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2 Kings chapter 21 and we're continuing our study through the Kings and we're getting closer to the end. We're almost there and if you don't have a chart you can always grab one. This is a Kings chart that Brother Anthony did all the visuals and we worked together on making sure we got the timings right and all this stuff. This gives you the line of Judah and the line of Israel and so it's just kind of a nice visual thing to see where they overlap with the other Kings and so we're all the way down to Manasseh. So Manasseh reigns for a good little time there and so for 55 years, actually tonight I'm going to do Manasseh and Ammon because there's just not a lot said about Ammon and he's bad so we're just going to lump him in there anyway. But Manasseh and Ammon, if you know after him, is Josiah. So we're going to get to Josiah and really after Josiah with his sons, that's when they're going to go into captivity. So we're almost done with the Kings series and so time for another series. I'm actually thinking about doing a series on just different false religions and going into that as far as, that one's a little harder because I actually have to do a lot of studying outside of the Bible to figure out what all their beliefs are and all that stuff. They all believe in work salvation, can I just do that on every single sermon and just disprove that every single time? No. But starting off here in 2 Kings, so 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33 are the two passages we're going to look at that deal with both Manasseh and Ammon. So we see in verse 1 here, 2 Kings 21, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Hephzibah. Now first of all, you notice that he's 12 years old when he began to reign, do you know another king that started off at 12? Ahaz. And Ahaz was his grandfather and he was a really bad king. So you remember Ahaz was the really bad king that sacrificed his children to Molech but then you had Hezekiah that broke the mold and then now we're back to Manasseh and they both started at 12 years old. So if it ever tells you that a 12 year old is wicked, no I'm just kidding, there's certain things like that that make you think like someone that's young. Now we're going to see with Josiah that he's 8 and he does well so, but I just think it's kind of interesting how much Ahaz and Manasseh mirror each other. So grandfather and grandson, they're just really very similar. Now Hephzibah, that's interesting about his mother's name was Hephzibah. This name Hephzibah is only mentioned one other time in the Bible and so you know there's certain things in the Bible where I don't believe it's accidental, coincidental or incidental meaning that, go to Isaiah 62 because this term Hephzibah is mentioned and I almost look at it, it's interesting because when you look at Manasseh's life, you know, it's an interesting because Manasseh's not just wicked all the way to the end, okay, Ahaz was. With Manasseh, we didn't read it in this chapter but we're going to see in 2 Chronicles 33 that he actually gets humbled and gets right with God and it's kind of crazy because he's a very wicked king and you're like, wow, he got right with God, he was humbled and so reading this, you'd be like, this guy's reprobate, you know, this guy's just no hope for this guy but then when you read 2 Chronicles 33, you're like, oh, okay. Now with Ahaz, no, there was none of that and so what's interesting about this, you know, scripture in Isaiah 62 is how I believe Hephzibah, his mother Hephzibah is kind of almost pointing you to this passage because it's talking about the fact that Jerusalem is forsaken but it's going to be restored and you think about the story of Manasseh which we're going to get to is the fact that he basically forsakes the Lord and God is going to bring him into judgment and then he gets restored and it's interesting how it's almost kind of like pre-showing you that. If you know the story of like Hephzibah, then you see his mother and it just kind of makes you think of that. You're like, well, you're looking too far, that's fine but I'm going to look at this because Hephzibah is only mentioned twice in the Bible and I don't think it's a coincidence mentioned here and so in Isaiah 62 and verse 1, it says, for Zion's sake will I not hold my peace. For Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness in all kings thy glory and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate. But thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. And with Manasseh, it's interesting because he's going to be forsaken but he's going to be restored and Hephzibah, I believe literally means the Lord delighteth in thee and because if you look at that, it says, but thou shall be called Hephzibah, it says for the Lord delighteth in thee, because the land and Beulah, you know, they're kind of showing you your name is going to be this, the land is going to be called this and it's showing those two things. But I do believe that this is showing us the fact, it's kind of giving us that eye of, okay, Manasseh is going to be forsaken and what's interesting about this is that we're going to see this, I know this is kind of, I'm showing you all this information at first and I'm going to get to it. The reason that they're taken into captivity in the Babylon is because of Manasseh. It's going to say that specifically and this is what this passage is talking about is the fact that they're taken away into Babylon but then they're going to come back, you know, they were forsaken but they're going to be brought back and Manasseh is the catalyst to why that happened, okay, and I know there's other sins that people did but the Bible is going to directly say this because of Manasseh's sins and the reason that they're going to be taken out by Babylon. And so I don't think that's a coincidence that it's like, oh, his mother's name is Hephzibah, and then God is saying, hey, you're going to be called Hephzibah and even at the end there at verse 12 of Isaiah 62, it says, they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord and now shall be called sought out, a city not forsaken and I think of Manasseh and I think of someone that's sought out or someone that's basically almost at the very end. You must think