Dane Ortlund writes, “The Bible is one long attempt to deconstruct our natural vision of who God actually is."[1] This story definitely does that. It challenges us to consider the meaning of God’s love. We know that God is love. We can say that God loves everyone. But did you know that God does not love everyone exactly the same? And that that is actually good news?

In these two chapters, we see that God's love for Jacob demonstrates God's personal character and his surprising nearness to the one he loves. This morning, I would like us to consider together the power, reason, and assurance of God’s love.

The Power of God’s Love

First, the power of God’s love. It is God’s love for Jacob that explains why Jacob prevails over Esau in Genesis 27.

Divine Decree or Divine Prediction?

To see that, we must keep in mind Genesis 25:23. Recall what God said about the meaning of Rebekah’s difficult pregnancy in that verse.

Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you shall be divided;

the one shall be stronger than the other,

the older shall serve the younger.

This word from God hangs over the entire Jacob narrative. It is, like Genesis 12:1-3 in the Abraham story, the important theme that ties together and informs the various parts of the whole narrative. In short, Jacob represents one nation who will struggle against and prevail over the other nation represented by his twin brother, Esau.

But what kind of word is that which God pronounced to Rebekah? Was God simply stating what he could see would be the outcome between the feud of these two brothers? Was God simply predicting what would happen like many are predicting the outcome of tonight’s Super Bowl? In a contest between two teams, some will obviously be wrong in their prediction while plenty will be more or less correct. But few of us think of these predictions as anything more that educated guesses. If you guess the winner and exact score of tonight's game, you are not a genius or a prophet of the future. You just got lucky with your guess.

Was God simply making an educated guess about the outcome of Rebekah's twin boys? Or was he declaring to her the outcome that he would see to it was fulfilled one way or another? Which is it? Does God simply know the future (or make an educated guess about it) or does God more or less control the future?

It is clear that the divine word in Genesis 25:23 is a decree not merely a prediction. How do we know? Because Jacob is representative of the ancient nation of Israel, and Genesis was originally written for that ancient nation following their exodus from Egypt, to explain to them their God-given identity. Genesis has to be read with the rest of the Pentateuch, and we find in Deuteronomy 14:2 this word from God: “the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” It is God’s love for Jacob—that is, his love for Israel—that explains every victory they have.

Human Response and Divine Choice

But now, we have to be careful here and think this through. As we read the story, it would be incorrect to conclude that the way in which Jacob and Rebekah conspired to trick Isaac and steal away his intent to bless Esau is justified by the fact that God was on their side. On the other hand, if Genesis 25:23 is assumed to give to us the divine will, then one can hardly feel sympathy for the Isaac-Esau perspective on the story. If Esau and Isaac can say that Jacob “came deceitfully” (v. 35) and “cheated” Esau (v. 36), then you have to come back with questions for them about whether or not they had the right intent themselves, given the divine announcement in Genesis 25. Is it cheating someone to take what rightly belongs to you?

On this point, we should notice that when Esau arrives with the meal and the hopes of receiving the blessing from his father, and when Jacob's deceit is revealed, it seems at once that Isaac has come to his senses. He asks in verse 33 who it was who had come in and received his blessing, but he knew who it was. He had been suspicious it was Jacob all along (see vv. 18-24). But he announces, “Yes, and he shall be blessed” in verse 33, as if he discerned the divine hand had delivered on that prenatal word after all and there was nothing he could do about it.

And even when Esau pleads, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father?" we hear Isaac respond with something that sounds more like a curse than anything else. Jacob has been blessed and Esau has not, even if against Isaac’s original intentions, and all because this is what God had said would happen.

Accepting the Arrangement

So, you have lots of questions don't you about this or that moral implication from this story? Why can't they both be blessed? Who is right in this story, and who is wrong? What effect does Isaac's blessing have on his boys anyway? It needs to be said that we cannot answer all these questions in definite ways simply because that's not what the story is actually about. Ok, but what then is it about?

It is about the power of God’s love, the power of the one God has chosen for himself. And in this story, there can be no other blessed or chosen one. You can't have two elect ones any more than there can be two winners in tonight’s game. Jacob is chosen to have the blessing; Esau is rejected from having it. And the question that this sets up is how will the non-Jacobs of the world respond? Rebekah accepted the arrangement. Isaac seems to have come to that realization, too. What will Esau do? How will he respond to the power of divine love?

How will you and I respond?

The Reason for God’s Love

As we wrestle with this question, let us consider, next, the reason for God’s love. There are a few things we should observe about God’s love for Jacob over Esau that are important.

