Jacob I Have Loved, Esau I Have Hated

“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”  (Romans 9:6-13)

Is Our Salvation A Coin Toss?

I spoke to someone in our church one day who told me they believed in salvation strictly by faith in Jesus, just like I preached it, until they read Romans chapters 9-11. Then they realized that saved or not saved and heaven or hell was determined by God for everyone before they were ever born. Jacob and Esau were the examples. Even though Esau was the nicer guy and Jacob was an opportunist. Before the forming of the heavens and earth, Jacob was chosen by God to be saved and Esau was not. He told me this was God’s plan for everyone, and we would not know which choice God made for us until we died. At that point we would go to heaven or hell. He told me this was called God’s sovereignty and God’s election, based on verse 11 of our text.

Let’s start with a few points concerning the rest of the Bible, not just three chapters in Romans:

1.      Salvation, by faith in Jesus Christ only is taught throughout the Bible.  Both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

a.      In the Old Testament, Jesus Christ was called Jehovah. Abraham and David are two examples of Old Testament heroes saved by faith in Jehovah in Romans 4. Abraham lived before the law and David during the law. Both were saved by faith in God’s redeemer, Jehovah.

b.      We know Jehovah as Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

2.      Every verse we use to witness to the unsaved teaches the choice to be saved, born again, is ours, not God’s choice for us.

3.      If salvation is pre-chosen for us by God, then there is no need to witness to anyone.  There is no need to go to church and learn God’s word or how to win the lost. Witnessing to our children is useless, because we do not know if they are predestined, a part of the elect or not. Missions works are gone and there is certainly no need to give money to the church for soulwinning if the choice for us to be saved is in God’s hands.

4.      As for going to heaven or hell, life is just a waiting time to finally know our eternal destination and that of our children.

5.      Then it is not necessary for us to put our faith in Jesus and life is just a party to let our flesh go wild.  We can live for Satan and the world because our works have nothing to do with heaven or hell and neither does our faith.  We are just to exist on earth until we die.  Then we will know God’s choice for us, whether we were elected or not.

6.      And by the way, if part of the people of the world are not elected and are predestined to Hell, why would God make them?  Their entire life was of no value at all.  They were all born, lived, and died in vain and they could not change it.  I think they will have a legitimate gripe at the Great White Throne Judgment just before God sentences them to the Lake of Fire forever.  “But I had no choice.”

Defining Predestination and Election

The Greek word for predestination is “proorizo,” meaning “to plan or design ahead of time.” The Greek word for elect is “elektos,” meaning “to choose.” Let’s look at two verses, where these words are used with God’s plan for our salvation:

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined (planned ahead of time) to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).

“Elect (chosen) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…” (1 Peter 1:2).

If you think these verses are saying God planned ahead of time for us and chose us without any reason, you missed the key words found in both verses. One is a verb and the other a noun of foreknowledge, “to know ahead of time.” Based on God’s knowing ahead of time, He chose ahead of time and planned ahead of time for my life and yours.

What did God know ahead of time that led Him to choose us and make a plan for us? He knew before the foundation of the world that we would receive Jesus as our Savior. Based on what He knew we would do, God chose us and made a plan for our entire life on earth and into heaven for eternity. Foreknowledge is the foundation for election and predestination. Our eternal salvation is not the flip of a coin.  It is entirely planned on our choice to receive Jesus. God was just smart enough to see it happen and stored it away until we received His Son as our Savior. God’s plan and choice for us is based on our choice for Him.

Little Bobby

I was five years old when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. It happened in vacation Bible School at the altar in front of the church where the pastor’s wife led me, little Bobby, to Jesus. My four-year-old sister also accepted Jesus that week.

Do you think God in heaven was taken by surprise that I would be saved that week and suddenly threw a plan together for my life? Or do you think God knew I would receive Jesus that week and had a plan for me from before the foundation of all creation? “Whom He did foreknow, them He did predestine and call.”  When I was saved, I walked into a plan and benefits God had for me from eternity past. I, like Paul, also had a “call from my mother’s womb” (Galatians 1:15). Listen to David’s testimony, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.  And in Your book, they all were written…” (Psalm 139:16). My plan from God would not only take me through life but also into eternity.

Romans Eight

Romans chapter 8 is the foundation for understanding chapters 9-11. Romans 8:29 (and 1 Peter 1:2) both tell us God’s choice and plan for us was based on our choice for Him yet to come. His plan for us today was based on His vision and foreknowledge of our decision for Christ before all creation.

God foresaw Jacob and Esau. He saw Jacob’s acceptance of Him after he lost a wrestling match with Christ and Esau’s rejection of Him when he gave up his birthright. Their salvation had nothing to do with Jacob’s cheating and bad attitude or Esau’s friendliness and generosity. Works were out of the picture for both Jacob and Esau (Romans 9:10-11) as they have always been and always will be. Jacob was a man of faith and Esau a man of unbelief. God’s choice of Jacob was based on Jacob’s choice for Him. The beauty of Romans 9 is not that God hated Esau but loved Jacob. With us it is the same. It is not that God can hate. We all deserve to be hated by God. It is that God can love anyone of us, especially ourselves. Of the two, Jacob and Esau, in the natural, Esau was much more lovable and a very kind man. Jacob was exactly the opposite. God does not look on the outward man as we do, but on the inward man. God did not love Jacob for any outward reason. He loved him because of his submission to God and acceptance of Jesus as his Savior. Only God’s life on the inside of Jacob made him lovable on the outside by the end of his life.

These two brothers are a lot like Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve. The only reason one was accepted by God and other rejected, was because of their attitude toward the command of God to bring a sacrifice to Him. Abel brought a sacrifice as God commanded and Cain brought his crops, the works of his own hands. Jacob trusted in the word of God and received salvation by faith. Esau trusted in the flesh and turned down his inheritance.

We Are All Thieves

One more analogy is necessary to show God cannot choose or reject us by His sovereignty. If God chooses you over me in salvation and does it only by His own will and not by ours, then there must be something in you that makes you worthy of acceptance, no matter how small it must be. But there is nothing in any of us that can please God or cause Him to choose us. We are all as open sepulchers, full of death and a stench in God’s nostrils. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. Every one of our own righteousness’s are as filthy rags.

We are all represented in the two thieves crucified next to Jesus. Jesus ended up loving one thief and hating the other for only one reason. The one Jesus told would be in paradise with Him was the one who had faith in Jesus, asking Him to remember him when He came into His kingdom. The only thing that will cause God to give us eternal life is what comes from Him. Divine faith rose up in the thief when he admitted Jesus was the Messiah, God in the flesh.

This is why sovereignty cannot be the basis of God’s choice for us, He has nothing to bless us for. We have nothing good in us.

His choice for us must be based on our faith, our will, our choice for Him.