of like Paul, right? He was the cheapest among sinners. He was committing people, Christians to prison, he was giving consent unto Christians dying or being put to death but God had mercy on him and I see the same thing with Manasseh in this story. Now, going back to 2 Kings chapter 21, so there's certain things like that. When I see like one word or phrase that's only used one other time, I always think there's like a key to that or there's some reason why that's being said because it didn't have to say what his mother's name was, right? There's no reason that that had to be there. So I believe when they name the mothers and they name all that that there's probably significance to that. You say, well, you don't always mention that. Well, I don't always know the significance so I'm not always going to go into that but all I have to say is that I don't believe there's anything in there by accident. Now in 2 Kings chapter 21 and verse 2, we see that he does evil inside the Lord obviously in verse 2 it says, So he's doing all kinds of crazy stuff. He's basically undoing what Hezekiah did and if you remember those high places and all that stuff, they were there for a long time in Judah and it was Hezekiah that finally took them down, right? You just always read they did right inside the Lord but the high places were still there and that kept going until you got to Ahaz who now is sacrificing his children to some false god and Hezekiah just did away with all that. He was a great king that did away with all that, well, Manasseh's coming in and undoing everything that Hezekiah did pretty much and so it's really sad to see that but then he's also he's making altars to Baal and worshiping him just like Ahab, king of Israel did and you think he learned the lesson in the fact that Israel is no longer there, right? At this point, Israel is completely taken captive by the Assyrians. That happened in Hezekiah's day. So but then he's going further than that and making altars in the house of the Lord. He's doing this stuff, putting all these altars for these false gods around the house of the Lord so he's just defiling everything and so he's obviously doing wicked abominations as the Bible says here but the one that stands out is that he sacrifices his children in the fire and this is what his grandfather did. So in verse 6 of 2 Kings chapter 21, it says, and he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He brought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Go to 2 Chronicles 33 and obviously this is paralleled, actually even in the same verse it's paralleled. So 2 Chronicles 33 and verse 6. I went into this a little more in detail I guess about the Valley of the Son of Hinnom in the Ahaz sermon but in verse 6, so 2 Chronicles 33 and verse 6, it says, and he caused his children to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. Also he observed times and used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards. He brought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. So we see here that where he was doing this was in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom or Kofet, you know, this is where, if you remember, this is where the fact that the idea of hell, you know, and it's used as a symbol or like used as an allegory of hell as far as this valley where they're just burning people alive, right, and sacrificing people. And so we see that the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, this is synonymous with when they were burning people to Molech, okay. And this is something that Ahaz did. Back to 2 Kings chapter 16, I know we're turning a lot here, but I want you to see that it's like as grandfather and as grandson, I guess, in this case, and the skipping of generations here as far as how it's going like really wicked, really righteous, and it's kind of crazy how polar opposite Hezekiah was from Manasseh. And one thing I see with this is a failure in raising your children. And when I see Hezekiah with Manasseh, when I see Eli with his children, and when you see Samuel with his children, it's just like this constant thing where one generation is really righteous, but then their children don't turn out right. And it's something that we need to all be cognizant of in the fact that we are always looking at our next generation and the fact that we don't want them to turn out bad. And we can do great things for God in this generation, but what if that, at that cost to do certain great things for God, your children end up being really wicked people. And so sometimes you have to put the brakes a little bit on what you're doing in the ministry. And many have seen this with pastors that their ministry is so way up here that they leave off their family. Listen, there's times where I just take time with my family and I don't answer the phone. Actually, that's most of the time. No, but at the same time, you know, I'm looking at the fact that my family needs me. My daughters need a father and not a pastor at all times, right? And my wife needs a husband and not a pastor, okay? Now obviously she's here and I'm her pastor, you know, but at the same time I'm her husband, so I'm, you know, the head of the home. But at the same time, it needs to be the fact that that needs to be there and not to put ministry so far up here. And you're like, well, you know, I need to do great things for God. Listen, you know, raising your family right is part of doing great things for God. And if you leave that off, then you can't say, like, I don't believe that, you know, Eli or Hezekiah can say, hey, I was the best king that could ever live because your son turned out, you know, off in this horrible, wicked, you know, lifestyle that he went into with sacrificing his children on the Molech. And so we need to remember that as parents, that as much as we want to do great things for God and we want to push forward, we want to press toward the mark, let us not leave off the fact that our children still need just a dad, you know, and or a mother or, you know, just time to get away and do things. We need to go to the park and just hang out with them. Not everything is about the ministry, not everything is about the Bible. And I'm all for reading the Bible to my children. I'm all for them memorizing scripture. But listen, there's times