#45: Jacob, Esau, And The Mystery Of Election

This week on Beyond the Pulpit we trace Jacob and Esau from Genesis 25 into Hebrews and Romans 9 to show how Scripture uses real events to reveal God’s sovereignty and our responsibility. We challenge fatalism, highlight faith alone for salvation, and show why right doctrine fuels urgent mission.

• Hebrews’ warning through Esau’s birthright
• Romans 9 and the oracle to Rebekah
• Why Paul chose twins over Ishmael and Isaac
• Election grounded in God’s call, not works
• Human responsibility affirmed alongside sovereignty
• Inclusion of Gentiles by faith alone
• Paul’s model: persuade, adapt, and “save some”
• Avoiding hyper-Calvinism and apathy
• Grace-driven effort in ministry and mission

Transcript

Jacob And Esau In Hebrews

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Beyond the Pulpit, exploring the life and ministry of Walnut Creek Church downtown. Walnut Creek Church exists to glorify God by making authentic disciples of Jesus Christ who love and worship him in all they do. All right, welcome to Beyond the Pulpit. My name is Derek Wadley, and I'm joined here by Luke Hookie. Hey, what's up, everyone? And Dan Rude. Good morning, everyone. And this last week we dove into Genesis 25 and looked at the birth of Jacob and Esau. And uh it was a really great message, and it was um yeah, it was really, really instructive. And in the message, Luke, you you talked about a New Testament uh example of where uh the story of Jacob and Esau is picked up. And the New Testament actually picks up on this story a couple of different times, but remind us uh about what you shared.

Turning To Romans 9

Prophecy To Rebekah Explained

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Yeah, the first place or the place I talked about was in Hebrews, where we're instructed not to be like Esau, who was immoral and irreverent and who sold his uh birthright for a you know single meal. And so talking about uh just that reality of not um turning away from from Christ, but pursuing him and and treasuring him uh more than uh anything else. Uh but there's also another place where this story is picked up, and I didn't have time to get to that. Um if you had two weeks, could you probably got both, but uh is in Romans chapter nine. And so Paul uses the story of Jacob and Esau, uh, where uh in Genesis 25, uh when if you remember when Rebecca she has now conceived, uh there's children inside her womb, and then she's experiencing the struggle between them. And she doesn't know she has twins, I don't think. At least that's the way it seems to be um communicated. Maybe she does, maybe she has an idea, but um, the struggle that's going on in her womb was abnormal. Uh some have said it's a it was a it was a violent struggle. It was not what you would normally experience um when you're when you're pregnant. And so this leads her to ask the Lord, what is happening or why is this happening to me? And in Genesis 25, the Lord says, Two nations are in your womb, two peoples will come uh come from you and be separated, one people will be stronger than the other, the older will serve the younger. So there's this prophecy, if you will, promise given to Rebecca about what is going to uh come about of her two sons. And Paul picks up on this in Romans chapter nine, the famous Romans nine, baby. Here we go. Back to Romans nine where we're going or not with this, but uh Romans nine, uh we'll pick it up here in in verse seven. Says, Neither are all of Abraham's children his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac. That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring. For this is the statement of the promise, at this time I will come and Sarah will have a son, and not only that, but Rebecca conceived children through one man, our father Isaac. For though her sons had not been born yet, or done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to election might stand, not from works, but from the one who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger, as it is written, I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

There it is. There we go. There it is. Yeah, one tip for reading the Bible that I think that I think is helpful, is that real stories in the Bible become pictures or principles, or sometimes they're called motifs for the New Testament. And so what that means is that Noah and the flood and the ark, uh Peter picks up on that in First Peter baptism and all that stuff. And and so there are many examples of this where picture, you know, the burning bush, and there's so many examples uh that we could we could point to uh where a real event in history gets picked up by a New Testament writer and they use that that picture, that event in history to uh to illustrate a point or several several points of getting greater truth. Yes. And so that that's what the writers of the New Testament do with Jacob and Esau. So like like you talked about in in Hebrews, um, Esau is a is a picture, it's a real story, real history, but then it's an illustration of trading your birthright for the temporary pleasures of the world, which is the opposite of Moses. So remember, Moses comes onto the scene and he does the opposite of Esau, where he trades the treasures of uh the treasures of Egypt um uh for God, that he might uh that he might know God now and uh because he was looking ahead to his reward.

