CLARION CALL FOR REPENTANCE – SERIES-PART I
“This is one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind.” These epochal words spoken by Neil Armstrong immediately after laying his foot on the crusty moon surface still echo in our minds, for they represent a special moment not only in space history but also in the history of mankind itself. Honestly some centuries ago, who would have imagined a finite man taking off from earth surface and setting his foot on a celestial object, which was revered to the point of even worship, by some folks? While, it is in order to attach so much of importance to the first words spoken on the lunar surface by the commander of Apollo 11 mission, for they truly represent “making of a history”, have we ever seriously pondered over with similar awe over the first words of a Visitor from “outer space” (read third heaven) to our planet, even as He was “launching” a far more significant mission “Save mankind from sin”?
The words with which our Lord launched His ministry ought to be of great import to us…. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near”. (Matt 4:17/Mark: 1:14), for they represent beginning of a journey in His ministry, which would lead to the “orbit” of the Calvary cross, culminating in a glorious resurrection, in effect paving the way for man to lay his foot not on any object of ordinary “second heaven” (space) but on that of extra-ordinary “third heaven itself” (II Cor 12:2). Incidentally, “first heaven” in Biblical parlance means blue sky, which we daily behold.
Since the subject is broad, I propose to expound the significance of these highly significant path-breaking words, step by step in a series of sermons starting with the word ‘Repent’.
While the Oxford dictionary would give the meaning of the word ‘Repent’ as ‘feeling deep sorrow about one’s wrongful action & resolving, at the same time, not to continue the same’, I particularly like a very creative definition of a Biblical scholar about repentance, which sums it up aptly; Repentance is a state where one becomes allergic to what, he has been addicted to and becomes addicted to what, he has been allergic too. The ministry of Jesus elicited response from some people, which was all of the above & more. In other words, it brought about a right about turn in their lives.
Take the case of Zacchaeus, about whom Jesus said ‘I have come to search & save souls such as his (Luke 19:9-10). From an avaricious, greedy tax collector, he was transformed into a generous saint (Luke 19:8). Those who had known Zacchaeus before the radical change in his life would have surely pinched their skins hard to re-assure themselves of the fact that they were not in their dreams, for generosity had started flowing conspicuously & copiously from his erstwhile greedy life post his encounter with Jesus.
Now the subject of ‘Repentance’ can broadly be categorized into II Categories.
I) Repentance of Sinners & strange as it seems
II) Repentance of Saints.
In the first part of the series, I propose to dwell on category I.
I) REPENTANCE OF SINNERS
Herein, I would place before you the life of the greatest sinner (Period) of the Old testament times -- the life of King Manasseh, as recorded in II Chronicles 33rd Chapter (1-20). Now, if I were to state at this point, a bit jocularly, that there is a similarity between this Sinner and Nadia Comaneci the champion gymnast of 1976 Olympics, credited with the feat of scoring the first-ever perfect 10 in any event (in her case the uneven bars) of Gymnastics history many eyebrows would be raised. What I mean is if at any juncture, sin were rated on a 1-10 scale, King Mannaseh would do a Nadia…meaning score a perfect 10. Born to a godly King Hezekiah, he was anything but godly to start with. In fact, he was the very antithesis of his God-fearing father. So much for the theory that the offspring of devout parents are also devout! In fact, this story, at least in its initial phase, conveys a message within the main message - the repentance of sinners - that every soul worth its salt, has to work out its own salvation by seeking the Almighty on its own. Godly heritage can take one only so far…& no further in the pursuit of salvation.
Now back to King Manasseh…consider the following sinful acts of his in the ascending order (note all sins are dangerous. I am using figurative speech to merely convey a point) of their gravity & a crooked picture of “an ultimate sinner” would emerge in one’s mind. In fact the Prodigal son of the “Lost and found” parables (Luke 15) would seem like a saint in comparison to this Jewish Potentate, who “ate, drank and breathed” sin.
1. He consulted spirit-mediums, fortunetellers & sorcerers in direct violation of God’s command to the people of Israel (Leviticus 19:26).
2. Not only did he rebuild the heathen altars his father Hezekiah had destroyed in order to purge his nation from the sin of worshipping idols, he also revived the detestable practice of idol worship in God’s Holy Land.
3. As a leader of the theocratic state of Israel, it was morally binding on him to show the ‘right path’ to his people but not only did he worship idols, he encouraged his people too, to do the same. A case of shepherd leading his flock, directly to the lion’s den or in this context, we can say, to ‘the devil’s lair’.
4. He indulged in the detestable practice of child sacrifice. It is recorded that he sacrificed his own children as burnt offerings in the valley of Hinnom. What a heartless fellow! We may surmise.
5. Then came his brutal act of senseless murders as recorded in II Kings 21:16. Tradition has it that it was during King Manasseh’s reign, the royal prophet Isaiah was ‘sawn into two’.
