Remember Manasseh, the most wicked of all the kings in the history of Israel. King Manasseh turned away from the Lord and became a vicious and cruel man. Just look at the atrocities this man committed: he placed idols of the pagan god Baal, even in the courtyard of the Temple.
Manasseh built altars to worship the sun, moon and stars. He sacrificed his own children, throwing them into the blazing fires of the devilish idols of Baal. He also neglected the words of the righteous prophets, turning to sorcerers for advice.
King Manasseh condoned witchcraft, communication with the spirits of the dead, and devil worship. He was a cruel, bloodthirsty tyrant who took pleasure in killing innocents. Scripture says that Manasseh sinned even worse than all the pagan nations surrounding Israel.
What happened to this wicked king? God sent a great disaster to Manasseh through the hands of the Assyrian army. The fierce Assyrians entered Jerusalem and captured its inhabitants, including Manasseh, and bound it with chains sharp as thorns. They led the Israelites into captivity through unbearably long marches, while giving them very little food and water. According to historians, these crossings were simply inhumane.
Manasseh's Prayer of Repentance
It was during this time of sorrow and need that Manasseh began to pray: “And in his distress he began to entreat the presence of the Lord his God, and he humbled himself deeply before the God of his fathers” (2 Chronicles 33:12).
And how did God respond to Manasseh’s prayer? He heard the cries of this king and restored him to his throne. After this, Manasseh became a champion of righteousness, tearing down idols and destroying the altars that he set up throughout the country.
The lessons we can learn from the story of Manasseh are clear.
First: how was this man restored? This happened through tribulation. The wicked Manasseh silenced all the prophets in Israel, leaving God with only one way to reach him - grief.
It was then that God stirred up the Assyrians, using them as a rod of correction. The second lesson is this: we should never despair forever of anyone, even the most wicked and the most vicious and evil person. God has ways of turning even the worst sinners to Himself through grief.
Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah
Audio:
2:50
Lord Almighty, God our father, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the seed of their righteous: having created the heavens and the earth with all their beauty, having bound the sea by the word of thy commandment, concluded Who has pierced the abyss, and has sealed it with Your terrible and glorious name, whom everyone fears , and they tremble at the face of Your power, for no one can stand before the splendor of Your glory, and the wrath of the sinners of Your rebuke is unbearable.
Immeasurable and unfathomable is the mercy of Your promise: For You are the Lord Most High, gracious, long-suffering and abundantly merciful, and repent of the wickedness of men. You, Lord, by the multitude of Your goodness, have You promised repentance and forgiveness for those who have sinned against You, and by the multitude of Your bounties, You have ordained repentance for the sinner for salvation. For You, the Lord God of hosts, did not order repentance for the righteous, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against You. But you have laid repentance upon me, a sinner: I have sinned more than the sand of the sea.
My iniquities have multiplied, O Lord, my iniquities have multiplied: and I am not worthy to look and see the heights of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. I am bound by many chains of iron, so that my head cannot be proclaimed, and I cannot bear weakness: I was angered by Your wrath, and I created evil in Your sight, not having done Your will, and I did not keep Your commandments.
And now I bow my heart’s knees, demanding goodness from You. I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned, and I am aware of my iniquities, but I ask, praying, weaken me, Lord, weaken me, and do not destroy me with my iniquities. Below in the age of enmity you have kept my evils, below you will condemn me to the depths of the earth. You are God, the God of those who repent, and show all Your goodness on me, for I am unworthy of being, save me according to the abundance of Your mercy, and I will praise You in the days of my life, for everyone sings to You the power of heaven, and Yours is the glory forever and ever , amen.
Synodal translation: Lord Almighty, God of our fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and their righteous seed, who created the heavens and the earth with all their splendor, who bound the sea with the word of Your command, who closed the abyss and sealed it with Your terrible and glorious name, which everyone fears , and they tremble at the face of Your power, because no one can resist the splendor of Your glory, and the wrath of Your rebuke on sinners is unbearable!
But the mercy of Your promise is immeasurable and unsearchable, for You are the Lord on high, gracious, long-suffering and abundantly merciful and repentant of the evils of men. You, Lord, according to the multitude of Your goodness, promised repentance and forgiveness to those who sinned against You, and through the multitude of Your bounties you determined repentance for sinners for salvation. So You, Lord, God of the righteous, did not ordain repentance for the righteous Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against You, but you did not ordain repentance for me, a sinner, because I have sinned more than the sand of the sea.
Many are my iniquities, Lord, many are my iniquities, and I am not worthy to look and look at the heights of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. I am bent with many iron bonds, so that I cannot lift up my head, and I have no rest, because I have angered You and done evil before You: I have not fulfilled Your will, I have not kept Your commandments, I have introduced abominations and multiplied temptations.
