Jacob was chosen before his birth, even before the foundation of the world (25:22-23; Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:4). We, like Jacob, were also chosen before we were born. In eternity past, before God began to create anything, He chose us. Although we may think that we are quite small, we are big enough for God to pay attention to us. Even before the foundation of the world, God paid attention to us by selecting us in eternity past.
In my early ministry I was very bothered by the fact that a number of my friends who were very close to becoming Christians did not get saved. But many who were far off from the Lord and who I thought would never be saved did get saved. Some of them were saved after coming to just one gospel meeting. It seems that they were saved for no reason. Actually, they were saved because God had chosen them. Jacob, the naughty one, the heel-holder, the supplanter, was chosen by God. This was what determined his future. God's selection was the origination, the initiation, of Jacob's life. Do not think that you were saved by accident. No, our being saved was a fulfillment of God's selection.
Our being chosen by God was according to His foreknowledge (1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 8:29). I like the word foreknowledge. Before we were born, God foreknew us. In eternity past, God chose us and predestinated us according to His foreknowledge.
Jacob was not chosen by God of his own strife (25:22-23, 26). Likewise, our being chosen is not according to our struggling. Jacob was somewhat foolish. Of course, he did not have the knowledge that we have. If he had known that he had been chosen, he would have had no need to struggle and could have told Esau, "Esau, you may go out first. No matter who gets out first, I have been chosen. It does not matter how fast you are or how slow I am. The birthright is mine because I have been chosen." But because Jacob did not have this revelation, he struggled.
Romans 9:11, referring to Jacob and Esau, says, "The children not yet being born, nor having done anything good or bad, (that the purpose of God according to selection might remain, not of works, but of Him who calls)." In this verse we see that Jacob's being chosen was not of his own works. Before the children had done neither good nor bad, God had told Rebekah, the mother, that the "greater shall serve the less" (Rom. 9:12). This proves that God's selection does not depend upon our works. Whether we are good or bad means nothing.
Romans 9:13 says, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." When I read the record of Jacob and Esau as a youth, I felt sorry for Esau, saying, "Esau was much better than Jacob. Why did God say that he hated Esau and loved Jacob?" Do not say that God is not fair. He is God. He is the Maker, the Creator. His selection does not depend on us; it is absolutely up to Him. It is not of our struggle or works, "but of Him who calls." We are not the Creator—He is. In Romans 9, Paul, replying to the opposers, seemed to be saying, "Don't you realize that you are just a piece of clay and that God is the Potter? Doesn't the Potter have the right to make anything He wants out of the lump?" By this we see that our being chosen is absolutely of God who calls.