God’s Mysterious Choice

The first thing to observe is that God’s choice of Jacob is a mystery. There is no logical basis for it. If we’re looking for a justifiable reason why God loves and elects Jacob and not Esau, we’re probably going to be disappointed.

This concept of divine choice is pervasive in scripture. We’ve seen it several times already in Genesis. Just go back to the selection of Isaac over Ishmael, to the selection of Abraham out of his family.

And then, remember the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4.

In that story, we were told that God “had regard” for Abel and his offering, but “he had no regard” for Cain and his offering. Why? We look eagerly to find some warrant or justification for God not “having regard" on Cain's sacrifice. Bible students offer various possible answers, but here's one that is not often suggested, though it probably fits best with what the text actually says. You see, the text simply doesn’t tell us why God regarded Abel and his sacrifice but not Cain and his sacrifice, and this suggests that the difference is nothing more than “God’s mysterious choice” and not because there is some distinction in the propriety of their sacrifices.[2]

The same is true here. As we read this story about Jacob, we are going down the wrong track if we look for some reason in Jacob or even in Esau that legitimizes God’s choice of him over Esau. There simply isn’t one. Jacob no more deserves to be the chosen one than Esau, right? You know this story in Genesis 27, where Jacob deceives and tricks and lies to steal Esau’s birthright. It’s a complicated and moral mess for everyone involved, hardly an account that reveals the moral superiority of Jacob over Esau.

God’s Purposeful Choice

Now the idea that God would choose one over another without any basis within the objects of his choosing is something that doesn’t set well with many of us modern readers. And yet, this is central to the biblical story, and one everyone must learn to deal with, the chosen and the non-chosen alike. God makes his choice on purpose.

Joel Kaminsky is a professor of Jewish studies and has written much on this subject. His most helpful insight is that divine choice in the Hebrew Bible is not about who makes the cut with God and who doesn’t.[3] This is not about who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Rather, divine election in the Hebrew Bible is “never assumed to be only for the benefit of the elect, but it was always about God's plan for the whole world, the elect and the non-elect alike."[4]

In fact, one striking thing about the Cain and Abel story is how most of the narrative is about Cain and God’s appeal to him to not be angry about the whole arrangement. The same might be understood here from Esau’s perspective. The non-elect like Cain and Esau are not automatically at odds with God because of their non-chosen status; rather, they must come to grips with the fact “that God's blessing flows through the world in mysterious ways that, while merciful, are not, strictly speaking, equitable.”[5]

So we notice how Esau acts and responds in this story and we can compare him to Cain in chapter 4. At the end of the story, in verses 6-9, he is still vying for some favored status in his own efforts, looking to find wives who will gamer praise from his parents. It will of course remain to be seen how his story will ultimately play out.

But to the question of fairness in divine election at least as we have seen it here in Genesis, we conclude that to be non-chosen does not automatically mean that one is rejected from God, doomed to perish in hell forever. That’s just not the question on the table at this point in the story. The question on the table is whether or not the non-elect like Cain and Esau will respond appropriately to the status of the one who is elect.

God’s Redemptive Choice

And from the perspective of the elect, we must ask how much of a privilege is it to be the chosen one anyway? Going back to the Cain and Abel story, we note that Abel's chosenness is the reason he got murdered. Here in this story, Jacob is awfully close to the same fate. He has to flee for his life, and it will be many years on before he will return.

Zooming out to the larger story that Jacob represents, his flight from home in Genesis 28 is a picture of exile, a picture of what it would mean for Israel to be sent away from their homeland many years later. Yes, it is what he deserves for his own sin. Those who are chosen by God have a massive responsibility that they have to fulfill one way or another.

If that responsibility implies anything for the elect, it implies struggle and real danger. The rest of Jacob's life is essentially lived on the harrowing narrow edge between life and death. Kaminsky says, “Clearly, election involves suffering and humiliation, even if it often ends in exaltation.”[6]

From the Christian perspective, we see how this is true. There can only be one chosen one after all, and we Christians believe that Jesus is God’s chosen one. That’s what God said about Jesus in Luke 9:35. His chosen status is what makes him and him alone the Savior of the world, but his chosen status also implies that that salvation would come at a great and terrible cost.

The Assurance of God’s Love

But turning back to Jacob, the chosen one in this story, we find him in chapter 28 on the run, leaving home. He is on his way to Haran, when something happens to him when he stops to spend the night at "a certain place." As he dozed off to sleep, he had a vivid dream. "There was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!" (v. 12). Then, Jacob sees the LORD standing there and hears the LORD assure him that he is indeed in possession of the Abrahamic blessing (v. 14). The LORD promises him that he will be with him and bring him back. Indeed, the LORD tells him, "I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (v. 15). God’s assurance of his love for his chosen one teaches us much about God and his plans to save all creation.

