READINGS FOR JULY 17 - JULY 23

JULY 17

Isaiah 51 tells us that if we seek the Lord and look to the Rock, we will flourish like the garden of the Lord.  We will be filled with joy and gladness, thanksgiving and singing.

Another great verse today for the "truth tellers".

Isaiah 51:7
"Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have the law in your hearts; Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.

Isaiah 51:12-16 tells us that we should not fear mortal men.  They are like grass, we should trust in the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.  He says to us, "I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand."

Under the heading NO NEED TO FEAR (Isaiah 51:12-16) we are told that if we forget the Lord our Maker, we "will live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction..."

If we focus too much on the chaos that surrounds us every day, we will live in constant terror. Best to look to Him.  Just read Isaiah 51 again.

Isaiah 51:17-23 contains a symbol of sins using the cup of wrath as an illustration of God's justice.  But, there is also an illustration of God removing the cup that made you stagger, a wonderful illustration of the forgiveness of sin.

In Isaiah 52:3-6 are some very sad words indeed.  "All day long my name is constantly blasphemed."
This happens every time the Word of God is compromised.

Under the heading JOY OF RESTORATION (Isaiah 52:7-10) Isaiah speaks of the watchmen who will see the Lord return to Zion.  Does this mean the prophets will be raised in the Millennium?  Job tells us that he will see his Redeemer (Jesus) in the flesh.  (Job 19:26)

Isaiah 52:11
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.

What an admonition to stay pure, especially spiritual leaders.

Isaiah 53:10-12 speaks of the spiritual "offspring" of the Messiah - that would be Believers in Jesus - the result of His redeeming word.  Concerning these spiritual offspring, "by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many..."

By the knowledge and witness and testimony of the Believers, Jesus will redeem many.  This should encourage all of us to read and study His Word so that we will be that good witness for Him, helping others to salvation.

In reading Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53, it is so obvious this prophecy of Jesus. There is so much to write about here but we will focus on just one verse in Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Iniquity means Jesus took everything about us that wasn’t perfect, not just our big sins. That was everything short of perfection. It was everything that every person did or ever will do, including sickness and disease.   He loves us that much! 

Romans 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Praise God we are justified freely because of that redemption!  He loves us that much!

In the last days there will be a tremendous earthquake that will shake the earth when the seventh angel pours out his bowl.

Revelation 16:17-18
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.

In the midst of this severe earthquake, the flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder we have this incredible promise from God.

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

He loves us that much!

JULY 18

“For your Maker is your husband -”

This really spells out the spiritual marriage relationship between believers and Jesus or between Jesus and His church.

The part of the verse"...remember no more the reproach of your widowhood." may be a bit confusing.  If our Maker is our husband and our husband isn't dead then how can we be a widow?  We need to look at what the Hebrew word means.  In addition to widow the Hebrew word for widowhood means "abandonment", to be abandoned as if it were widowhood.

“For a brief moment I abandoned you..”

This verse helps us understand the previous one about widowhood. Unless we go back to the root word, the Hebrew word, it is difficult to make the connection. Wonder how long God’s moments are? 

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on  you.

What follows after this is a multi-layered description of both the Millennium and eternity.

City with stones of turquoise, foundations with sapphires, battlements of rubies, gates of sparkling jewels, walls of precious stones. This is a classic example of layered prophecy. (See Revelation 21)

While this is a beautiful picture, even better than that is the following that pertains to the Millennium:
"All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace."

Notice it says ALL your sons will be taught by the Lord and great will be their peace.  What parents wouldn't want that for their children?

Isaiah 55 paints a picture of somewhat of a bartering system that will be in place in the Millennium but it also applies spiritually.

Isaiah 55:2
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

This is a very applicable question for today.  How much money do we spend on wants instead of needs?  How much time do we spend on the job to make money to buy things that do not satisfy? Or using money we don't have to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found”;

What does it mean “while he may be found”? Does it mean there may come a time when He can’t be found? (John 9:4)

Isaiah 55 continues to paint a beautiful picture of mountains and hills bursting into song. “…all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” What a sound that must be!  Ever been in a forest when the noise of the city is far, far away?  The wind blows through the trees, does it not sound as if a great number of people are clapping their hands?

This chapter also tells us that there will be an absence of thorns and briers. Spiritually speaking does this refer to thorns and briers as an analogy for sin?

