God Loved Jacob but Hated Esau
(Romans 9:10-13)

Isaac's sons, Esau and Jacob were twins. When they were still in the womb of their mother, Rebekah, God said, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”. It was even before they were born and did something good or evil. But God predestined like this knowing what kind of men they would become.

1. Different values of Esau and Jacob
1) Esau did not value the blessings God gives to the firstborn.
- He put importance on realities and disregarded dreams.
2) Jacob valued the blessings given to the firstborn and held onto the dream of becoming the firstborn.
3) If we have no dreams before God, we lose the blessings of God.
4) Jacob's God-centered mind that saw God as the source of life and Esau's Human-centered mind

2. Jacob who believed but tried to live by himself
1) Being fooled in marriage - being married to Leah instead of Rachel, 7 years and another 7 years = 14 years
2) Being fooled in wages ? working like a slave for 6 years
3) He relied on God and used the law of seeing while having a dream ? became a man of great wealth.

3. The meeting of Jacob and his brother Esau
- His brother with 400 men came to meet Jacob.
1) Jacob's self-centered life was torn apart.
① Jacob became a lame after wrestling at the ford of the Jabbok River.
② As Jacob became a lame and depended on God, he became Israel.
2) My righteous one will live by faith.
- Jacob met his brother and reconciled with him.
- His life as Jacob was over and the life as Israel began.

Though Jacob turned over and over, he lived a life of faith. In his early life, he was a believer in the flesh. He was dominated and dragged by humane desires. After the incident at Jabbok River, however, he realized that a life without God is a life of a lame. He realized that he can go in the right direction and enjoy the blessings of God only when he stands God-centered.
God loved Jacob as He saw that Jacob respected the authority of God, lived a God-centered life, had a dream, and had a good character worthy of being a man of God.