6. Even those of us, who are familiar with the downward spiral in the ‘spiritual fibre’ of the nation of Israel after the reign of ‘the man of God’s own heart’ - King David- had ended & are anguished by escapades of the idol-worshipping kings who succeeded him, would not have bargained for a wicked regent like King Manasseh, for not only did he worship idols in that holy land but think of it:
a) He even constructed heathen altars for worshiping the sun, moon & stars (Should not the Creator get pre-eminence over his creation, why even in the earthly realm, would it not seem odd if we show the affection & reverence reserved for our fathers to our cousins) in courts of the temple of the Lord.
b) As though, this was not a big sin enough, he placed an idol in the very temple of God & worshiped it! I, for one, shudder at the very thought of it, especially when I consider the fact as to how God sanctified the temple constructed by King Solomon - with His own holy presence (II Chronicles 5:13,14).
7. Was God sitting with folded hands when this oh-so-wicked king was letting loose his reign of terror, immorality, and blatant idol-worship? No! Even in the earthly realm, we know that the police do not fire at the unruly mob without firing some ‘warning shots’. So what kind of a ‘warning shots’ did our gracious God ‘fire’? He sent His prophets to warn him time & again. Only that King Manasseh was in no mood to listen to those poor prophets! (II Chronicles 33:10)…thus adding to his ever-growing list of sins.
Reflecting on he scoring a perfect “10” in sin, I would slightly rephrase the words of our good Lord spoken in the context of John the Baptist ‘Of all men ever born none shines more brightly than John the Baptist’ (Matt 11:11) & say ‘Of all sinners ever born none stank more than King Manasseh’.
Hey, wait a minute! I can hear my congregation say, this sermon was supposed to be on repentance, wasn’t it? We cannot see any sign of repentance in this wicked king, even in the distant horizon so far? Just hang on my friends, I would come to the point but before that let me turn your attention to one of the truths of life ‘Just as you sow, you reap’ (Galatians 6:7,8) which caught up with our central character as he ignored the warnings of God. King Manasseh got his comeuppance all right! Following a war, he was seized by the Assyrian armies with hooks & bound with bronze chains like an animal & carted away to Babylon (II Chronicles 33:11).
But this amazing (I call it amazing for reasons you would know, as we go along) story does not end here! For it is said that ‘KING MANASSEH REPENTED’. YES THAT WICKED KING REPENTED IN CAPTIVITY & CRIED OUT HUMBLY TO GOD FOR HELP! (II Chronicles 33:12), and PRAISE GOD, HE WAS FORGIVEN! NOT ONLY THAT, HIS KINGDOM WAS RESTORED UNTO HIM. (II Chronicles 33:13) OH, THE MERCY & GRACE OF OUR GREAT GOD!
If Mercy ‘is all about not getting what we do deserve’, then we see it manifested in ample measure in this king’s case, as punishment –death and damnation to hell- was not meted out to him, in proportion to his awful sins. On the other hand if Grace is ‘ getting what we do not deserve’, then in King Mannaseh’s case we see its manifestation too in God’s pardon of his sins followed by the restoration of his throne to him, which he simply did not deserve.
If a bad tree yields bad, inedible fruit, it follows that a good tree should yield good, edible fruit. Stretching the analogy, if King Mannaseh’s life before his radical transformation was abounding with evil actions, his life after his great reformation ought to have witnessed a surfeit of God-honoring actions. YES! Not only did he destroy all the idols he had constructed, he also exhorted the people of his generation to closely follow the Lord (II Chronicles 33:15-17), besides pouring out his heart-felt thanks to His great Redeemer by way of many thank-offerings. Eventually, when he closed his eyes, as it were for the last time in his earthly sojourn, he was in perfect peace with his Creator.
Dear friends, I would like you all to ponder on these issues:
a) We are no different from an idol-worshipping Manasseh at times, when we create ‘idols’ of our own in our heart. If anything claims the rightful place of our Lord in our hearts, it is an idol (I John 5:21 NLV) to be destroyed. Sometimes, it can be as subtle as an apparently harmless TV Serial. But, if it is clashing with our ‘devotional times’, we need to turn our backs to it. Let the good Lord always enjoy pre-eminence in our lives. Simply put, let there be no competition for him in our hearts.
b) There is no such thing as ‘point of no return’ for any sinner. If God could pardon, as big a sinner like King Manasseh, won’t he forgive us also, if we humbly turn to him for restoration?
c) King Mannaseh’s bodily enslavement (put in chains by the Assyrian kings) was symptomatic of the ‘deeper malaise’ (sin within). The moment his sins were cleansed following his repentance, the chains fell off, as it were. So, if any of us are trying in vain to kick a debilitating, enslaving habit, firstly we need to get to the ‘root of the matter’ i.e., strained relationship with God. Once our relationship with him is restored, subsequent to our repentance (of whatever secret sins, we may be hanging onto), then everything else would fall into place.
Yes, paradoxical, as it may seem, there is a ‘Victory’ in ‘Surrender’. Surrender of our lives to Him who created them in the first place. ‘Final Victory’ of King Manasseh can be ours too. Yes dear friends, let us repent for the Kingdom of God is very near as near as our own hearts & mouths (Romans 10:8). If we sincerely seek God’s forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s atoning work on the cross, now that we are living in the Grace period, we would be spiritually born into His Kingdom. Our testimony to the world with our mouths of this spiritual transaction between God and us only would only publicly validate it.
One small step of repentance, would effectively mean a giant leap into salvation…
(Suresh Manoharan)
www.jandsmministries.com
