Canaan---The Land of Promise: Two

Chapter II Legal and Actual Possession
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth [gives life to] the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. (Romans 4:17)
"And calleth those things that be not as though they were"!
There is a concept set forth in the above passage that has to do with our entrance into the land of promise. It is often misunderstood. It is important that it be understood by the fervent Christian disciple. The important concept of which we are speaking is the difference between the legal and the actual possession of the promised land.
There can be a difference between the legal and the actual possession of something. In most instances we actually possess the things we own legally—our car, our house, our clothes. But when the car is stolen or the house burns to the ground or the clothes are lost, we can see at once that there can be a difference between legal and actual possession.
We still own the car but someone else is driving it. We still own the house but it is a blackened ruin. We still own the hat but we left it somewhere and it no longer can keep our head warm. When someone steals our car we still own it but we no longer possess it. We cannot drive the certificate of title to work.
The state government may authorize the funds to provide a college education for every citizen of the state. The state "gives" each young person and adult a college education, so to speak. But the state does not give him or her a diploma. The person must go to school before he can claim to be a college graduate.
The King of England granted certain rights of settlement to pioneers in what is now New England. The king gave them a charter but the settlers had to set forth and possess the rocky and forested land by years of backbreaking labor. They encountered severe hardships and fierce opposition while making their homes in the New World.
The difference between the legal and the actual possession of a place or thing is an important distinction and must be understood by anyone who wishes to make a success of the overcoming Christian life.