I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 28:13–14). Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God (Genesis 28:20–21).
Isaac prays to the Lord for his wife Rebekah to conceive. She gives birth to twins named Esau and Jacob, who are at odds with one another from the womb (Genesis 25:21-28). When Isaac is old and dying, he asks Esau to hunt and prepare a meal for him then he will bless him. Rebekah overhears this and carries out an elaborate plan to manipulate Isaac into blessing Jacob instead. When Esau returns, Isaac realizes he’s been deceived and Esau has been cheated. Rebekah warns Jacob that Esau is seeking revenge. Jacob leaves under the pretense of finding a wife. On his journey, Jacob dreams of a ladder connecting heaven and earth. He encounters God there, who extends to him the promise made to his grandfather and father.
Jacob is chosen by God to inherit the promise of Isaac and Abraham by no merit of his own. He certainly didn’t do anything worthy to deserve it. It’s the same with us. We can do nothing to earn God’s favor. We deserve death but because of who he is, we receive life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
