Exodus 32:7-10 AMPC
The Lord said to Moses, Go down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; [8] They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, These are your gods, O Israel, that brought you up out of the land of Egypt! [9] And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; [10] Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and that I may destroy them; but I will make of you a great nation.
My nearest and dearest is in the midst of having a stiff neck - a nerve has got trapped in his vertebrae, making it difficult to turn his head and painful into the bargain.
We are trying all different kinds of rubs, painkillers and hot wheat bags - even a support cushion and collar.
In this passage, God has seen the children of Israel making a golden calf to worship while Moses has left them to go up the mountain to be with Him.
While Moses was away, the people deliberately chose another "god" formed in an image of their own making. They attributed their deliverance to that idol.
The Lord called them stiff necked.
The spiritual condition of being stiff necked is very serious. It's a self imposed stubbornness against God's Truth, a refusal to acknowledge Him.
It was a repeated condition throughout Israel's history.
Stephen, in his defence before the Sanhedrin, accused the people of the same stubborn response to Jesus:
Acts 7:51 AMPC
You stubborn and stiff-necked people, still heathen and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always actively resisting the Holy Spirit. As your forefathers [were], so you [are and so you do]!
No good can come of resisting and twisting the Truth of the gospel of Jesus. Finally, a person will lose the ability to "look up" and will only see earthly things.
Indeed, Stephen's accusations so incensed those leaders that they covered their ears and killed Stephen.
Acts 7:54-58 AMPC
Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen]. [55] But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendour and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand; [56] And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God's right hand! [57] But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him. [58] Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
It's a solemn warning to not be stubborn, shutting out the Holy Spirit. If those leaders had been able to look up, they too would have seen Jesus. But they were too busy stoning Stephen to death!
We must continually let the Holy Spirit lead us into all Truth and not make "gods" in our own image while we await Jesus' Return.
Stay in the Word.
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