God Is Here

First of all, we notice that Jacob was surprised to have encountered God in this place. But it wasn’t just an encounter, like running into someone you know but at a place you don’t usually see them. What surprises Jacob is that he hasn’t just run into God somewhere; he has run into God at God’s house. He says in verse 17, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Jacob will soon name the place "house of God" (Bethel). But in his dream, Jacob saw "a ladder set up on the earth," the top of it reaching heaven, and angels going up and down the ladder. Can you picture it?

Most of us will have a difficult time picturing it. After all, the popular conception of heaven is of some place that is far away from our present reality, as if the way to get there is to “go to the moon and hang a left.” But the revelation given to Jacob here is that heaven and earth are linked together. The ladder (or possibly "a flight of steps,” as the ESV note indicates) shows that heaven and earth are connected to each other rather than separated from each other.

This invites us back to consider the comparison between Jacob’s dream and the story of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The point of building that tower to reach heaven was the attempt to establish sacred space, not a way for humans to go up to meet God but for God to come down and meet them, not a stairway to heaven but a stairway from heaven.[7]

Jacob doesn't climb the ladder to get to God, and neither do we. It is God and his heavenly host who come down to meet us, right where we are. God is not far away; he is here. With us. That is the biblical picture of heaven and earth.

Unexpected Encounter

But here is a second reason why Jacob is surprised by his dream. He says in verse 16, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." The word surely is used to emphasize something unexpected.[8] In this case, it is that God was present in this one place that Jacob was sure he wouldn't be.

I think the reason Jacob was surprised to encounter God here was because he was conscious of his trickery and deceit that were the reasons why he was now on the run. We don't expect to find God in those places we find ourselves when we have resorted to our sinful tactics to get what we want. And yet, here he is.

Not only was God there, but he was there over against the senses. As Jacob says, "I did not know" he was here in this place. How do we detect the presence of God? How do we "see him" or "hear him"? Ask that of any spiritual person and you're likely to get all sorts of answers. Jacob had a dream, and that's how he knew.

But critical to his knowing was this shock, this surprise, of finding God present precisely where he was confident he would not be present, when he was reaping the fruit of his own questionable ways.

And so it is with us. As countless Christians have testified, many of our most precious encounters with God come when we finally hit “rock bottom” and we assume that God is done with us. Shockingly, God is there.

Venture on the Kingdom

Adding to the shock of encountering God at this place, at this moment, was the fact that when Jacob encountered God he was not punished, he was not cursed, he did not die. To be sure, the whole thing left him terrified, as usually happens when people encountered God in scripture. But what took his breath away was the fact that when he encountered God, he was given the promise of the Abrahamic blessing (vv. 13-15).

Jacob was surprised to find God not only present with him at this particular moment but intending to be with him always, to effectively make his home with him. Jacob seems to be encouraged by the whole experience. He makes a vow to God, promising to be devoted to him and to worship him exclusively.

Honestly, this was something of a gamble on Jacob's part. Why trust this God? Perhaps the dream was all “in his head.” Should he really venture everything on this God?

We have the same question before us.

At the end of the first chapter of John, Jesus says to his new disciple Nathanael that he "will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Clearly referring to what Jacob saw in his dream, Jesus is making a remarkable claim and identification for us. He is claiming to be the reality of which the ladder or stairway in the dream was pointing to all along. Jesus is the link between heaven and earth.

Do we believe that? Are we willing to venture everything on him?

If so, then what will be our response to Jesus and his magnificent claim? How might God be encouraging us to live with the daring dream that God is with us in this place?

Think that through as you reflect on your life and where you are now. In Jesus the Christ we have the absolute and certain assurance of God’s presence and God’s love. In him are all the blessings of God and the fulfillment of all his promises. He is worth everything. So let us venture everything on him and his kingdom.

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[1] Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 149.

[2] Joel S. Kaminsky, Yet I Loved Jacob: Reclaiming the Biblical Concept of Election (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2016), 23.

[3] Kaminsky, Yet I Loved Jacob, 34.

[4] Kaminsky, Yet I Loved Jacob, 26.

[5] Kaminsky, Yet I Loved Jacob, 24.

[6] Kaminsky, Yet I Loved Jacob, 57.

[7] Tremper Longman III and John H. Walton, The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2018), 130. Emphasis original.

[8] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, ed. Johann Jakob Stamm, trans. M. E. J. Richardson (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1994), 47.