Isaiah 56 reaffirms God's desire that we keep His Sabbaths and His Holy Days. Honoring these days is to be done for all generations to come forever. (Leviticus 23:21)  It isn't just the weekly worship day, a day of rest it is an observance of the three commanded feast days. He promises to bring those who honor these days to His holy mountain to be close to Him. We don't have to wait for the Millennium to be close to Him.  He says if we honor these holy days we will be close to Him. We should live life here with a Millennial mindset and lifestyle, at least as much as we can.

It is quite obvious throughout Scripture how God feels about His Sabbaths and the feasts and festivals. These days will be honored during the Millennium.  Why not honor them now?  There is a great reward if we do!

Isaiah 56:4-5
To them, I, the LORD, say: Respect the Sabbath, obey me completely, and keep our agreement. Then I will set up monuments in my temple with your names written on them. This will be much better than having children, because these monuments will stand there forever. 

JULY 19

Isaiah 57:1-2
The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

These verses refer to those who die for the faith from the beginning of time (the martyrs) as well as those who do not take the mark of the beast in the last days as written in Mark 13.

Mark 13:19-20

If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
(See also Matthew 24:21-22)

Psalm 116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 

Under the heading RESTORATION NOT FOR WICKED (Isaiah 57) are listed numerous sins, such as sexual perversion (open sex, pornography, etc), abortion, paying homage to the pagan and the occult instead of to God.  These are descriptions of the children of the adulterous woman who has given birth to illegitimate children who do not know God.  They have not been taught the ways of the Lord so every generation degrades even further.  This is an analogy of the unfaithfulness of God's people who give birth to and raise children who are not godly.  Remember God's people have a marriage covenant relationship with Him.

Isaiah 57:8a
Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols.

We may think we can hide our wicked ways, but not so.

The fate of the wicked is found in the remaining verses of Isaiah 57.

Isaiah 57:12
I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.

What a convicting verse this is! Even though we may do good works, if we do not honor the Lord in what we do, or if we follow the ways of the wicked, seems as if the bad cancels out some of the good. It reminds us of some of the kings, especially Asa. If we are not believers in Jesus, it doesn't matter how many good works we do.

I Kings 15:14
Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life.

Asa was fully committed, yet he held on to the ways of the wicked. He was righteous in many ways and in his many works, but what God was looking for in Asa and also in all of us, is that we will be fully committed to Him AND we will destroy our “high places”, whatever form those "high places" may take.

Isaiah 57:15b
"I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
What an amazing thought. This Master of the universe, who lives in unapproachable light, in a high and holy place, wants to live within us!

Under the heading EMPTINESS OF FASTING (Isaiah 58) are these words:
"For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways..."

They seek the Lord and seem to want to know His ways but when they read His Word they bend the truth and make it say what they want it to say.  When they fast they only go through the motions.  They are not fasting for the right reasons.  After all these descriptions, this section ends with "Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?"

Then under the heading TRUE FASTING AND ITS REWARD (Isaiah 58:13-14) Isaiah tells what God finds acceptable in His sight.  When fasting, God wants us to take the focus off self.  Do some soul-searching for those things that may bind us.  Withdraw from our normal routine and contemplate what we can do for others.  God says that if we fast and worship for the right reasons and in the right way..."Then you will call, and the Lord will answer..."

Another way to look at fasting is this.  Be so involved in communication with God that consuming food simply does not come to mind.  Therefore fasting in this way, a person would not set out to deliberately refrain from eating, but not eating would be the result of being so focused on God that a person would forget to eat.

This section ends with a prophecy of the literal, physical rebuilding of the temple and reinstituting proper worship as well as the spiritual component for us today of returning to the ways of The Way, the ways of the early church.

He says your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:12

Isaiah was referring to the people of his day but we can make spiritual connections today.  Truth tellers seek to rebuild the basic foundations of the faith.

Under the heading CALL FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE we find some of those famous "If...then" statements. If we honor His Sabbath days in the right way, then we will find joy and be blessed beyond measure. The Sabbath day is a day of “rest”. This “rest” means so much more than stretching out on the hammock, under a shady tree in the back yard and taking a little snooze. “Rest” means to rest in God’s unfailing love, to rest in His mercy, His goodness, His faithfulness, His grace; to rest in His promises; to rest in trusting Him. Ultimately “rest” is eternal salvation, to rest forever with Him. We honor Him on a Sabbath day by not going our “own way” and “speaking idle words”. So exactly when is the Sabbath day? Using the definitions above, sounds like every day should be a Sabbath day!

