Isaiah's Legacyنموونە

DAY FIVE: Unchained Righteousness

Manasseh’s true repentance was lived out in action meant to honor the one, true God, but living rightly in God’s holy presence is more than doing right things.

What Is Righteousness?

True righteousness means complete rightness with the holy God—the kind of perfect, transparent relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed before they sinned. When God used animal hides to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, He introduced the idea of substitutionary sacrifice that taught humankind how to enter His holy presence. 

God’s holiness can be compared to the intensity of the sun’s rays. It’s warm and beautiful, but if approached carelessly, it can be deadly. God banished Adam and Eve from His unfiltered presence, and centuries passed before God chose to dwell again with men—after He rescued the Israelites from Egypt.

He gave the Law to Moses, showing them how to live in right relationship with their holy God. They worshiped Him in the portable Tent of Meeting through atoning sacrifices until King David’s son, Solomon, built the one place on earth where Yahweh “put His Name.”

Why was it so grievous that Manasseh placed pagan symbols in Yahweh’s temple?

From Darkness to Light

A changed heart is a zealous heart, and Manasseh knew God. Like his father Hezekiah, he destroyed pagan altars in Judah, but unlike Hezekiah he stopped short of destroying Judah’s high places. Did he think them harmless? More convenient? Human reason trumped God’s command.

Why do you think Yahweh wanted the people to worship Him only where HE prescribed?

From Manasseh to the Cross

Jesus became the perfect substitutionary sacrifice for all people for all time, allowing any who believe to live in rightness with our holy God. When Jesus asked for absolute obedience, it wasn’t with a whip and bridle in His hands. It was with a cross on His back. 

Is there something God is asking of you that might not make sense? Or perhaps He’s asking you to give up an especially difficult habit?

Through His Holy Spirit, He can provide the strength and determination to live in unchained rightness with your holy God. Dare to obey and be blessed!