II Kings 21:12

"Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle."

The providence of God is demonstrated with the reign of Manasseh. We have 4 kings that half-heartedly worshipped and served the Lord and then Hezekiah. King Hezekiah turned unto the Lord and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. yet, we the extra 15 years of life that was bestowed upon him, he had a son, named Manasseh. And during the first 12 years of life of this boy, it seems that something was lacking in his upbringin. Perhaps, Hezekiah was too old and spoiled him, it is unknown, but no doubt, he did not bring him up in fear of the Lord. For when Manasseh, came to be king, he spent 55 years of evil in the land of Judah. In the book of II Chronicles we have a better picture of some of the things that transpired, but we have 16 verses here in this chapter that tells us of his evil. You cannot practive such evil and not expect for God to answer it. His justice and holiness must answer for such actions. the land was polluted, the people were defiled and His Name was not revered. Even though, His mercy, grace is great and longsuffering is without measure to us, there comes a point of crossing the line. God has sent His prophets to warn, to teach and it fell on deaf ears. The hearts of the king and the people were hardened against the word of the Lord. And so we have this declaration about that which shall be. This punishment because fo the evil of Manasseh goes on far beyond his lifetime, even until after all the good that Josiah does. LEt us not think that we shall escape the punishment of our forefathers and of this evil generation. are we not facing punishment, even now? Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah - it was the Lord bringing this, not a person; What shall a nation do when sets Himself to bring judgement? Can there be any hope or help? How can God bring evil? God cannot know evil nor practice evil. therefore, if God would be absent from the place, without His holy Presence, evil must be present. And the absence of God allows for the presence of the Evil One, whose one purpose is to ruin, ravage and decimate lives. Isn't he doing a wonderful job? And when people conitnue to ask, "Why is this happening to me?' This is usually the answer, evil has come because God is absent in their lives. The absence of God in a life, a family, a church, a nation, is a void created that will be filled with the evil of satan and sin. It is Satan's great desire to destroy all of God's creation and work. And what better attack to launch than against the city of David and the people of Judah who were the promised people. God would remove Himself from their midst for the iniquity that Manasseh had done and evil would fill the land. What king of evil? That whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle - the saddest of news has been proclaimed; A news so horrible that the ear does tingle upon hearing it. Has it not been like this when bad news was being told, that you said or thought, 'enough, I don't want to hear anymore'? Dealing with lives and families and souls in and out of the church, some times it is almost the same message, "Enough". No more sicknesses, no more destruction of lives, no more ruining of families, no more godlessness, no more lostness of hardened sinners, let it be enough to the tingling of the ears. And how can we read Revelation and not have our ears to tingle at the final judgment? Oh, how awful is the time of the great tribulation and end events. That after God lets evil have its way, men will not repent but curse God even more. Oh, how great will be their damnation for all eternity. These are loved ones, ,friends, those that we knew that are lost and great will be the fall of them. Is your ear dull of hearing? The judgments against Manasseh and Judah were severe. They had offended the Lord God with all their evil ways. And what shall we say of our nation? Manasseh shed blood and filled the land; the US shed blood 10 times as much, how great will be our judgment when it is meeted out? And jsut as the Lord dealt with the sins of the land from Manasseh's wicked reign, He raised up Josiah that purged the land and then the captivity. May it be possible, that God will raise up a Josiah for another world wide revival to purge the world and then His glorious return? We shall see!