where we're just going to have fun and it's not going to have to do with, you know, this Bible memory verse or this or that. Not everything has to be tied into the Bible. OK, you don't want to burn them out or get them to the point where it's a chore at all times to live as a Christian. And so that's not to take off the fact that you shouldn't be in church and shouldn't be reading your Bible and all this stuff, all that stuff applies. But people can take it way too far and leave off their family. And we I don't want that to be the case. I want our children to be better than us. Right. Shouldn't that be the goal is that, hey, they're starting off on a higher leg than what we started off with, because a lot of us in here are second or first generation Christians. I know some in here aren't some some in here are second or first, second generation. But a lot of us are first generation. And so if you're a second generation Christian, that's great, because that means that you broke that mold of coming out of like a good background and still coming out. Right. But we need to remember to be good parents. And that's one big thing I see with Manasseh is Hezekiah's failure as a father. But going on from that, did I read about Manasseh or Ahaz yet got on that that tangent. Second King, Chapter 16, verse two, it says 20, 20 years old was Ahaz. I'm sorry, I said 12. It's 20. I'm completely off with that. I apologize. This is like the time I think Brother Luke came up to me and I was I'm dyslexic sometimes when you're I don't know, he's 20 years old. Ahaz. So disregard that whole thing about him being 12 years old. I don't know where I got that from. 20 years old was Ahaz when he began to reign and reign 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did that, which was right in the sight of the Lord. I'm sorry, I got the wrong passage here. Yeah, no, that's right. Good night. What am I doing? I'm like I'm like it's so hot in here. I need the air conditioner on. This is so ridiculous. I'm like sweating up here. I don't know about you guys. Are you guys hot? Brother Dave, can you turn on the air conditioning over there? I am dying. I'm just like it's getting to me. I'm like sweating. So, Ahaz, just go to verse three. He did not that which is right in the sight of the Lord. OK, verse three. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abomination of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places and on the high hills and under every green tree. So long story short, Ahaz started doing this after all the kings of Judah and the good and bad and all that stuff. Really, this is the first time we see people sacrificing their children right now. Obviously, the kings of Israel were doing this, but Judah was supposed to be different. Now, Hezekiah did away with all that, but then Manasseh came in and did it himself. Go to Psalm 106, Psalm 106. Psalm 106 and verse 37. So you can see why, and I'm going to show you some other things, because, yeah, Ahaz sacrificed his children in the fire, but yeah, Manasseh did that and some other really wicked things, okay? And in Psalm 106 and verse 37, it says, yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and that's the truth when it comes to these idols and what they're doing with these altars, they're devils. You know, yeah, the idol itself is just this piece of metal and graven image and everything, but they're doing it unto devils. They think they're actually doing it to some God, if you will, and they're sacrificing their children unto that, and it says in verse 38, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. And today, we had that same thing happening in America. You know, you can say, well, it's not the same as, you know, sacrificing the devil. They're sacrificing it unto their golden globe, aren't they? And I don't know if anybody saw the archives, not like I watched the Golden Globes, but this wicked woman gets up holding her golden globe and saying, I thank God, and she's literally invoking God, saying, you know, I thank God that we live in a country where a woman has the right to choose. And she said that she wouldn't have this opportunity to hold this hunk of metal if she wouldn't have been able to choose, and she didn't say like a board or anything like that, but you knew what she was talking about, the right to choose to terminate her child, which means to murder her child. She was literally holding a golden globe in her hand, saying, I'm so glad I can murder my baby so I could have this right here. That you know what everybody did is just clap. People are crying like that are in the audience. They can all burn in hell. A bunch of wicked, just disgusting people, because it's not only bad enough that this woman's getting up there praising herself for killing her baby so she can hold a golden globe. Right. But then everybody around is just like, oh, that's so great. I'm glad we live in this country. Our country is polluted from the blood of innocent children every day. Three thousand babies are being murdered every day in our country. And then you think about the world on top of that. But you know what? This comes down to another thing. And yes, I'm getting on a tangent. But, you know, we're supposed to go to war with Iran because we're so much better than Iran. Why don't we look at our own house and get rid of the fact that we're killing babies en masse? We have no right to go over to Iran and say, hey, we can do it better. You need to have our lifestyle. What? So they can murder their babies, too? They have zero right to that. And, you know, it reminds me of the story where Israel is coming down to take out Judah and the prophet came to him and said, hey, listen, you should look in the mirror. And I'm paraphrasing, but you have sins that are worse than theirs. And our country is as wicked as hell. And Hollywood is supposed to be this, you know, moral compass. They're up there propagating the fact that, hey, listen to us, this is how you should live. You should love this person. You should hate this person or whatever. But they're up there killing babies and praising people that do it. And it makes me sick. If that whole auditorium would open up and they were to fall into hell, I would have rejoiced that day. It's disgusting. You say, well, not everybody agrees with it. They