The Sabbath day not only refers to the weekly Sabbath, but also to God's Holy Days, His feast and festival days.  They too are His Sabbaths.  We honor Him by observing these days.

Also in Isaiah 58 God warns about giving Him only "lip service".  God knows the heart and knows when we are only pretending to follow His commands.

Under the heading CONFESSION OF SINS Isaiah relates that the people have loved the rewards of evil. have no morals, are trying to hide behind a facade of godliness.  They are not satisfied with the pleasures of the world and are searching for something but are looking in all the wrong places.  This is all a result of "truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey."

Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

This was another very convicting verse for us today. When we examined our prayers, we realized that we have been neglectful in confessing our sins, BEFORE we begin to petition Him for requests. Something easily remedied.

JULY 20

Can there be any richer passages of Scripture that those for today? Have we said that before???

There will be only Believers in Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom.  Imagine that!

Isaiah 60:1-3 tells what will happen as the glory of the Lord rises. Chaos and evil and darkness may surround us but Jesus is our Light.  However, if we make these passages personal and applicable to today, we can be encouraged that we, as Believers, must rise and shine even though spiritual darkness covers the earth.  His glory can be seen in us.  Others will come to that light.

In many of the prophetic writings, the prophets speak layered prophecies. Isaiah 60 is a perfect example of prophecies of the Millennium as well as prophecies concerning eternity.  Often these prophecies are contained in the same chapter, or even the same verse.  It is important for us to read carefully to determine which prophecy is which. The following verses in Isaiah 61 give a perfect example of two prophecies at least 2,000 years apart contained in the same verse. 

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

The word poor doesn't mean lack of money.  It means meek, lowly, or downcast.  What better news can there possibly be for people who are downcast than the good news of salvation through Jesus! 

Jesus read this passage of Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His earthly mission. 

Luke 4:18-20 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.  He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 

Jesus stopped reading right before, "the day of vengeance of our God."  This part of the Isaiah prophecy had not been fulfilled yet.  It won't be fulfilled until the year-long Day of the Lord or the time of the wrath of God.  We are living in the mercy, patience, learning age.

Isaiah 61:7 Instead of shame my people will receive a double portion.

In the Millennium God's people will receive a double portion. This refers to land masses and their wealth for the tribes.  Their land allotment will be significantly larger than they had before the Millennium. Also in the Millennium, the Gentiles will serve the tribes of Jacob. 

Isaiah 61:10-11 describes for us what happens when we make that decision to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  We are clothed with garments of salvation and arrayed in a robe of righteousness.

Isaiah 63:1-6 speaks of treading the winepress and having blood-stained garments. Revelation 14 tells us about the winepress and Revelation 19 about the robe dipped in blood worn by Jesus.  

Isaiah reminds the people of how God interacted with them in the past and mentions His presence with them.

Isaiah 63:9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.

This presence has been with them (and us) since the beginning as recorded in Genesis 3:8 and Exodus 33:14 as well as many other passages.

Isaiah 63:11-12 where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand.

What confirmation of the interaction of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Old Testament!

In Isaiah 63:15-19 we read "For a little while your people possessed your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary."  Read Ezekiel 23 to understand what they were doing for God to withdraw His presence from the temple.  It is not a pretty picture.

Isaiah 64:1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...

Praise God, He DID rend the heavens and come down in the form of Jesus!  And He will rend the heavens again and return.

Isaiah 64:4 All of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags

What we call righteous is not necessarily what God calls righteous.  What may be politically correct is not necessarily biblically correct.  Some forms of tolerance, for example, among many, many others.

What must the people have thought when Isaiah tells them about the burning of the temple and the ruin of the treasures there as recorded in Isaiah 64.  At that time the temple was still standing.

What a great picture in Isaiah 60 of people being gathered together and what will be happening during the Millennial Kingdom! As we put the pieces of the prophetic puzzle together for the book THESE LAST DAYS and the book THE TIME IS NEAR we wondered about this verse. “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests?” Does this mean that there will be forms of transportation in the Millennium that we know nothing of now???

