Ezekiel 17:11

Ezekiel 17:11 says, Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,   

Verse twelve adds, Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;  God’s word continued to come to Ezekiel, and now he was to give them the interpretation of the riddle or parable.  The first thing was that the king of Babylon was to come and take the king, princes, and people of Jerusalem away captive.  God had given them time to repent and they hadn’t, so now He was going to allow them to be taken away captive.  If we do not accept God’s gift of salvation, one day we will be taken away captive by sin and sent away to everlasting punishment.  It will be our choice and not God’s since He made a way to forgiveness when He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die in our place and we refused to accept His gift of salvation by accepting Him as our Savior and Lord.  

Verse thirteen continues, And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:  The king of Babylon was going to make a covenant with Zedekiah and his descendants that they could rule over Judah but they would still be under his authority.  Zedekiah and his descendants would come out fairly well as long as they lived under the authority of the king of Babylon, but they would never come out as good as they would have if they had lived under their covenant with God.  We may look to other powers in the world today to keep us safe and maybe even put us in a position of power under them, but it will be but a temporary thing.   

Verse fourteen states, That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.  The people of Judah would always be under the rule of Babylon and would never be considered their equals. We are always going to be under the authority of either God or Satan, but Satan will always want us to suffer with him, whereas with God, we are seen as joint heirs with Jesus.  This doesn’t mean that we are equal to God, but that loves us as much as He loves Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. This doesn’t mean that we are equal to God, but that loves us just as much as He loves Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son is.   

Verse fifteen adds, But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?  God said that Zedekiah had broken his covenant with Babylon when he sent to Egypt for help in overcoming Babylon.  These were people who were still known as God’s people, but they were looking everywhere but to Him for deliverance.  We may call ourselves a Christian, but if we are looking to the powers of this world to keep us safe instead of living by faith in God, then as the people of Judah came under the wrath of Babylon when they broke their covenant, so will we come under the judgment of God because we have not entered into a true covenant relationship with Him.