should have walked out. If I if I was in an area where where someone was getting a reward or they were up there speaking and they were praising the fact that they killed their baby for an award, I would literally get up and call them wicked and walk out. And if you stand there and sit there and listen to that and not only clap and praise that, you deserve their same punishment. But you know what? There's nothing new under the sun. You read these stories about these kings and people that are that are killing their babies and passing through the fire, you say, man, that's that's crazy. I can't believe people do that. They do it every day. Every day, and if you think about three thousand people of three thousand babies being killed every single day and we get upset about 9-11, where about three thousand people died by our government or some other reason. Right. But three thousand babies were killed that same day. And you know what, when you have children, it really makes you think about that a little more on the fact that how much when you think when you're looking at your child and you think about someone killing that child, like, oh, I didn't breathe. It's not out of the womb. You're an idiot. And if you if you think that a baby that that's, you know, that that's in there, that has a heartbeat, that has hiccups, that that's not a human being, you're a moron. And if you're that ignorant, you shouldn't even be with another person to have a baby. But most of these people that are in Hollywood, they know it's a baby. They know they're killing a baby and they don't care. And you know what? The land's polluted because of it. And go to go to Leviticus chapter 20, Leviticus chapter 20, I'm going to read Leviticus 18, because Leviticus 18 and 20 are pretty much like a parallel in the fact that Leviticus 18 is telling you, thou shalt not do this. Leviticus 20 is saying, if you do this, this is your punishment. Does that make sense? So Leviticus 18 is the commandments. Leviticus 20 is pretty much the punishment if you break those commandments. Leviticus 18 says this in verse 25, talking about all these sins that are mentioned in there. It says in the land is defiled. Therefore, I did visit the iniquity thereof upon it and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants. You know what he's talking about? He's talking about the fact that they're going into the land of Canaan and they're going to wipe them out. And it says the land is vomiting them out because of their abominations. So what is the Manasseh doing that it mentions here? It says he's doing the abominations of those that were in the land of Canaan that that God took out. And he's making a point here, basically saying, why do you think that you're going to stay in there if you're doing the same thing that I took those people out for? And this goes into this ties into Zionism because, listen, God is not a respect or a person's. America is not going to escape the judgment of God. Now, our job as Christians is to stay the hand of judgment, if you will. Like Hezekiah, you know, Hezekiah stayed it, Josiah is going to stay it, but ultimately there's going to come a generation where it's not going to be stayed and God's the hammer's coming down. And you know what, when I when I when I think about three thousand babies being murdered every single day, I just wonder why God hasn't done it. And it is a testament to his long suffering and his patience and ultimately his long suffering to see as many people saved as he can and trying to be merciful. But ultimately, if I was God, it would have been done a long time ago because I look at it, I'm just enraged thinking about it. And listen, this is why God is angry with the wicked every day. And to think that God is not angry, that he's just up there, not angry, doesn't hate anybody, it's ridiculous, especially when you think about all the wicked abominations that are done in the world. Now, Leviticus chapter 20. The one thing I want to point out is that sacrificing your children and the idols is usually coupled with devils and with witchcraft and wizardry and all these different things. And it's interesting how those things do work together. And that's the way it mentions it here is he sacrifices children in the fire and then he then they observe times and enchantments and all this other stuff. But in Leviticus 20, verse one, it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, whosoever he be of the children of Israel or the strangers that sojourn in Israel and giveth any of his seed unto Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. That's the punishment for sacrificing your child. Sounds right, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, if you murder somebody, then you should be killed. You know, whosoever shed of man's blood by man shall his blood be shed. And guess what? That child is a living being. That's a person that you're murdering. And, you know, it's ridiculous because even in our court system today, isn't it? You know, if you were to get in a car wreck and you were to murder somebody with the child, it would be double homicide or, you know, with manslaughter, you didn't intentionally do it, but they would consider those two a life. And nowadays, like, well, that's not really life, it's just a bunch of cells, you're either ignorant or you're wicked as hell, because people are ignorant on this issue. I do believe that there's a lot of people that just don't know. They just literally think it's a clump of cells. But if anybody's had a child, like women, that you've had a child and you've seen that ultrasound with the heart beating, you know, I can't imagine I'm a man, so I haven't had the child in my stomach. But just as a husband seeing that, you know, there's no there's no ounce in my body. I'm like, that's not a lie being there. That's not really a human being. And if you've seen all that and if you've seen an abortion done, because there's videos out there of people doing abortions, then you would not be saying, hey, this is not killing a child. And a lot of people, if they ever saw that, if they would just watch it, they would change their tune real quick. And you say, well, you know, you're sacrificing a month to the fire. They're making a pass through the fire. Yeah. How about the fact that they insert them