Token Of Submission

Don’t listen to Hezekiah! For this is what the king of Assyria says, “Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern.” – 2 Kings 18:31 (NET)

Hezekiah is the king of the nation of Judah. Assyria has already conquered the northern nation of Israel, and has now set its sights upon furthering its conquest and bringing the southern nation of Judah into submission as well. In fact, “King Sennacherib of Assyria marched up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them”(18:13b). Quite rightly, this provoked alarm on behalf of Hezekiah and the people of Judah, causing Hezekiah to respond by saying “I have violated our treaty. If you leave, I will do whatever you demand” (18:14b). Upon this statement, Sennacherib laid a duty upon Judah. Subsequently, in customary fashion, in order to cement Hezekiah’s loyal service, Sennacherib sent a messenger to Hezekiah. The purpose of the messenger was to inform Hezekiah, through his subordinates, that he was powerless to stand up to the might of Assyria, and that continued subjection was the best course of action for him and his people. In addition, Sennacherib’s messenger communicates information that would have conjured up thoughts of the curses of Deuteronomy, and the judgment of God upon His people, when he says, “The Lord told me, ‘March up against this land and destroy it’.” (18:25b)

He goes on, resorting to intimidation tactics, invoking the name of Israel’s God as the One Who has not only sent Assyria, but Who will not stem the tide of destruction if the people choose to rebel. At this point, the messenger of Sennacherib says, “this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern’.” (18:31) It is the words that follow this that should give us a pause, and in so doing, offer us a mental transport from this scene of ancient Israel into this very present life of faith, as lived by Resurrection power, delivered through the agency of God’s Holy Spirit.

Our Creator God’s claims upon us and our lives trumps the claim of all other kings and principalities and powers, as He, through His messengers (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor/teachers, and His Word) speaks to us and says, “Send me a token of your submission and surrender to Me.” To what are we submitting and surrendering? We submit and surrender, by the gift of faith, as it is conducted through the preaching of the Gospel, to the message that Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, is the crucified and resurrected Lord of all. What is the token of our submission and surrender? Two very real tokens of such are baptism and the communion.

When we participate in baptism, subsequent to the belief that represents a trusting allegiance in Jesus and His claims, we re-enact the exodus of God’s people from slavery and exile, in the knowledge that we have experienced God’s redemptive power, in full confession that Jesus is our King. At the communion table, among other things, with the tangible symbols of bread and wine, we proclaim the fact of Jesus’ bodily death and bodily Resurrection, in submission to the truths that are thereby claimed, and therefore we preach the Gospel in the very act of participating in the meal that was given to us by Jesus Himself. With these tokens of submission and surrender, we confirm our place in the kingdom of God that was brought to bear and activated in this world with Jesus’ Resurrection.

Returning to the second book of the Kings and to the words of the king of Assyria, we find that our participation in the kingdom of God, and the restoration and renewal of this creation that began with Jesus’ conquering of death and the grave, fits very well with the reason given to the people of Judah for their continued submission. Following the statement concerning eating and drinking from their own fig trees and cisterns, the king gives them a further reason for submission, as we read, “until I come and take you to a land just like your own---a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey. Then you will live and not die” (18:32a). Is this not what our God promises to those that are His covenant people in Christ? If we are in submission to our God, through our believing and trusting allegiance to His Son (by faith), He will come and take us to a land just like our own. Well, not quite like our own at present, but a land as it was intended to be, which is a restored creation, un-corrupted and un-marred by sin and death, which means it will most assuredly be a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive trees and honey. Yes, one day, our God will consummate the redemption of His people and His once good creation.

Following that, as we contemplate the consummated kingdom of God on earth, we seize on that which were the king’s empty words---as they attempted to communicate something that no man can effectively promise---and say that because death has been finally put down, having been defeated by the Resurrection of Jesus, there in that land like our own, the gift of eternal life that we have in union with our Lord Christ Jesus will be completed, so we will in fact live and not die.