And now I bow the knees of my heart, begging You for goodness. I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned, and I know my iniquities, but I ask, praying to You: forgive me, Lord, forgive me, and do not destroy me with my iniquities and do not condemn me to hell. For You are God, the God of the repentant, and show all Your goodness to me, having saved me, unworthy, according to Your great mercy, and I will glorify You all the days of my life, because all the powers of heaven glorify You, and Your glory is forever and ever. Amen.
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The prayer of Manasseh, the king of Judah, when he was held captive in Babylon, is contained in the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 36) and is part of the Great Compline (see Book of Hours).
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Manasseh's repentance gives hope to any repentant sinner. The canon of the Sweetest Jesus says, “Save, be gracious to Jesus the benefactor, even as Manasseh was kind.” In the “Sequence on Confession” we hear: “Manasseh received prayer in repentance.” In the Great Canon of Repentance, Manasseh is set as an example of good repentance after many sins: “Thou didst gather up the sins of Manasseh by will, setting them up as abominations of passion, and multiplying indignation in the soul: but being zealous for that repentance, gain tenderness.”
Abiding in God's Word Makes You an Overcomer
The key to understanding how Satan works against the Church is found in the word "rebellion." In simple terms, rebellion means rebelling against the authority and authority of God's Word. When Lucifer declared war on God, he rebelled against the words of Almighty God.
You must understand that God's Word is His power. With His Word He created everything. By His Word the sun, moon and stars are set in their place. His Word produced everything that exists and continues to produce life. Through His Word the Lord overthrows kings and raises up nations. With His Word He blesses and saves, judges and destroys.
Satan's goal is always to tempt God's people so that they will rebel against His Word. He planted thoughts of disobedience in the minds of Adam and Eve, causing them to disobey: “I know what God said. But I will act according to my own will." These thoughts caused the fall of humanity.
Satan also succeeded in instilling rebellion in God's chosen people, Israel. The psalmist says that Israel was “a stubborn and rebellious race, unsettled in heart and unfaithful to God in their spirit” (see Ps. 77:8) .
Scripture also says about Israel: “But you were unwilling to go, and you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God” (Deut. 1:26) .
Please notice that God made His Word very clear to all these people. And yet they all opposed him. Why? They were tempted to do this by the devil.
Satan will also try to tempt you to rebel against the Word of God. He knows that He cannot reach you through any obvious temptation. Therefore, he will try to seduce you with subtle and insidious temptations, surrounding you with various kinds of trials and difficulties. And then he will try to block God's blessings in your life just as he blocked Paul in his ministry.
Many have fallen victims to subtle satanic temptations. The psalmist says that such people “...sat in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in sorrow and iron; for they did not submit to the words of God, and were careless about the will of the Most High” (Ps. 107:11) .
The devil is looking for the one area in our lives that we have not fully submitted to the Word of God. When you are alone with God in prayer, you are completely immune to all the devil's tricks. Run by faith to His throne, call upon Him, and cling to the power of the Blood of Christ.
John writes: “And the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly into the desert to her place from the face of the serpent, and there be fed for a long time” (Rev. 12:14) .
I believe that the two wings of the great eagle here represent the Old and New Testaments of God's Word. He gave them to us to carry us to our nourishing place, so that when the devil overtakes us, we will be able to fly over him on the wings of God's Word.
The Apostle Paul uses the word “nourishment”, where he writes: “Nourished with words and good teaching” (1 Tim. 4:6) . The Greek word for "nourished" in this case means "educated." Paul is talking here about education in the Word of God, knowledge of the Word of God.
Jesus is our example. When He resisted the devil's temptation through the Word, the devil fled. Why? Because the truth exposed him, putting him to shame. And the book of Hebrews tells us about those “...who by faith conquered kingdoms, did righteousness, received promises, stopped the mouth of lions” (Heb. 11:33) . We silence the powers of hell when we stand on the Word of God.
So when you hear the lion roar, fall on your faces before your Father. Immerse yourself in His Word. His eagle wings will carry you over the raging torrent of temptation.
Hallelujah!
David Wilkerson.
Repentance of King Manasseh
Elder Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie, 1912–1998) is widely known as the great confessor of Romanian monasticism and the mentor of many lay people who came to him in thousands for spiritual help. We offer the reader fragments of the Russian publication of his book “The Value of the Soul,” published by the Sretensky Monastery Publishing House.
Manasseh, the Old Testament king of the Jews, committed more sins before God than anyone else has ever committed. For fifty-two years, he forced the people to worship idols and demons, ordering the Jews to renounce God. And he himself, and his children, and his entire family denied God. And those who did not want to worship idols and sacrifice to demons, he took away from the world in the most cruel torment.
