I think to truly understand פרשת נצבים, it needs to be understood in terms of the מדרש that רש”י quotes in the beginning of the parsha (מדרש תנחומא)The nation just heard 98 curses and they were reeling from fear, understandably so, given the extensive, thorough, and severe nature of these curses. Realize also that this was not told to them the way we hear it now, this was a prophetic vision which was being given over by Moshe, and prophecies were far more experiential than just listening to the words.
So, to calm the people down, Moshe tells them פרשת נצבים to show that Hashem loves them and even if He punishes them, their connection and bond will never be broken. The מדרש gives examples of the past, mistakes that the nation made in the desert and the fact that Hashem never destroyed us. But the מדרש says something else fascinating which רש”י leaves out. The מדרש adds that in the future the reason we can rest assured that we will never be destroyed is because as opposed to the other nations which throw away God when they have troubles, we recognize the source of the suffering as Hashem and we become closer to Him as a result of the suffering and this will ensure that even if we sin and get punished, we will never lose that connection.
I think פרשת נצבים shows us the backing for how we can use suffering to get close to Hashem and why we are categorically different than the other nations of Earth. Toward the end of the פרשה we hear the famous words, כי המצוה הזאת … לא נפלאת הוא ממך ולא רחוקה הוא: לא בשמים הוא לאמר מי יעלה לנו השמימה ויקחה לנו וישמענו אתה ויעשנה. This commandment which I have given you is not covered from you and is not far from you. It is not in the heaven [which would require you] to say who will go up to the heavens and take it for us and make it heard to us so that we can do it. The Pasuk continues, it is not across the sea, so no one will need to cross the sea to get it for you and make it heard so that you can do it. These are extremely vivid images; the Torah could have just said it is not far and it is not covered and called it a day. But we hear specific locations that this commandment is not in, these specifics are there for a reason. Does going up to the heavens to take something and bring it back to the nation have any significance to us? What about crossing a sea? These are the two main national events which helped shape us as a nation! Moshe is referencing what he has done and the steps that we took as a nation to commit ourselves to Hashem in the past. And what about those words וישמענו אתה ויעשנה? To make it heard so we can do…? Do those two verbs appear together anywhere else? That was our first national call that we made to Hashem, נעשה ונשמע! Our guarantee for the future is being tied back to our origin as a nation, and it is this that saves us. The knowledge that we are part of the Jewish nation, a conglomerate of souls bound together through time and space by the connection that was forged with our Creator so long ago. That bond is unbreakable. Therefore, Moshe can say that Hashem is making a covenant both with people that are in front of him and those that are not inf front of him today. This covenant is between the Jewish people and Hashem, and we are all part of the Jewish people in the same way that the Vilna Gaon was, רש”י was, Josephus was, Bob Dylan was, Rabbi Akiva was, and Yehoshua was. It may seem crazy to put those people in the same sentence, but in terms of their essence and how they are linked to the Jewish nation there is no difference between them.
And because we already committed ourselves to Hashem, this mitzva of coming back to Hashem is in mouths and hearts to make, but the word used is לעשותו which means to make using something that is already created and not to create from nothing, the word for that is bara (the מפרשים explains this difference in the beginning of בראשית when the Torah uses these two words very specifically). It is inside of each and every one of us. Interestingly enough, the word “educate” roots back to the Latin word “educat” and “educere” which mean to lead out. The true task of a teach is not to push things down the student’s throat, it is to “lead out” that which the student has inside of himself already. We all have the Torah and the power to return to Hashem inside of our throats – which is that part of us which intellectually sets us aside from all other species – and in our hearts – which is our emotional center.
I think the message of this week’s פרשה which is a lead up to Rosh Hashana is for us to know that we have an eternal bond with Hashem as part of the Jewish nation which is made up of every Jewish soul from the beginning of the world until now and because of that we can always return to Him, regardless of distance or sin.