Isaiah reports that the Lord will be the light.

Isaiah 60:19
The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

Zechariah gives us another view.

Zechariah 14:7
It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime-- a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.

And John had this to say about the eternal heavenly kingdom. God gives the light. Jesus is the lamp.

Revelation 21:23
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Which brings us back to the beginning.

Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

The light that God created first was not the light of the sun, but the light of the son! He was there in the beginning and will be there for eternity!

JULY 21

Isaiah 65:1
"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;"

Imagine life as a horizontal line.  Life begins at the beginning of the horizontal line. At points along the way, God reaches down.  It is up to the individual to reach back or not. Whenever an unsaved person reaches back and accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, they begin to ascend on a vertical line up to God and eternal life.  If the unsaved person does not reach up and accept Jesus, they continue on the horizontal line to the end of it and into eternal death.

Also in Isaiah 65 is a description of obstinate people; they walk in ways not good, they sacrifice and burn incense to false pagan gods, they practice necromancy (communicating with the dead).  And their arrogance is demonstrated when they speak to God saying, "Keep away; don't come near me for I am too sacred for you!"

Imagine telling God they were more sacred than He is!  Or when a pastor makes an error in a sermon and the congregation addresses that issue with him and he responds with, "You have no right to dispute anything I say from the pulpit!" That is ARROGANCE!

Isaiah 65:12 Therefore I will number you to the sword; and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because I called and you did not answer; for I spoke but you did not listen."

This is another verse that illustrates the horizontal line.

“All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people…”

Another verse describing our ever patient God who offers us chance, after chance, after chance! He is not willing that any should perish.

Matthew 18:14
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

God makes it perfectly clear in Isaiah 65 how He feels about those “who walk in ways not good”.

Isaiah 65 mentions offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.  Brick is symbolic of something man-made as opposed to stone, which is something God made.  We can also relate this to man-made traditions, which Jesus condemned.   

 Isaiah 65:12b…for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen you did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.

God has repeatedly warned about pagan practices. 

Isaiah is full of prophecies concerning the Millennial Kingdom.  It is possible to live today with a "millennial mindset and lifestyle" as much as possible, even while living among pagan influences.

"As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes..."

 God continually reminds us that no matter how many people walk in ways not good in a world that is not good, there will be a remnant who walk in ways that are good.  This is the "juice still found in a cluster of grapes". 

Again in today’s reading in Isaiah 65:17-25 is another incredible description of eternity and more descriptions of life in the Millennium. 

Isaiah 66 spells out the rewards for the believers and wrath of God for the unbelievers.

Isaiah 66:2
This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

Will the Lord esteem us now if we are living a "millennial mindset and lifestyle" as much as possible?

Isaiah 66:3b-4a They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations; so I will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring upon them what they dread.

Isaiah 66:17
"Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things - they will meet their end together", declares the Lord.

There are people who are seeking after righteousness, but find abominable things, are led astray and into false worship and pagan traditions.

We say farewell to Isaiah, a true prophet of God. Some parting thoughts by the commentator of the Chronological Bible that we would like to bring out. “God’s message will sometimes be hidden from the common people by the very ones who ought to bring understanding – the religious leaders”.

Jesus had something to say about the religious leaders of His day.

Matthew 23:13
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

While we may look to religious leaders for understanding, ultimately, we need to look to God's Word and listen to the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual renewal under Manasseh as spelled out in today's reading should give us encouragement to "burn" our own "high places" instead of compromising and "sacrificing" to God on the altars of paganism.

JULY 22

Two prophets were given messages against Nineveh; Jonah who brought a message of mercy and Nahum who brought a message of doom.  Mercy came because the people repented.  And later doom came because they did not.

Nineveh was at the heart of the vast and powerful empire of the Assyrians - the commercial center of the world.  The wealth of the city came from wide-spread lucrative trade and also from the practice of deceit and the plundering of neighboring nations.

Excavations over the last several hundred years have determined that the wall around the city of Nineveh was 100 feet high, four chariots wide and eight miles in perimeter.

