Jacob I Have Loved, Esau I Have Hated

“And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” - Romans 9:10-13

Introduction

Beloved, in Christ Jesus!

One attribute of God’s nature is love.

John 4:16 says, “God is love.”

But it is not His only attribute.

Some people so exalt the attribute of God’s love that all the other attributes get left behind and forgotten.

God is love, but He is likewise holy, just, and good.

You could say that God’s love is a holy love or a just love or a good love

If you try to divide the love of God from the rest of His attributes, you will end up with a distorted and twisted view of His love.

I. Misconceptions of God's Love

A. The Misconception of God's Love Being Equal

One of the reasons why people misunderstand the love of God is by seperating His love from His justice.

What they end up doing is taking God’s justice and replacing their own view of justice.

Likewise, they take God’s love and replace it with their own view of love.

Instead of looking at God’s love as a just love, they make God’s attributes to fit their own minds.

People who do this, end up thinking that if God is love, then God must love all men equally or without distinction.

If that were the case, our passage would say, “Jacob I have loved and Esau I have also loved.”

But that is not what our passage says.

What does it say? “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

There must be some type of distinction between God’s relationship with Jacob and Esau.

Just through a simple reading, our passage shows that God does not love all men equally and without distinction.

B. The Misconception of God's Love Being Merited

Another reason why people misunderstand the love of God is that they do not understand the nature of man.

People have this notion that we are all born innocent, without the corruption of sin.

Babies are especially innocent in their eyes.

Friends, looks can be deceiving. Although babies are cute, they are corrupt.

They are vipers in diapers!

If you don’t believe me, consider the words of Psalm 58

“The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray from the belly, speaking lies. Their venom is like snake venom; They are like a deaf viper that closes its ear so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or the skilled caster of spells.”

You don’t have to teach a baby how to sin, he or she does it naturally.

As the baby grows into a teenager, his or her own sinfulness becomes more apparent doesn’t it?

I think parents can attest that my statement is true.

Jacob and Esau were no different than a rebellious nature of a teenager or even a baby.

They both inherited the same corrupt nature from Adam as all men have received from conception.

Jacob was a deceiver who lied, cheated, and stole his way to the blessing of God.

Esau was a sexually immoral man who despised his birth right by giving it up for a cup of stew.

Neither boy could merit God’s love, yet God placed His affection upon Jacob while leaving Esau in his sin.

Paul makes it very clear that God’s choice to love Jacob over Esau had nothing to do with the works or character of the twins!

“And not only this, but also when Rebecca conceived children by one man, Isaac our father; for although they had not yet been born, or done anything good or evil, in order that the purpose of God according to election might remain, not by works but by the one who calls; it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger," just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Any notion that God love us because of who we are and what we have done must be thrown out the window of our minds and hearts!

II. Objection from the Hearer Looking at John 3:16 and the Gospel of John

A. Does God Love Everybody?

Someone might say, “Wait a mintue pastor, what about John 3:16?”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Doesn’t that mean that God loves everybody?

God is indeed love.

And He demostrated His love toward sinners by sending His Son to bear His wrath upon the cross!

Here’s the thing, we must read John 3:16 in light of the context around the verse as well as the context of the entire book of John and the rest of Scripture.

What does Jesus say immediately after John 3:16?

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

For those who do not believe, like Esau, are justly condemned for their rejection of Jesus Christ.

If God’s wrath remains on the unbelieving, then you can say that God justly hates the wicked.

It even says God hates the wicked in Psalm 5.

“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.”

Later in the Gospel of John, Jesus demostrates that their is a distinction between those who belong to Him and those who do not.

John 6 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

John 10, Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

John 17, Jesus prayed to the Father, I am praying for them [his chosen disciples]. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”

In these verses, it is implied and clearly stated that:

There are those whom the Father has chosen to save in Christ, and those whom He has not chosen.

There are those who belong to the Father and those who don’t.

Those who are like Jacob and those who are like Esau.

We have already stated that we are sinners from the womb.

There is no inheritant righteousness in us! Therefore, God’s love is not conditioned in what we do.

God would be perfectly just to leave you in your sin, yet He sovereignly and freely chose to love you and to leave others in their sin and place His divine wrath upon them!

Biblically, we can say that, like Jacob, God gracious loves some people while like Esau, God does righteously hate others!

B. Romans 9:13 and Humility

If we say this and believe this, we have to do it with a sense of great humility!

For we are no better than the wicked and Esau!

We are simply better off!

God not only sovereignly elects us to salvation, He carries out our salvation to completion.

Think of that wonderful golden chain of salvation that Paul describes in Romans 8:28-30

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

What does God do for us in this passage?

Well, He is the one at work in your salvation from beginning to end.

He predestines you for salvation by His sovereign free choice and will.

Then at God’s appointed time, He calls you to Himself by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and makes it effectual in you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

He regenerates you taking your cold and dead nature by giving you a new life and a new nature.