SPEAKER_03 4:54

And Jacob is a picture of faith valuing the promise and the inheritance.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Exactly. So there are all there are many different ways that that these stories get used. Uh in Romans chapter Romans chapter nine, Paul picks up the story of Jacob and Esau to illustrate uh election, the doctrine of election. And so this is this is one of the mo obviously one of the most debated passages of all time. I mean, this is like it's huge. I mean, Romans 11 might be more. So we're not gonna be able to do that. Romans 11. We'll save that for a different day. But Romans chapter 9.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Sort of open up a few cans, if we could. And we're not gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

What about speaking in tongues while we're at it, the end of the world? Just a few small. But I but I do think it's helpful. It's a it's it's helpful to see how Paul uses Jacob and Esau and to illustrate the doctrine of election. And I think part of the reason Jacob and and Esau, uh, their birth, uh, why this story is used, is because it's it is different than Esau and Isaac. And I mean, you think about some of the ways Ishmael and Ishmael? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

I don't know. I mean did this on Sunday too. There's so many names and you're trying to keep people together, and you're like, that's what I meant. Ishmael and Isaac. Yeah, I see. Abraham and Rebecca.

Election Illustrated Through Twins

SPEAKER_02 6:21

I mean, what trains off the track. So Ishmael and Isaac. Okay, so Jacob and Esau, then Ishmael and Isaac. And and why why does Paul not use Ishmael and Isaac? And a couple of reasons I think it'd be important is because um why why did God pick Isaac and not Ishmael? Well, in the Jewish mind, there'd be there are a lot of reasons why. Um one is that Ishmael was was born from from who? Hagar. Hagar, and who is she? Egyptian. She's an Egyptian. Okay, how do Jews feel about the Egyptians?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Um at one point. I know.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

So so you're like, okay, she she was godless in one sense, she was outside of the covenant. Yeah. And so that that's that's part of the reason why.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

False worshiper, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that's that's obvious why God picked picked Isaac instead of Ishmael. Yep. And you there are a lot of examples that you could you can think of when you compare that's those two brothers. Um but but Paul does not use the the story of of Ishmael and Isaac to illustrate this point. He could have, because eventually he's gonna say the older is going to serve the younger. Yeah. So the younger one is gonna be the one through whom the the promise is given, the blessing is is given. And so he could have you he could have illustrated that point with Ishmael and Isaac, but he he doesn't do it. So he he he uses Jacob and Esau. And so I've thought I've thought a lot about this, um, about why why does the promise why does the promise, why is it, why is the line traced through Jacob and not Esau? And I think what we see here is that the differences between Ishmael and or not Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, um, you know, they both have the same parents, identical parents. They're twins. Yep. Uh they're they're they're born same bloodline, same bloodline, exact same blood. Because Ishmael had different blood than Isaac. That's right. So but Jacob and Esau, they they actually shared the same womb at the same time. Whoa. But before they're born, God says the older will serve the younger.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Yeah.

Why Not Ishmael And Isaac

SPEAKER_02 8:45

And that the the promise will be traced through Jacob and not Esau. And Paul says the reason is so that God's purpose and election might stand. That's the purpose. And there are there are a couple of ways to consider this, to consider the promise being traced. There are a couple of ways to look at it. So one way to interpret the story. So just let's let's let's pretend we don't have the book of Romans and let's pretend we don't have the New Testament. You know, it's okay, let's just pretend. And you could look at the story, and let's let's pre let's go back in Genesis 20, 25 and say that God never appears to, or never God never speaks to Rebecca. Um what what you could say is you could ask the question, why is Jacob, why is Jacob the one through whom the promise comes and the blessing comes? And you could say, well, it's because Esau was a fool. You know, Esau he sold his birthright, you know, he he was too hairy to be in among the people of God, you know, or something like that. You could you come up with all all of these reasons. He was too red. He was too red. But then you look at Jacob and you say, wait a second. Jacob is not necessarily the most upright man. Uh he He'll catch your baby, little scoundrel. He he lied. He lies and he took advantage of his brother. That's not good.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Took advantage of his dad?

