, the Lord willing.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Overall, in the study of the Monarchs of Judah, King Manasseh is relegated to obscurity.

Once the Kingdom of Israel “split,” after the reigns of Saul and David and Solomon, Rehoboam (son of Solomon) was its first sitting Ruler. Thus he gets a lot of attention, particularly as an unwise man.

King Asa and his foot disease gets a lot of ink (written commentary) as well.

And so does Jehoshaphat, with his unequal yoke to wicked King Ahab of Israel.

Even a Queen (apostate Athaliah) gets a load of attention. She nearly killed all the “godly line” of royalty! But the Lord intervened … and young Joash soon rules the Land.

The great King Uzziah also is familiar, being associated with the ministry of the Prophet Isaiah.

So are the “revivalist” Kings well known, both Hezekiah and Josiah.

Even the last few Kings (merely puppets, really) get a good bit of Bible coverage. Each (Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah) ineffectively led the Nation of Judah in her last days, before (Babylonian) captivity.

So … and maybe justly … Manasseh’s Story is often overlooked.

But I am glad we have invested the time these past few mornings studying him.

What great Lessons we have covered in the subjects of …

Missed opportunities.

The influence of evil.

The danger of compromise.

The reality of God’s discipline in a man’s life.

The potential pain of disobeying God.

The power of a humbled heart … in the sight of God!

The nearly unprecedented release of a rebellious captive!

A rebuilding effort of Manasseh’s part, repairing things he had once destroyed.

And an insincere Revival in Judah, half hearted at best.

Then, lastly, the tragedy of a family lost to the influence of sin.

Yes, those ancient things of bygone years (the Old Testament to us Christians) truly are written for our warning, admonition and learning.

“Lord, help us to be good students!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I am reading a book about the Devil. In preparation for a series of Sermons on that Liar! (I want to use Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28 as my basic Text material.) But my point: last night in chapter 2 of that Monograph I came across an unforgettable sentence. “Sin triggers the law of ‘unintended consequences!'” I underlined that clause, placed (drew) a red “heart” by it at the bottom of the page, and initialed my little “Worth the Whole Book” symbol there as well!

To me that powerful little line … Sin triggers the law of unintended consequences … means that when one sins, there is “no telling” what the consequences might be, of that unwise act! The “wages” of sin are, in many cases, extreme! (Even in your garden this Summer … you will reap MORE that you sow! Just 2 kernels of corn, the “seed,” planted in the ground will … hopefully … yield a thousand-fold, many whole ears on the stalk in just a few weeks!) The “seed” of sin is no less prolific! You can’t sow your “wild oats” then pray for “crop failure!” (Someone right now may be smirking and saying: “I sinned and got by. No heavy grief to bear, no loss of reputation, no tarnishing of character” … BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG! “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:9, a clear promise from God.)

Well, all that to say this … about King Manasseh of Judah.

Though he “was humbled” and repented of his many sins … and tried to make things “right” in the eyes of God and the Jewish people … his evil deeds brought a “bumper crop” of consequences nonetheless!

Let me show you what I mean, in part. “So Manasseh slept (died) with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them; and humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.”

Though “Dad” tried to “reverse” all his wrongdoings … the Son did not heed those “come-too-late” actions!

So his Boy continued in sin.

Continued in those very sins his Father had introduced (taught, modeled, maybe even encouraged by example) in front of all Judah!

I read this once, or heard it in a Semon: “That wrong thing a Parent does in moderation … a child well may do in excess!”

Wow!

Far better to not sin in the first place … than sin and repent … only to discover many followed you down the wrong path … and did not turn around (come back to God) as you did … but continued to their destruction!

It’s still wise to pray: “Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:13

Manasseh ended strong.

His Son Amon did not.

Reader, and writer today, take heed!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Finally … it happens to everyone.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

And here’s virtually all the Bible tells us about King Manasseh’s death. “So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.” 2nd Chronicles 33:20

The King lived a relatively long life, based on antiquity’s scale anyway. We even know his age at death … 67 years old. Remember, he reigned over Judah 55 years! And inherited the throne at the death of His Father Hezekiah, when the lad (Manasseh) was merely 12 years of age. “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.” 2nd Chronicles 33:1, inspired history.

The expression “slept with his fathers” merely means he “died,” passed away, breathed his last, expired.

Do notice that he was buried, not cremated.

God only “cremated” His enemies. Think Sodom and Gomorrah!

Many of the Kings of that noble Land were buried together, in a plot reserved for such heroes. Manasseh was NOT given this honor. His sinful life had done too much damage, I suspect.

Manasseh just rated being buried “in his own house!”

Yes, the King’s repentance was REAL … but so was the terrible carnage he left behind from decades of bold, ungodly living!

And then, as was the case in Israel (Judah) … Manasseh’s son reigned “in his stead.”

And, as we shall soon see, Amon followed in the steps of his Father. Not the “good” Manasseh, but the “evil” one!

Yes, sin does have “wages!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Lord willing, more tomorrow morning.

 

Today we study 2nd Chronicles 33:19. It’s a summary of the life of King Manasseh of Judah. “His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.”

This verse today … skillfully presents a concise overview of our protagonist:

The man’s prayer!

And how God “heard” that prayer, was persuaded by the prayer!

And why the King was praying in the first place, for forgiveness!

His egregious transgressions (now cleansed) are then listed!

Next comes his “conversion” experience condensed to a single expression, “was humbled!”

Ending with his “historical record.”

It does not take God long to examine and evaluate a life!

In fact, every single child of God will some day before Jesus, at the “Judgment Seat of Christ!”

Our lives too will be evaluated.

Paul, in 2nd Corinthians 5:10. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” Yes, “all” Believers in Jesus!

And in this “do not judge” Text: “But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Romans 14:10

No doubt!

In our 2nd Chronicles verse today both the good (how Manasseh ultimately got right with God) and the bad (his too-many-to-count sins) are revealed … about Manasseh.

With us too, our good works and bad works! (This is not to determine our salvation. Rather to gage the rewards we shall be given by our Saviour.) “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the DAY shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall RECEIVE A REWARD. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” 1st Corinthians 3:11-15, the Judgment Seat again, I believe. With the “good” being like “gold and silver and precious stones.” And the “bad” being like “wood, hay and stubble.” And Jesus’ Eyes being like “fire!”

And in this same context, our future evaluation by Jesus, Paul reverently writes: “Knowing therefore the TERROR of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.” 2nd Corinthians 5:11, with the previous verse appearing up above, clearly in a “Judgment Seat of Christ” setting.

Wow!

I adapt 2nd Peter 3:11, as I close today. “Seeing then that all these things shall be …  what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?”

Good question!

Three times Paul admonished us to “walk worthy” of our Saviour.

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye WALK WORTHY of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3

“That ye might WALK WORTHY of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:10

And: “That ye would WALK WORTHY of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” 1st Thessalonians 2:12

God knows!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell