FEBRUARY 4TH, 1899

FEBRUARY 4TH, 1899

... I have read dear Mr. —’s letter with interest. The difference between us is that he only sees two things in Scripture where I see three. He speaks of what is “in God’s account”, and then of “realisation” by which he means appropriation of heavenly blessing. But there is no hint in his letter of what comes between these two things.

Nearly twenty years ago I learned from J.N.D. that “risen with Christ” is state. Mr. Darby’s own words are that Jordan is “entrance into Canaan subjectively; that is, a state suited to it in spirit, not possession of it ... Jordan brings us, as risen with Him, into the state which makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1: 12.) “The Jordan, then, is death and resurrection with Christ, looked at in their spiritual power, not as to their efficacy for the justification of a sinner, but as to the change of position and state in those who have part in them, in order to the realisation of life in connection with the heavenly places, into which Christ has entered”. (See Synopsis, Volume 1, p. 340.)

I do not quote J.N.D. as an authority, but only to show that he clearly recognises something that comes between what is true of the believer “in God’s account” and “realisation”. There is such a thing as divine state, but no thought of it appears in Mr. —’s letter.

February 4th, 1899.