Not Works But God Who Calls

SPEAKER_02 10:06

He took advantage of his dad. I mean, this is really, this is not this is not good at all. And so part of what's happening in the story is that it becomes clear, it becomes clear that they're both sinful people. Jacob and Esau are they're sinful people. And I think human nature assumes that uh the way we're made right with God is that we make ourselves worthy. Uh, we make ourselves we we uh pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and we make ourselves acceptable to God. And then what what's happening, one way to interpret this, which is wrong, is that Jacob and Esau they're they're competing with each other to figure out who is more acceptable before God. You know, who's gonna be more righteous, who's gonna be better, who's gonna be more loyal. And then God is just gonna pick the one who's been more loyal and more righteous. And I think that's how a lot of Christians read the read these stories. And I I think I think that human nature, uh our impulse is to believe that we make ourselves right with God. But what Paul's doing in Romans 9 is he's going back into the story and he's saying, before they did anything good or bad, God made a decision that the older will serve the younger, that the promise would go through. Promise and the blessing would go from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. From works, he said. And it's not from works, it's not on the basis of their good behavior, it's not on the basis of their of their moral virtue. Rather, it is on the basis of God's election. Yep. And so this is a hard doctrine to wrestle with. It is because then Paul applies it to more than just nations, he applies it to the nature of salvation and the inclusion of the Gentiles and to the people of God. And so he Paul's arguing in Romans 9 that if God is free, if God is free to pick Jacob for service, to pick Jacob for salvation, to pick Jacob for the one to be the one through whom the Messiah would come, He's also free to pick the Gentiles, to bring the Gentiles in. Yep. To bring in bring them into the covenant. So God is free uh to do what he wills. That's right. Um because one objection that the Jews would have had, uh, you know, as the church is born and people are coming to faith in Christ, the gospel's going out. Remember, one of the big big uh fights early in the church is what do the Gentiles need to do in order to be to become part of the covenant people of God? Do they need to get circumcised? Yep. Uh, do they need to keep the law? Do they need to dress like Sabbath? Yeah, do they practice the Sabbath? How is it that someone becomes part of the covenant people of God? And um and so they went back and forth and back and forth. And the church was divided because uh the early church was primarily made up of Jews, pretty much exclusively Jews, but now God is bringing Gentiles into the church, and God's plan was that the gospel would go to the ends of the world, the ends of the earth. And so what Paul is arguing for in Romans 9 is that someone becomes part of the covenant people of God on the basis of faith alone. Yep, just like Abraham. Remember, Abraham he was justified by faith alone before he was circumcised, which is incredible. It's wild, but you believed the promise. And so God, God does elect, God does elect people unto salvation, and God is free to do whatever he wills, to do whatever he wills, yep, and saving saving sinners. And so, in one sense, uh, it is totally right for us to see God as sovereign in in and in control of our salvation.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

Um remember Jesus says to his disciples, You did not choose me, but I chose you. You know, before the foundations of the world, God Ephesians one. Ephesians one. God he chose us in him before the foundations of the world. So on one side, it becomes totally clear, I mean it is totally clear that that God is sovereign over all things, including our salvation. And I think something else that happens in the story from Genesis chapter uh twenty twenty-five, second half of Genesis twenty-five, is that you also see human responsibility. Like clearly.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

As clear as you can. Yeah.

Gentile Inclusion And Faith Alone

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah. And so if your if your uh belief about the sovereignty of God uh leads you to believe that um human beings are not responsible, uh that people that human beings cannot make decisions, if if you your view of God's sovereignty leads you to those conclusions, then your view on God's sovereignty is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Because wouldn't that necessarily mean that God therefore is the author of all evil in a sense?

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you have a um if you have a view of God's sovereignty, that God uh He is the unilateral determining cause, determin d determining cause of all things, then God is the author of evil, which obviously the Bible rejects that concept. So we should throw that away. It's it's anti-Bible to say that God is um uh unilaterally determining every decision that people make. That's that's wrong. Uh there's no doubt in the scriptures that God allows for a measure of human freedom. Yeah, and people make decisions and they're held accountable for those decisions.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

And they're held accountable for those decisions. And that's part of what Paul's arguing for in Romans 9. Yeah. Um but also in the story, you see God's plan of redemption is carried out through human choice and decision.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

No doubt.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Both that both actually are there and exist. And to deny one is to deny uh what the scriptures teach and would put us in in error one way or the other. Certainly.

