God’s answer to Israel’s doubt is, on the surface, a strange one. To prove his love for Jacob, he points to his rejection of Esau. Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. For a people questioning whether God loves them, this seems like an odd comfort. But follow the logic carefully, because it is the very foundation of the gospel.
Jacob was not chosen because he was better than Esau. He was a schemer. He deceived his father and stole his brother’s blessing. His spiritual resume was not impressive. God chose him before either twin had done anything good or bad, as Paul explains in Romans 9:11, so that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls.
The pastor put it plainly: our shock should not be rooted in the fact that God could set Esau aside. Our shock should be rooted in the fact that God could love Jacob at all. And if that is true of Jacob, it is true of us. There is nothing in us that earned God’s choice. Romans 9:16 settles it: it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
This is not a cold, mechanical doctrine. It is the most humanly liberating truth in Scripture. If God’s love for you is not based on your performance, then your failures cannot terminate it. If his choice of you is rooted in his own sovereign mercy rather than your merit, then your worst seasons cannot undo what he decided before time began. Because of Christ, you are covenantally bound to the Creator of the universe. That covenant cannot be breached. Not by your sin. Not by your doubt. Not by your apathy. Not by 80 years of silence.