This morning we are going to take a look at what will be at least a two-part section on what is the mystery of what Paul means by the word "predestination" or "election". We previously spoke about Paul's use of the word "predestination" and about how God foreknew which people would accept His offer of salvation and which people would not. He called those who would accept His offer to be conformed to the image of His Son. I don't believe there's a human being on earth who can fully understand or explain the mystery of such a deep subject, but we are going to do our best to break it down into terms we will be able to deal with. I think it's going to help us a lot when Paul uses the example today of Jacob and Esau. This will help us to understand how and why, before these children were ever born, God was able to choose Jacob as the father of His chosen people and to reject Esau.
We concluded yesterday with Paul reminding us that Abraham's son Isaac was the son of God's promise, whereas Abraham's son Ishmael was the son Abraham fathered by carnal means outside of the will of God. So we pick up right there, "Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad---in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by Him who calls---she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Romans 9:10-13)
It used to trouble me a lot that God could say such things of Jacob and Esau before either of them had ever drawn their first breath, but when I did a study on the book of Genesis a few years ago the reason behind it became quite clear. God could say such things because He knew everything both of these men would ever do. God knows the future. He knows everything you and I will ever think or say or do, so there was nothing unrighteous or unfair about His feelings toward Jacob and Esau. God was able to look ahead and see that Jacob, misguided though he was in his youth, was going to have a heart that yearned to know the Him. He could also look ahead and see that Esau was always going to be carnally minded with no desire for a spiritual connection to his Maker. So it's completely righteous and fair that God viewed these things and said of these men, "I love Jacob already because He is going to love Me. But the soul of Esau is always going to reject Me; therefore I reject Him as the head of My chosen nation." The Greek word Paul uses for "hate" is "miseo" which means "to reject, to love less". God loves every human being and wants every human being to be saved. (1 Timothy 2:4) He isn't saying He decided long before Esau was ever born that He wasn't going to try to lead him to repentance. He's saying that long before Esau was ever born He saw the man Esau would be, and He knew Esau would never love Him, and He knew that even though Esau was going to be Isaac's firstborn he would never be able to lead the family or the nation that would come from the line of Isaac.
When Esau despised his birthright and considered it of little value, he was in fact despising God and considering Him of little value. The birthright was far more than an inheritance. It entailed maintaining a close relationship with the Lord in order to lead the family according to God's will. It entailed acting as high priest for the family in the days before there was a priesthood. Job, who lived in a time long before the law was given or the priesthood was established, acted as high priest for his family and made intercessory prayer and sacrifices on behalf of his family. This is what Esau would have been required to do if he had inherited the birthright. But he cared nothing about such things. Jacob, though he sought such a blessing in the wrong ways, had a spiritual nature. He wanted to know God. He wanted to lead the family. He valued what Esau despised. And this is why God was able to say, before either of these men were born, "I love Jacob! He's going to start out like a diamond in the rough, but I'm going to shape him into who he is destined to be. Because He wants to know me, I will reveal Myself to him. But Esau is never going to care about Me. Nothing I will ever say or do will change his mind. I love him but he's not going to let me help Him. I wish both these men would follow Me, but only one of them is willing and he is the one I have chosen."
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