2 Kings 24:1-4
1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And the LORD sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon. NKJV
In the above Scripture verses we read that God's chosen people, those to whom He gave His holy Word, those with whom He made the holy covenant, the nation He loved and which was called the "apple of His eye," were handed over to their enemies—pagan nations that knew not the God of Israel nor His ways. The Lord's protection on Judah and Jerusalem was lifted. First, they became a vassal state subject to Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. Then many different vicious groups overran them. Finally, the Bible records that most of those who survived the final Babylonian attacks (for many were put to death) were taken into captivity into Babylon, even as Nebuchadnezzar's commanders burned down and leveled Jerusalem.
Why? Why did the Lord abandon His people (for a time) to the Babylonian cruelty? The books of 1st and 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles delineate the many sins of the people of Judah as they went further and further away from the Law given to Moses and the good, pure and noble conduct of God's way spoken to them by the prophets. And all these rebellious and evil acts weighed heavily in the Lord's determination to remove His hand of protection from His chosen nation in this generation. But one sin in particular was the straw that broke the camel's back—it was too much for a holy God to ignore or put off judgment on the nation. "Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon."
Manasseh, the 14th king of Judah, we are told "did much evil in the sight of the Lord." From chapter 21 of 2nd Kings, we see this included contaminating the house of the Lord with altars and images to false gods and demons, gross idolatry, practicing sorcery and witchcraft, and consulting mediums. And the Scripture says that he seduced the people of Judah to do more evil than any of the atrocious nations that God had given them victory over in the past. Key in this section is verse 6 where we read that Manasseh "made his son pass through the fire" and verse 16 which says, "Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD." Second Chronicles reinforces this statement in chapter 33 and verse 6: "Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom…"
The Valley of the Son of Hinnom was a narrow ravine south of Jerusalem. In the high places of this valley, which were dedicated to the worship of pagan gods such as the Baal (a representation of Satan), parents sacrificed their little children as a burnt offering to the demon god Molech. That's right, they practiced infanticide! And they rejoiced in their sinful demonic worship as they did so. This is what is meant by the statement that Manasseh caused his sons to "pass through the fire" and that he "shed very much innocent blood," as he encouraged the people of Judah to do the same.
Israel's emulation of the foreign nations which committed this horrendous sin is recounted in Psalm 106:
Psalm 106:35-42
35 But they mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
36 They served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
37 They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons,
38 And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
39 Thus they were defiled by their own works,
And played the harlot by their own deeds.
40 Therefore the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people,
So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
41 And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand. NKJV
And Manasseh was not the first of Judah's kings to do so. We read about his grandfather, Ahaz, the 12th king of Judah:
2 Chronicles 28:3
3 He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. NKJV
Good king Josiah, the 16th king of Judah, tried with all his might to stop the atrocities:
2 Kings 23:10
10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. NKJV
But it was not enough. And Jeremiah the prophet connected this most heinous action of infanticide to the nation of Judah's defeat by and captivity to Babylon:
Jeremiah 7:28-31
28 "So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. 29 Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.' 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight," says the LORD. "They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. 31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart. NKJV
Jeremiah 32:26-29; 32-35
26 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? 28 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. 29 And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger; 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger — they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.' NKJV
And I have to ask the question, how can a nation that was so wonderfully blessed by God, with such a rich history of having God's word—not a barbaric nation, but one inheriting a clear knowledge of right and wrong—how could such a nation go so far afield as to condone infanticide? No. I'm not speaking about ancient Judah. I'm speaking about the United States of America.
On Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Reproductive Health Act shortly after it had been passed by the New York State Senate and Assembly. Similar bills are being considered by other states. This bill legalized abortion all the way up until the moment of birth, removing restrictions on late-term abortions. Thus, a full-term baby could have its life terminated basically for any reason, given the law's extremely broad "health" exceptions which permit abortion. There is even a provision that if an attempted abortion fails, they can finish the job after birth—infanticide. The prior full legal protection to any child who might be born alive as a result of the abortion was appallingly repealed in this law. And this new death provision disgracefully received a standing ovation in the New York State Senate.
The law also removed the personhood of the unborn child, erasing abortion from the state's criminal code. Before this law, the murder of the unborn child in its third trimester was punishable as a felony offense, since the recognized point of viability outside the womb is at the 24 week mark. So any baby past the 24 week of gestation was considered by New York law as a "person." Now, if a pregnant woman is violently attacked, the harm to the unborn child is no longer covered as an additional criminal charge and its death is no longer a homicide.
Moreover, the law expanded who is allowed to provide an abortion, including mid-wives and other non-physicians, assuring the growth of the abortion industry.
The most innocent in society, babies, are allowed to be slaughtered up until the moment of birth, and with an increasing potential of being killed even after birth. Virginia also recently considered a similar bill that would allow an abortion even if the woman had started labor. In the ensuing debate, Governor Ralph Northam was asked in an interview on a DC radio station if he would allow a woman to receive an abortion even while she was going into labor. In his answer, the governor said that in such a case the infant would be delivered and "kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother." Clearly infanticide by any definition!
And the medical descriptions of the procedures used to kill and remove a late term abortion are truly hideous to read. They can easily be found on-line, and there is no doubt that the baby feels horrible pain. Yet many Americans prefer to not even think about such matters, content to be blissfully unknowing.
These laws, under the guise of women's health, promote the murder of the most innocent. They are cruelly being sacrificed on our nation's altars to selfishness, ignorance, immorality, and a willful disregard for the specialness of human life. A cold culture of death and the obscene grasp for power and money by those in leadership can be added to that list.
Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon. NKJV
But possibly the most telling and ghoulish fact about the New York law's passage, was that, when the Senate passed the bill and later when Governor Cuomo signed the bill, there was rousing applause, standing ovations, laughing, cheering and back slapping—rejoicing that the State's innocent children could now be murdered up to full term. You can view this online as well and it is chilling.
And in another morbid move, Governor Cuomo directed that One World Trade Center and other landmarks be lit in pink that Tuesday to celebrate the bill's passage. Consider the solemn site where so many fellow citizens suffered a terrible death at the hands of America's enemies, now having the tall, pointed spire of the rebuilt Trade Center rising up to the heavens alight in pink, as though the Governor was poking a pink finger in the eye of God—the God in whose image the slain children are made. That which should be considered a sacred symbol for the city was being manipulated to make a statement of "victory" which was really a statement of rebellion, heartlessness, and death.
Pastor Greg
Scripture quotations taken from the New King James Version (NKJV). Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission All rights reserved.