with some saline solution that's burning them alive and then cutting them in pieces? And tell me that's any better than what they were doing when they were sacrificing their children on the mole egg. And I know this isn't a bright, sunny sermon, but you know what? America needs to be called out for what it is. And I'm tired of America being this this, you know, pure land where we're the good guys and everybody else is the bad guys. Listen, every nation is wicked to a certain extent. But how in the world are we going to be the police of the world and say that, hey, we're going to go tell you how to run a country when our country is killing babies en masse, among other things? That's just one portion that I could show you right now about how wicked our country is right now. And they tell me that we should go bomb people over here that are at a birthday party because there's one person you're trying to kill over there. You're just like, kill the whole family. You're like, oh, we don't do that. Yeah, we do. But we're righteous. You know, our country's righteous. We're America, right? You know, America, home of the brave. Listen, I'm glad we're in America because we have the freedoms that we have and we do have more freedoms than any other country in the world. But that does not mean I'm going to use that and say, well, we have more than everybody else. Therefore, our country's blessed by God and we're we're we're righteous. That doesn't mean you're righteous. And so our country needs a wake up call because this land is going to vomit out the people of this country. And if we're living in the last days and if we're living in a time where Christ is going to come back, guess what? Guess who Babylon is going to be? The US. And it's going to get the worst punishment that any country has ever seen. So, you know, you say, well, you know, does that get you down? No, it doesn't get me down. Listen, I get I get upset about it because I have children and I don't want to see babies die. But ultimately, God's going to set it right. All those babies are going to heaven, you know, that that that were murdered. But that's not the way it should have been. And that's not the way they should have gone. And, you know, it gets me fired up, especially when people are praising it. I mean, I just wanted to slap every single person that's in that that auditorium when they're clapping for this woman that killed her baby and praised it. It's one thing to say, well, you know, I you know, I didn't want to do it, but, you know, I did accomplish this, this and this. But this woman is like, thank God that we live in a country and they're invoking God. It makes it just makes your skin crawl. You're like a night is lightning going to strike down on these people right now. But then they go around, turn around and say that, hey, we're wicked for believing the Bible and they're righteous. So the hypocrisy runs deep out there. But going back to Second Kings chapter twenty twenty one. I could probably preach a sermon against abortion every single Sunday and I would just feel justified doing it, but, you know, at the same time, we need to feed. There's other things in the Bible. But if you want to know a doctor and it gets me upset. Is that when children are being hurt, when children are being killed or when children are being molested, those are the two things that if you want to get me mad and angry, just mention that to me. And I have to stop watching the news every once in a while, you know, I'll look up something, you know, I'll look up the Drudge Report or something like that. And there's all this crazy stuff, children being abused, children dying and all this stuff. And it just makes me sick. It hurts. You know, it's just like it's just sad. I'm like, I need to stop looking at that and look at something else. Although on the other day, the other day I looked at the Drudge Report and it said that Iran has some kind of fleet of kamikaze dolphins that are going to take out U.S. ships. That was a real article. So there are some humor in that, I guess, but it's just like, are we in a James Bond flick? You know, they're literally strapping bombs to dolphins and sending them into ships. OK, so that was a real article. I don't know if it's true, but you know what? That might be war drums if you ever heard any like they got dolphins. You know, next thing they're going to say they have like seahorses coming after us. So anyway, in Second Kings chapter 21, another big thing that we see here that Manasseh does is he sets up a graven image in the house of God. OK, now what we're going to see here is that there's a strong allegory or metaphorical view here, if you will, of Manasseh and Antichrist. You're like you're always pointing out end time stuff here. Yes, I am. But, you know, go with me on this this rabbit hole for a second. But he sets up this graven image. Verse seven there says he set up I'm sorry. And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and Solomon, his son in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes, all tribes of Israel. Well, I put my name forever. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them. And according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. But they hearken not and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. Now, I think you know where I'm going with this, but does this not seem reminiscent of the abomination of desolation? And in Second Chronicles, 33, I'm just going to read the parallel, you don't have to turn there, but in 33, verse seven, it says, and he set a carved image, the idol which he had made in the house of God. So it's just kind of more clearly states that he set this image, this idol in the house of God, and that he also seduced them to do more evil than those that God took out of the land. Now, go to Daniel, Chapter 11, Daniel, Chapter 11, just to show you that the abomination of desolation is something that is set up in the house of God. OK, so that's what I believe the abominant desolation will be. I believe it will be. And I believe it's the image that the false prophet makes speak in Revelation Chapter 13. OK, so Revelation Chapter 13 talks about how they make an image unto the beast and that it gave power onto the image to both speak and to kill whoever would not worship that image. OK, so