With this new life and new nature, you respond to the Gospel by faith and repentance.

In Ephesians, Paul states that faith is not a work, but a gift from God.

By faith, you receive a righteousness that is outside ourselves! As Martin Luther coined it, “By faith, we receive an alien righteousness.”

What is this alien righteousness you have received by faith? It is Christ’s perfect righteousness

As the Heidelberg Catechism says concerning your righteousness before God

Despite your sinfulness and inability to keep the law perfectly, “yet God, without any merit of yours,of mere grace, grants and imputes to you the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if you had never committed nor had any sins, and had yourself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for you; if only you accept such benefit with a believing heart.”

Your standing before God is secure, and as you go on your Christian life, God sanctifies you, that is He conforms you more and more into the image of Christ.

God will bring your sanctification to completion when you are finally glorified at the return of Jesus Christ!

God’s love for His elect is not only seen in the giving of His Son, but also by the Holy Spirit who applies the work of His Son in you!

If God loved Jacob and Esau equally and without distinction, then both would have come to saving faith.

One did, the other one did not.

Even in all that, Jacob could not boast in His election.

His salvation, from beginning to end was all of grace!

All Jacob could do is echo the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:

“But far be it from me to boast [in anything in me] except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

III. God’s General and Special Love

Now we can ask is this question, “In some sense, can we say that God loves every human being made in His image?”

The answer is yes!

But we must make a distinction between God’s general love to all men and God’s special love toward His elect people.

A. God's Loving Kindness Toward All Men

Let’s consider God’s general love

God does love all men whom He has created.

This love is displayed by the kindness that God shows to all men.

Psalm 145:9 says, “The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.”

Think of rain that falls upon the farmer’s crop and causes it to grow.

Does the rain fall only on the crop on the Christian? Does the Christian always have the more plentiful crop?

The answer is no! Both the believer and unbeliever enjoy the general goodness of God.

Jesus makes reference to this in the Sermon on the Mount.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

This general love and kindness has extended to all men which is often called common grace.

Although it says that God hated Esau, Esau still enjoyed the goodness of God

Genesis 36:6-7 say “Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. “

What did God graciously give to Esau in this passage?

Wives, sons, and daughters

Livestock, beasts, and property

God didn’t just give Esau a small amount of possessions.

It says that both Jacob and Esau’s “possessions were too great for them to dwell together.”

God’s kindness was great toward Esau, eventhough God had left him in his sin and misery.

B. God's Covenantal Love For His People

Although Esau experienced this general love, there is still a distinction God made between Jacob and Esau.

For our passage says, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

It appears that God had a love for Jacob that was not shared with Esau.

God had chosen to show His favor upon Jacob and save him graciously despite Jacob’s own sinfulness

Another way to put it is God freely placed His affection upon Jacob which resulted in Jacob’s salvation.

As God had done with Abraham and Isaac, God entered into a covenantal relationship with Jacob that He did not have with Esau.

C. Illustration From Marriage

Think of marriage for a moment.

I think this will help with our understanding of God’s general love toward Esau and His special love toward Jacob.

Husbands, do you love all women equally?

The answer is no!

Yes, you love all women by showing kindness and respect toward them, but you have a special love for your wife!

You have chosen her to be the woman of your affection and you made it offical by entering into a marriage covenant with her.

In your vows, you essentially said, “I will be your husband and you will be my wife.”

This is what God has done for you and all His elect people.

He chose you to be His bride, not because of your beauty, but soley based on His good will!

He has said, “You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

He has taken off your filthy robes of sin and has given you a beautiful robe of Christ’s righteousness and holiness

He has promised that you will be His own special people for all eternity

And as what was said in Romans 8, God’s love for you in Christ is an unbreakable bond that no man can put asunder!

Conclusion

Beloved,

There is so much I would like to say and could say, but I will save my ammunion for another day.

But let me leave you a few thoughts to consider as you go out the door.

First thought:

If you be in Christ today, if your faith rests in Him as your only righteousness before God, then you are loved by God!

Although Esau’s earthly possessions were great, you have a far greater possession than Esau.

You have Christ!

You belong to Him, for He has purchased you by His precious blood and He has made the church His bride!

In Christ, you receive all the benefits of salvation that flow from Him!

Second thought:

Every time you enter into corporation worship

Every time you hear the Word preached

Every time you witness a baptism or partake in the Lord’s Supper

God is renewing and reminding you of the covenant that He has made to you in Christ!

He says every Lord’s Day, “You are my people, and I am Your God.”

Final thought:

Beloved, if you have a love for God and neighbor, including an affection for Christ, know this, that this love did not originate in you.

The love that is displayed in you, orignates from the God who has loved you!

As what the Scriptures have said, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

“How helpless and hopeless we sinners had been, If he never had loved us till cleansed from our sin”

“Unto him who hath loved us and washed us from sin, unto him be the glory forever. Amen.”