Nahum’s prophecy against Nineveh has some specific applications for us today. Nineveh was a wicked city when Jonah was sent there. They were so wicked that, according to Jonah, they didn’t deserve to be saved. Can you make any applications to humanity today? After Jonah finally obeyed God and went to Nineveh preaching repentance, the people in Nineveh believed God and repented, and then turned from their evil ways. God had compassion and did not destroy them. See any connections yet? Unfortunately, Nineveh shortly returned to their evil practices, even worse than before. The commentary in the Chronological Bible only touched on the surface when describing their many sinful and wicked ways. Making the applications to today yet?

Nahum lists some specific practices of the people of Nineveh; sorcery, prostitution, and witchcraft, all outward symptoms of inward character. God says He will treat them with contempt. Connections to today?

One message that comes through loud and clear through the prophet Nahum is that God will not allow rampant and unrestrained wickedness to prosper and increase indefinitely.  Connections today? Anyone who believes in Jesus as personal Lord and Savior is safe from God's promised punishment and judgment upon sin.  But the sin must be atoned for and Jesus took care of that on the cross through His sacrificial death.  However, that does not give us a license to sin.

Following Jonah's preaching, the people of Nineveh believed God, repented, and turned, however they didn’t necessarily believe IN God. They would be as the man Jesus spoke of in Matthew’s gospel.

Matthew 12:43-45
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

Unbelievers can believe, repent, and turn from their life of sin. God has compassion and saves those persons from destruction even though they may not deserve it. They, like the people of Nineveh may believe that God exists (even Satan knows that God exists) and yet not believe IN God (Jesus) and so have the indwellment of the Holy Spirit. When temptations of the former life resurface, their condition may be worse than before.

How about unbelievers who believe IN God (Jesus), repent, and turn from their life of sin? Believers are saved from eternal destruction (eternal death), yet still give sanctuary to some former sins. For example, as Believers, we can sometimes be very soft concerning stands on sins, such as prostitution, sorcery and witchcraft. Sorcery and witchcraft can come in many forms, such as the celebration of Halloween, reading of novels and watching movies concerning sorcery and witchcraft. The sin of prostitution also can take many forms, not all necessarily connected with sexual sins. Remember our relationship with our Savior is as a marriage. Anytime we Believers “sell out” to the ways of the world we prostitute ourselves.

Interestingly, today's reading mentions celebrating festivals (the God-ordained feast and festivals) and fulfilling vows to the Lord.   Again, we can make many connections to today.

Everything that Nahum predicted came true.  Ancient Nineveh is in ruins today. As Believers in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, we don’t have to be in ruin. We can put on our figurative “sackcloth and ashes”, repent, and turn from our wicked ways. Then our gracious and merciful God will have compassion on us, forgive us, and restore us to a right relationship with Him.

JULY 23

"While Manasseh may have been an ungodly king in the beginning, he redeemed himself somewhat in the end. Manasseh reigned longer (55 years) than any other king and had the dubious distinction of being Judah's most wicked king. He came to the throne at the age of 12.  He reverted to the ways of his evil grandfather, Ahaz.

Committed to idolatry, Manasseh restored everything Hezekiah had abolished. Manasseh erected altars to Baal; he erected an image of Asherah in the Temple; he worshiped the sun, moon, and stars; he recognized the Ammonite god Molech and sacrificed his son to him, he approved divination; and he killed all who protested his evil actions.

Manasseh was temporarily deported to Babylon where he humbled himself before God in repentance. Upon Manasseh's return to Jerusalem, he tried to reverse the trends he had set; but his reforms were quickly reversed after his death by his wicked son Amon."
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Contrast the above description of Manasseh to his grandson Josiah.

II Kings 23:25
Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did-- with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

What a statement to Josiah’s character! Notice all the “all”s.

We have reference to this commandment in the gospels. Jesus clarified and gave details of the original commandment given to Moses.

Mark 12:30
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."  This is the first commandment.

However, even a godly person like Josiah can still suffer because of the sins of others.

II Kings 23:26
Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger.

When Manasseh repented of the evils he had done, he restored the altar of the Lord in the temple and began proper sacrificing again.  However, the people continued to offer sacrifices to God on the pagan high places.  Even though they were worshiping God, they were worshiping in vain because the worship was done in pagan ways.

Josiah did what was right, however the people did not. Sin has consequences. Innocent people can suffer because of the sins of others. Sin is as an open wound. The wound may heal but often scars remain.