Sovereignty And Human Responsibility

SPEAKER_02 15:59

That's that's certainly right. And because as Christians, we we're not we're not supposed to hold the position that Esau was forced to be an immoral man. Is right. He was not forced to be an immoral man. He wasn't forced or forced to sell his birthright. He we're not supposed to believe that. Um so we see human, there is real, genuine human responsibility, uh, where there is a measure of freedom that human beings have uh to make decisions, to obey or disobey, uh, to believe or not believe. That's right. There's there's no doubt about it. And um and that leaves us as followers of Christ in this position where um there's a tension in our souls where the Bible clear clearly affirms the sovereignty of God over all things, including uh salvation and and damnation. And the Bible also clearly affirms human responsibility, that God has allowed a measure of freedom for people to make decisions that really matter. Yeah. That really matter so that on the day of judgment, um when people stand before God, what will become uh the blameworthiness of human beings will be on display. Full display. That that people will not have a legitimate gripe against God, saying, Why did you make me this way? Why did you do this to me? Why did you prevent me from doing what's right? Why did you keep me from believing? And God will say, No, no, no, that's not the way this works. God will be seen to be totally righteous, human beings will be seen to be totally blameworthy for those who reject the gospel. And um, and and so that leaves us in a tension with a tension, but uh part of the good news of the Bible is that the Bible is filled with tension, and we never want to use uh tension or mystery as an excuse not to study or think as Christians. Yeah, yeah, we should go down to the right. We should try to understand God's word, God's character as much as we possibly can. Um at the same time, as Christians, uh the concept of mystery is not is not foreign. Right. It is not foreign to us. Like uh how how can you explain um you know the the incarnation of Jesus? Yeah, one person, two natures. Um they do not they do not mingle or mix. Uh Jesus is not a centaur, part human, part man, part, yeah, yeah, part part human, part God. That's not what he is. Uh he is fully God, fully man. Two distinct natures in one person. Uh the Lord Jesus Christ, explain it. Try it. Yeah, try it on, try it on, and uh try to make that happen. Or like you, as you've said before, like who's living your life as a Christian?

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Yeah, who's living your Christian life? The the the Spirit of God, or you know, who who is it? So like how do you explain the Spirit dwelling inside of us and walking in the Spirit? You know, like that is a how do you explain that? It's so hard to explain.

Living With Biblical Mystery

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who who lives your Christian life? Yeah. If you ask Paul that question, hey Paul, who's living your Christian life? Is it you or is it Christ? Uh here's here's what Paul says, Galatians chapter two. I've been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And I think about that statement. And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. He lives in me. Yeah. Wow. You think, how does that how does that work? My life's over, I have a new life. Christ lives in me. Okay, so what when Paul's living and preaching and loving and serving, is that Paul or is that Christ? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. So, I mean, that's just one of dozens of mysteries, dozens of mysteries in the Bible. And I I do believe that there is a mystery in the Bible that is that is God's sovereignty, his right, and his control over all things and human responsibility. And I I think that should comfort us as Christians. Uh it shouldn't make us uh determinists, it shouldn't make us give up on people. Um, it shouldn't make us think that our decisions are futile and and our decisions don't matter, and we can't do anything to impact the world. You know, Paul Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Um, I'm gonna flip there real quick. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul says um he says something that sounds blasphemous to some people. Uh let's see, let me find it. He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Um He says in verse 17 I'll start in I'll start in 19. Although I am free from all and not anyone slave, I have made myself a slave to everyone in order to win more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win Jews, to those under the law, like one under the law, so that I myself am not under the law, to win those under the law, to those who are without the law, like one without the law, though I myself am not without God's law, but under the law of Christ, to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. I've become all things to all people, so that I so that I may by every possible means save some. Now there's a part of me that says, Paul, you can't save anybody. You think you're a savior, Paul? No, but but certainly Paul would agree with that. You know, that he he himself is not the savior of the world, but he saw his life uh in ministry as such that he was saving people. Not not not the the savior, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:54

