I don't know if I should really create this thread, but this has been eating me from the inside out and will continue to do so, I am sure. But, everyone, can a man who has committed unforgivable crimes achieve redemption? Sins that are heavy enough to crush anyone, can such sins be erased? Can a devil become an angel?
Have you ever read the account of Manasseh?
Manasseh was a "King of Judah who was the son and successor of King Hezekiah. (
2Ki 20:21; 2Ch 32:33) Manasseh’s mother was Hephzibah. He was 12 years old when he ascended the throne as the 14th king of Judah after David and ruled for 55 years (716-662 B.C.E.) in Jerusalem. (
2Ki 21:1) He did what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, rebuilding the high places his father had destroyed, setting up altars to Baal, worshiping “all the army of the heavens,” and building false religious altars in two temple courtyards. He made his sons pass through the fire, practiced magic, employed divination, and promoted spiritistic practices. Manasseh also put the graven image of the sacred pole he had made into the house of Jehovah. He seduced Judah and Jerusalem “to do worse than the nations that Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.” (
2Ki 21:2-9; 2Ch 33:2-9) Though Jehovah sent prophets, these were not heeded. Manasseh was also guilty of shedding innocent blood in great quantity (
2Ki 21:10-16), which, according to the literature of the Jewish rabbis, included that of Isaiah, who they say was sawed apart at Manasseh’s command.—Compare
Heb 11:37.
Manasseh was punished for paying no attention to Jehovah’s message, the king of Assyria taking him captive to Babylon, one of the Assyrian monarch’s royal cities. (
2Ch 33:10, 11) ‘Manasseh of Judah’ is mentioned in Assyrian King Esar-haddon’s list of 22 tribute-paying “kings of Hatti, the seashore and the islands.” Manasseh’s name also appears in a list of kings tributary to Ashurbanipal.—
Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. Pritchard, 1974, pp. 291, 294.
While in captivity, Manasseh repented, humbled himself, and prayed to Jehovah. God heard his request for favor and restored him to the kingship in Jerusalem. (
2Ch 33:12, 13) Manasseh thereafter “built an outer wall for the City of David,” put military chiefs in Judah’s fortified cities, and removed the foreign gods and the idol image from Jehovah’s house, as well as the altars he had built “in the mountain of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem.” Manasseh prepared the altar of Jehovah and began to sacrifice upon it, encouraging others also to serve Jehovah. However, the people were still sacrificing on the high places, though to Jehovah. (
2Ch 33:14-17) At Manasseh’s death, he was succeeded in the kingship by his son Amon.—
2Ch 33:20."
From Insight Volumes WTS.
If God can forgive Manasseh...he can forgive anyone. All he requires is a contrite heart and a repentant spirit.
Isaiah 55:7...
"Let the wicked man leave his way
And the evil man his thoughts;
Let him return to Jehovah, who will have mercy on him,
To our God, for he will forgive in a large way."