So, this king committed so many sins that it is impossible to express it. But the Most Holy God, wanting to show the depth of His mercy and boundless pity for people, led Manasseh to repentance through His destinies. And how?
This king, although he was very bad, came from a good family. His father, Hezekiah, a king who pleased God, lived during the time of the prophet Isaiah (see 2 Kings 18–20). I think it was he who begged God to convert his son, who had been torn away from the Creator of heaven and earth. And how did God convert him? That's how.
Seeing the anger and unbelief of Manasseh and such darkness of his mind - that he not only himself departed from God, but also led the entire people into destruction, forcing them to renounce God - He, who knows how to bring everyone to repentance, put a bridle on him and tightened the reins, as it is said in the Psalter: “with bridles and bridles you will bind their jaws, those who do not approach You” (Ps. 31:9).
For if God had left him like that, he would never have repented himself
This is what happened with this king. For if God had left him like that, he would never have repented himself. But God sent the boyars of King Asur from Babylon with a large army, and they captured Jerusalem, and King Manasseh was taken into slavery (see 2 Chron. 33, 11). They tied him up and threw him into a tiny cage, in which he could not even straighten up to his full height. And his head was chained to his feet with two copper chains. And they threw him into this cage, where he could not even raise his head, but all the time he lay motionless, curled up.
King Asura thought that he would last like this for a week or even less, and gave him food only twice a week - bran bread and water. And the king of Babylon kept asking his servants:
- Has King Manasseh died yet?
- Not dead, Your Majesty. He is still alive and moving in his cage! What a miracle!
And the king lived in this cage, bound in chains, not for a week or a month, or even ten months, but for more than seven years. And it was an eerie miracle - to see a man shackled head to toe, to give him more or less water and bran bread a couple of times a week, and he still lives and lives.
And from this king, from whom God did not want to take away the spark of life, from such torment, suffering and punishment, which he endured there in such bitter sorrow, only skin and bones remained. Imagine what it was like for him there. And then he remembered God and said to himself: “God brought this torment and punishment on me because I angered Him - and I myself turned away from Him, and forced the people of God to sacrifice to idols!”
And he thought in his heart: “Since God has kept me alive until now, then what does He want from me? Of course He wants me to be saved!”
And then he cried out from the depths of his soul, began to shed tears and fervently pray to God: “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God of heaven and earth! Lord God, if You have shown mercy to me, not allowing me to die for so many years, but to suffer in these heavy chains, and not cutting off the thread of life in me, then, apparently, You are waiting for me to turn to You.
I cannot, Lord my God, bend my knees, I cannot fall to the ground, for I am bound by these heavy iron and copper chains, which have coiled me in a ring, head to feet, and pray to You.
I cannot bow down, I cannot crumble into dust, for I am chained. But I pray to You, Lord God, and I bow the knees of my heart: remember, Lord, that if You show mercy to the righteous, it will not be surprising. You did not order repentance for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his righteous tribe, but you appointed repentance for sinners.
Therefore, Lord God, if You show mercy to me, if You look at my heart and turn me to repentance, if You forgive me with all my sins, which are more than the sand on the seashore, then it will be revealed, Lord, how inexpressible Your mercy is. and Your goodness is incomprehensible..."
And when he prayed like this from the depths of his soul and shed streams of tears with great pain in such torment, the Most Holy God remembered him and gave it to the king, named Asur, to remove the chains from him and release him from the cage, from this terrible prison of his. .
And when they released him, since he had been chained for a very long time, he began to somersault and roll like a wheel. His bones were rounded, and he could no longer straighten up. Imagine how pathetic it was to see a man curled up in a ball, just skin and bones! Think what a pity!
And the pagans of Babylon wept, saying:
- Is there still life in this man? Is this creature even human?
God, Whom he worships, forgave him because of his such strong repentance!
Then they gave him freedom and began to feed him a little, looked after him, and after a few months he got back on his feet. And as soon as he rose and recovered, the king of Babylon said:
- God, whom he worships, forgave him because of his such strong repentance! - and sent him back to Jerusalem so that he could again be king there.
And Manasseh reigned again and led all the people to worship God, doing all kinds of good deeds that he could, until the very end of his life, and wrote that great prayer that we read now at Great Compline and which is called the prayer of Manasseh, the king of Judah.
Have you seen the wisdom of God? Have you heard what God is doing? He turned the pagan king, whose sins outnumbered the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, into a holy king, because he repented from the depths of his soul, shed bitter tears and suffered for so many years in such fasting, torment and pain! But nevertheless, he did not lose hope in God’s mercy.
