In the Old Testament, God made it clear to Israel that their divine election as God’s covenant people was not based on anything in themselves but in God’s undeserving love (Deuteronomy 4:37; Deuteronomy 7:7–8; Deuteronomy 10:15). And Israel’s history proved that they were most unworthy of their status as God’s covenant people. They were like sheep that have gone astray. It was only because of God’s grace in the Suffering Servant, upon whom Israel’s sins were laid (Isaiah 53:6), that God preserved for them a remnant, and did not destroy Israel utterly, as he had done to Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:9; Romans 9:30) or to Edom. In the New Testament, God reveals that this electing love is based in Jesus Christ. God’s elect are chosen in Christ (Ephesians 1:4). Behind God’s grace of choosing Israel as his precious people, worth their weight in gold (Lamentations 4:2), lies the atoning work of the crucified Christ, and the intercession of the risen and ascended Christ (Romans 8:34). If not for Christ, Jacob (and the Israelites) would have been utterly destroyed just as Esau (and the Edomites).