Deuteronomy 31:27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am still alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord, and how much more after my death.
Moses knows the rebellion of God’s people against the Lord. They have been rebellious during the Exodus journey, they are rebellious even this day while Moses is living, and they will be even more rebellious after he is dead. While Moses was with them, he was able to hold their rebellion in check to some degree. But after he is gone their rebellion will run rampant. And so it worked out in the history of Israel. Rebellion grew, and the curses of idolatry and disobedience came into effect.
This response to God and His grace is not confined to OT Israel; it is a prophetic word spoken to us NT people as well. Sinners are rebellious against the God who saves them, and all of us always will be. It seems harsh to call us rebellious, but we are, Sin is not only disobedience; it is also rebellion. We don’t want to admit it, to consider ourselves in rebellion against God. But we are. We have been. We will be as long as we live. In a sober moment, we may wonder how Israel could rebel against a good God who saves them. They saw the Exodus Event and the wilderness provision. How could they rebel?
A better question is: How could we rebel even after hearing the gospel and seeing the Salvation Event of the work of Christ? I don’t know, but I do. I don’t want to call my sin rebellion, but it is. I respond by confessing my sin, unbelief, and rebellion, by seeing my sinful self for who I really am. And I respond by trusting in Christ for forgiveness, and by remembering that the Love of God, for Christ’s sake, is higher deeper, wider, and longer.