I believe that's what the abomination desolation is. And isn't it interesting that Manasseh is setting up what? An image in the house of God. And notice in Daniel Chapter 11, verse 30, it says, for the ships of Kidom shall come again against him. Therefore, he shall be grieved and return and have indignation against the Holy Covenant. So shall he do. He shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the Holy Covenant. An arm shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice and they shall place the abomination that make it desolate and such as do wickedly against the Covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries. So if you think about it, you know, he's setting up this image, but then he's also seducing all of Jerusalem at the same time as he's doing this. Matthew 24, you know, and the fact that just calling back to the fact of what we're looking for in the future is this abomination of desolation. And Matthew 24, 15 says, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, the prophet stand in the holy place, who so readeth, let him understand. So this thing's going to stand up in the holy place. And so I believe that the abomination desolation is obviously the image that's standing up in and they're taking away the daily sacrifice. But I believe that's what happened with Manasseh, right? I mean, he's setting up all these altars. They're not doing the daily sacrifice. They're not doing all that. And you say, well, how do you know that? Because later on, they're going to start doing it again. OK, when he gets right with God, they're going to start doing the the peace offerings and all that stuff right now in his in his reign. They're not doing any of that. So he took it away, put this image in place. To me, it seems to mirror this a lot. And the fact that he's seducing the people, it uses that word seduce. OK, and go to Matthew chapter or I'm sorry, Mark Chapter 13, Mark Chapter 13. Because I see a OK, I see a big picture between Manasseh and Nebuchadnezzar. And Ammon and Belshazzar, OK, there's actually a lot of parallels there between those men as far as the fact that Manasseh ends up being lifted up with pride, doing all this stuff, but then he humbles himself and gets right with God. What happens with Nebuchadnezzar? Same thing. And then you have Belshazzar. Who ends up, you know, not humbling himself, and he ends up dying that same night that that vision comes to him and aim and what happens, his own people kill him. And he doesn't get right with God, and there's a lot of parallels that and Nebuchadnezzar is obviously a picture of the Antichrist. I believe Nebuchadnezzar got saved, though, and that's why I think there's a big correlation between Nebuchadnezzar and Manasseh and the fact that Nebuchadnezzar wasn't saved to begin with. He got saved and he had to be he had to be brought down to like a beast pretty much to be humbled. And Manasseh is going to be the same thing. So Manasseh is kind of like this this kind of small little picture of what was to come with Nebuchadnezzar. Now, I had you there in Mark chapter 13, verse 22. It says, For false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to what seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. So it uses that term seduce and forsake time, you know, dealing with second I'm just going to quote this, you know, the second I'm sorry, first John chapter two, it says little children, it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come. Even now, are there many Antichrists? So this whole thing's like, OK, we got Antichrist. They were among us, but they are not of us. But it says, these are the things that I write to you concerning them to that seduce you. And who's he talking about? The Antichrist. So Antichrist is a seducer. He's going to seduce people. And Manasseh sets up this graven image and then he starts seducing Jerusalem. Sounds like a parallel to me now, obviously, I don't believe he is the man of sin or that he is the Antichrist, but it is kind of a it's a metaphorical view of the Antichrist. Just like Nebuchadnezzar was. And anyway, so I had some other verses on that, but I kind of wanted to leave that at the fact that I think there is this strong kind of look at Manasseh as like, here's a picture of the Antichrist, he sets up this image, he seduces the people and how that's going to happen in the future. And the fact that that's what the Antichrist is going to do, he's going to set up that image. And we know that the abomination of desolation is in the midst of the week or in the midst of that seven year period. And we know that after that happens, that's when we're to be looking up for our redemption draw at night, because at that point, there can be great tribulation such as the world has never seen. And then we're going to see Christ coming in the clouds after that. So but going on from there, we see go back to Second Kings chapter 21. Second Kings chapter 21. Because now we're going to see that God is condemning Manasseh. So at this point, we're just seeing here's all that Manasseh did. And now it's coming back and the Lord is speaking by the prophets saying, hey, you know, this is what's going to happen and condemning Manasseh for his actions. So in verse 10 there, so Second Kings chapter 21, verse 10, it says in the Lord spake by his servants, the prophets saying, because Manasseh, king of Judah, had done these abominations and had done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him and have made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah and whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And he goes on here and just talks about how he's going to do this and and all that and talking about that Manasseh shed much innocent blood. But go to Jeremiah chapter 15, because I want to prove to you that Manasseh sins here, that he's being called out for here and he's saying, hey, you know, there's evil coming on Jerusalem because of this, that this is talking about why they're going to be scattered throughout all nations. And Babylon obviously is going to be doing that. But Jeremiah 15, Jeremiah 15. Why did Israel get taken out? You remember the sin? You should remember it, right? Because it's mentioned every single time, the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, right? Because