It's the faith in Paul. Yeah, it's not faith in Paul. He just sent all that at the beginning of 1 Corinthians.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Yeah, but he but this is consistent with the concept with the concept that we are co-workers with Christ. You know, we're co-heirs with Christ.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

We share in his work, we share in his work, and what we do matters, and what in what we do matters.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Like Paul in in Acts when he talks about how you know he would go to the synagogues to persuade people. Like if Paul um didn't believe he could actually persuade, then why would he do such a thing? Yes. It's like so there is a uh and the Lord has given us the responsibility to be his ambassadors, he's making an appeal through us to the world to be reconciled through Christ. And uh so our decisions and choices do matter, yet God's sovereignty uh exists, is real. Certainly.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

They're both there, they're both affirmed in the scriptures. Yeah.

Paul’s “Save Some” And Our Role

SPEAKER_03 22:45

And so that that there's ten, like you said, there is tensions all over uh within the Christian life, and there is mystery. And um we do I I think it is really important to highlight we we're no one is saying because there's mystery, we should not try to like deep dive deeper and understand that. And there are ways of thinking or philosophies that try to help understand the sovereignty of God and human responsibility, but at the same time, we must be really careful when we do that. Certainly, like where the scripture doesn't resolve or clearly um uh explain the mystery. We want to be careful not to like try to clearly explain the mystery.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Certainly. Certainly. And you know, we are we're Southern Baptists and um in the history of the Southern Baptist Church, um, before it was, you know, the Southern Baptist Convention, uh, what had happened was that uh a form of Calvinism uh had taken root in many uh churches that later became Southern Baptists, and they they actually became uh hyper-Calvinists. There's a real uh there's a real group of people who would fit the description of uh like the technical description of hyper-Calvinists. And what what happened was that um they they just said pretty much everything is determined by God unilaterally, that our choices really do not matter, that you can't save anyone, so you can't you shouldn't even try. Um, you know, most people if they if they don't believe right now, uh they're probably reprobate, they're probably predestined before the foundation of the world to be condemned to go to hell, and and you can't change them, so you shouldn't even try. It's better just to kind of study and sing songs. And and they became, they were, they're they were they fit the description of hyper-Calvinists. And part of the reason the Southern Baptist Convention exists is because there were a group of other churches who said, This is wrong. This is wrong. And what we what we should do is we should cooperate together. Uh we should pool our resources to send missionaries to the ends of the earth. The plant churches where uh where there are no churches, either in different countries or in different cities in the United States. And so that that became the basis for what is called friendly cooperation. It was it was in response to um a philosophy uh that had run off the tracks and they had become hyper-Calvinists. And I think, yeah, so that well that type of that type of trajectory is actually pretty normal. There is a trajectory where you say nothing matters or every everything depends on us or nothing depends on us. And I think all God or all man. Exactly. And I just I just think that the Bible balances balances us out. Where we should have an incredibly high view of God and his sovereignty, his control, his right to do all that he desires in the universe that he has created, that he is God. He is God.

Avoiding Hyper-Calvinist Errors

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Yeah, he is Lord and master of all. Like even when Paul says, is it uh Second Corinthians 12 verses, I I worked harder than all the rest, but not me, but God's grace working through me. Paul like held that reality. I mean, clearly in many places it's communicated, but he held that reality of it is God and man, like there's both, both are happening. I work hard, but certainly it's the grace of God who is working hard through me.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

Certainly, certainly. And my my uh my thinking about uh uh the sovereignty of God in all things, uh my understanding is that Paul probably, of anyone who's ever lived but besides Jesus, I think Paul probably had the best, clearest, uh, most thorough understanding of the sovereignty of God over all things. Yeah. And that understanding of God's sovereignty in all things uh led Paul to pour out his life uh for the church and to reach people with the gospel. And so the reason I bring that up is that the right understanding of God's sovereignty over all things should look like us emptying out our lives for for the church and for the lost. Yeah. That's what's be a slave. You become a slave voluntarily might win some. Yeah, that that that people might hear hear the good news of Christ. And so when when theology is used to justify uh apathy, uh self-indulgence, laziness, um, that theology, it may be technically correct, but it's not properly applied. And um, and so we want to be people who who believe the Bible, that we're balanced by by the by the scriptures, and then we pour out our lives uh for for the church and for the lost so that people might be saved.