he made those two calves, the golden calves. Well, why did Judah get taken captive? Manasseh. So that's what it points back to, because it wasn't Rehoboam sin, some big sin and they keep calling back to that. No, it's Manasseh sin. And Jeremiah chapter 15, verse one. It says, then said the Lord unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people, cast them out of my sight and let them go forth. That's a strong statement. He's saying if Moses was standing here before me or Samuel, I would not change my mind on this. Yeah, nothing's going to, you know, they're gone. In verse two, and it shall come to pass if they say unto thee, whither shall we go forth? Then thou shalt tell them, thus said the Lord, such as are for death to death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for the captivity to the captivity. And I will point over them for kind, said the Lord, the sword, the sword to slay the dogs to tear and the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. So why did they get taken out? Why were they completely destroyed? Manasseh. You know, it kind of makes sense when you literally he's like the pitcher of the Antichrist. Right. And you can see how, you know, back in Daniel's day with the Grecian Empire, how you had this picture of the abomination desolation. But then even, you know, when when they destroyed Jerusalem, like Jerusalem is being destroyed in 70 A.D. And that is kind of the same thing that happened with Babylon being taken out. And, you know, obviously, I don't believe that there was abomination desolation set up, but it's kind of that same picture of rejecting God and God rejects them, completely annihilates them and all that. But we are looking for the abomination desolation. But it is something that's interesting that Manasseh is the reason. It's interesting that it wasn't Ahaz. Because Ahaz did, you know, basically Manasseh did what Ahaz did and then took it to another level. So it wasn't just that they sacrificed their children to Molech, but he also desecrated the house of God and set up this graven image in the house of God and seduced all those of Jerusalem. But we will see. Go to go to Second Chronicles chapter 33. And like I said, you know, if you're just reading first second Kings, then you're going to be like, well, good night, Manasseh, reprobate, you know, I mean, he's setting up an image. He's straight up Antichrist. And you might say the same thing about Nebuchadnezzar if you're reading it until you got to chapter four, when you saw him being humbled and praising the God of all the earth. And I believe Nebuchadnezzar is in heaven. I believe Manasseh is in heaven. You're like, that's crazy. Well, you know, I believe that. I believe they're a pattern of just like like Paul, where if you looked at Paul's life when he's consenting under Stephen's death and he's literally going into other cities and pulling people out of their houses and taking them to prison to be punished and scourged and all these different things, you would maybe look at Paul and say, yeah, this guy's reprobate. But there's an idea of doing things in ignorance. And, you know, that had to be the case with Manasseh. He had to be doing some things in ignorance. And obviously he was 12 years old. I don't know in the timeline as far as when he got right and went how long this took for him to do this. But maybe he was just really young and very easily seduced himself and getting into all this stuff. But in Second Chronicles chapter 33 and verse 10, it says in the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. Wherefore, the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord, his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Now, I'm going to read the rest of this, but think about this is not what happens to Jerusalem later, is that they're taken captive into Babylon and then they're brought back. And that's Manasseh. And what happens to him right here is really a picture of what's going to happen to Jerusalem when they're taken captive in the Babylon and they're brought back into the land and restored. And you think, well, how are they humbled? Well, how about Daniel's prayer where he's humbling himself and confessing their sins to God? And then obviously God has Cyrus give the decree to rebuild the temple and rebuild the city and all that that goes on there. And I know this is a little deep tonight, but listen, this is going to be deep. We're in Kings. So there's some deep stuff in here as far as how this correlates to stuff that's going to happen in the future. So and so in his affliction, he sought the Lord, his God and humbled himself greatly. Verse 13, and he prayed unto him and he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God. Now you say, well, you know, maybe he's just giving lip service. It says God heard his prayer. I don't believe God hears reprobates prayers. You know, I believe they're rejected. He will not hear their prayer. They're completely shut off from God. So the fact that God heard his prayer and was entreated of him, I believe he I personally believe he got saved. He says the Lord, he he's God and he's confessing that and knows that after that, what happens is now after this, he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon in the valley, even to the entering in of the fish gate at the fish gate, encompassed about Ophiel and raised it up a very great height and put captains of war and all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods in the idol out of the House of the Lord. So he got rid of that thing that was in the House of the Lord and all the altars that he had built in the Mount of the House of the Lord. And in Jerusalem and cast them out of the city and he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed there on peace offerings and thank offerings and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. So he's repairing. It's kind of like they took away the daily sacrifice, set up this image. Now he's taken captive. He's humble. Then he comes back and gets rid of all that stuff, repairs the house. Now the sacrifices are going again. Notice in verse 17, though, not without consequence, it didn't just go back the way it was with Hezekiah. Verse 17, nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in high places, yet unto the Lord their God only. So they had these high places and they're not doing it the way they should be doing it, but they're not sacrificing the false gods, they're doing it to God. So it's kind of like, well, let's do it in our own way. I don't believe it's right, but they at least got rid of the fact that they are worshipping these other gods. Verse 18, we get the end of Hezekiah's reign here. It says, now the rest of the acts of, I'm sorry, Hezekiah, Manasseh. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. His prayer also and how God was entreated of him in 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. So Manasseh slept with his fathers and they buried him in his own house and Ammon his son reigned in his stead. So he wasn't buried with the kings of Judah in the subquarters of the kings, but in his own house in Ammon. But notice that it says that he was humbled and it's just very clear that there came a point where he got humbled and then everything was set right. And so, but if you didn't read 2 Chronicles, you would not see that, right? You're reading 3 Kings, you're like, this guy's bad, wicked. And then it goes into Ammon. Now go to, you're in verse 20 there, go to verse 21, we're gonna go into Ammon. So Ammon is the son of Manasseh and it says, and he was two and 20 years old when he began to reign and reigned two years in Jerusalem and he did that which was evil on the side of the Lord as did Manasseh's father for Ammon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh's father had made and served them. Notice in verse 23, and humbled not himself before the Lord as Manasseh's father had humbled himself but Ammon trespassed more and more. So here's the consequence, I mean, Manasseh got right with God, but his son did worse than him, okay, he transgassed more and more. But he didn't humble himself, he didn't get right with God and it says, and his servants conspired against him and slew him in his own house and the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Ammon. So basically they slew him and then they're like, that wasn't right, we're gonna kill you for killing him, you know, without judge or jury or anything like that. So they killed the people that killed Ammon and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. So Ammon doesn't reign for very long, he only reigns for two years. And he's taken out by conspirators. And what's interesting about Ammon, like I said, go to Daniel chapter five, Daniel chapter five, is how much Nebuchadnezzar looks like Manasseh and how much Ammon looks like Belshazzar. It's kind of uncanny to see that picture, especially when you know that Nebuchadnezzar, he's that head of gold, you know, he is the one that is picturing the Antichrist, right? Because we know the Antichrist is gonna be that last head of the seven-headed dragon and he's gonna be the eighth, right, because he's gonna die and he's gonna come back to life and then he's gonna reign. And Nebuchadnezzar is obviously one of those heads and so he's a strong picture of the Antichrist. But then Belshazzar is his son and Nebuchadnezzar gets humbled, gets right with God. And Manasseh gets humbled, gets right with God. Ammon doesn't humble himself, gets killed. Belshazzar doesn't humble himself, gets killed. It's very interesting how those two things work out hand in hand. Now in Daniel chapter five, now this is the story of Belshazzar, but this is Daniel recalling what happened to Belshazzar's father, which I believe would actually be his grandfather. So because I believe there's evil Merodach that was in between there. Don't worry about that, you know, but basically. In verse 18, so Daniel 5 verse 18 says, O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. And for the majesty that he gave him all people, nations and languages, trembled and feared before him, whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive, and whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, he was disposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him and he was driven from the sons of men and his heart was made like the beasts and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men and that he appointed over it whomsoever he will. Sound familiar to Manasseh when he was taken in bonds and thorns and taken off into Babylon until he was in affliction, that's when he humbled himself. Notice in verse 22, and thou, his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this. So Belshazzar didn't humble his heart on this. Spoiler alert, that night he was killed because that night the Medes came in and destroyed him. Darius came in and destroyed him. So it's very interesting how that stuff parallels with Manasseh and Ammon and just showing kind of that same picture of the Babylonian kings and how they died and how one humbled himself, one died, one humbled himself, one died and even the fact that Manasseh set up a graven image in the house of God. If you don't see the abomination desolation with that, I don't know, maybe I'm just too far into thinking about end times when I'm reading through this, but to me that screams abomination desolation. But that's Manasseh and Ammon. I wanted to put Ammon in there because there's really not that much to be said about him. He was just a wicked king that didn't humble himself and so we'll be getting into Josiah and Josiah is a great king and there's a lot to be said about him. And so once we get past Josiah, we'll probably just do maybe another sermon dealing with the fact of how they go into captivity and then we'll be done with the kings. So I know it's been kind of a long study, but hopefully you've been enjoying it and learning some different things about the king. So let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, thank you for the souls that were saved and just pray that you be with those that heard the gospel but that didn't necessarily get saved or pray that they would get saved later on and Lord just pray that you'd be glorified in it. And Lord just pray that you be with us throughout this week, pray that you heal those that aren't feeling well. I think particularly my daughter and just others that aren't feeling well and pray for Bethany and just others and we love you. And pray that you be with us throughout this week in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.