Then he asked the theologian: “Why do you think the Bible is more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because it is addressed to the imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and only mediating to the understanding or reason?”
So, the Old Testament is simply an adumbration; it’s a foreshadowing in a not altogether conclusive or immediately evident way. They are sketches, and the sketches are done in an overall picture, leaving out the particulars, to rouse the faculties to act.
Now, here we will take, say, as many as we can get in tonight in this hour. Genesis is the “seed” plot of the entire Bible. It begins: “In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1); and it ends on this note: “In a coffin in Egypt” (Genesis 50:26).
“In the beginning God” . . . “in a coffin in Egypt.” Well, who is in the “coffin”? A man, and his name is Joseph, the dreamer. The Bible has only one source of dreams. All dreams proceed from God. So, then, who is Joseph? The Prototype . . the prototype of God. Well, God is Man. You are a man.
“God is no more
Your own humanity . . learn to adore.
God appears, and God is Light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does the human form display
To those who dwell in realms of Day.”
. . Wm. Blake (from “Auguries of Innocence)
God is man, and you’re a man. You contain the whole drama within you, and the whole [drama] will unfold within you. So, “In the beginning God” . . . “in a coffin in Egypt.”
Now, the entire Bible . . here is the “seed” plot. How does it end? The end of Revelation: “Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20) Here is the fulfillment, for all of the Promises of God find their “Yes” . . their fulfillment in Him. So, Come . . Come, the fulfillment of all these Promises in me!
Now, here, everything in this world . . every child, every chair, house or tree . . I don’t care what object you see . . everything in this world contains within itself the capacity for symbolic significance. God speaks to man through the medium of dreams, and unveils Himself through the medium of vision.
Well, here, a lady has this experience. She said, “I found myself in the strangest, darkest area . . it was so dark . . jet; and here, in spite of the darkness, I am holding in my hand what appears to be almost the shape of a shoebox. It could be a small coffin; but because it was so small, I thought of it in terms of a shoebox. Yet, it did resemble a little coffin. And in the darkness, I knew that I was in it. I was in it! But I didn’t understand. How could I be in it when I am looking at it and I am holding it in my hand? And here is a little tiny shoebox or a coffin, and I am in it! And in my dream, I turn over and as I turned over, I seemed to turn towards the light, and the light was blazing. And as I turned towards the light, the light seemed to illuminate me in the sense that I understood and then came a relief . . a peculiar relief, because I knew what I was. Prior to that, I didn’t know what I was . . who I was; I only knew that I was in it, and then I knew beyond all doubt that I was Joseph, and I could not get out of that box until I became Jesus.”
Now she came to me with this dread, and she said, “What on earth could that mean?”
Well, you go to anyone without the knowledge of Scripture, and what would they tell you? And here is Scripture: “In the beginning God” . . . “in a coffin in Egypt.”
But he exacts a promise that they will not leave him in Egypt; they’ll bring him out.
Now, God is being formed in man. Here is the Unbegotten forming Itself in man; and when it is completely formed, it comes out. And who comes out? The Lord Jesus Christ! There is nothing but Christ; so He comes out.
So, here is this lady . . a perfectly lovely lady. She’s married; she didn’t have a child, but she adopted one. They live happily in their sphere with this adopted son; so she’s a normal, natural person, having a simple dream; and she turns to ask, “What on earth could it mean?” Well, here is Scripture. She is actually seeing Scripture in an adumbration. It’s a foreshadowing, but not in detail. It leaves out the details . . leaves out the important points, because if it didn’t . . well, then, we could not be roused. So, we are roused to find out, what on earth does this mean? And you begin to speculate. You begin to stir within you. And, so, “If it can be made explicit to the idiot, it isn’t worth my care.” (Wm. Blake)
So, here, everyone . . and who is that box? What is the box? This (indicating the physical body) is the box; this is the elongated box . . the coffin in which God is buried. He’s buried in everyone born of woman. And one day He will come out of the box. Who comes out? God. So, He’s buried in the box, and He’s buried as a man. You’re a man. I’m a man. We are Man . . generic Man. And after all the unnumbered blows that society gives us, we simply emerge from this box, and we emerge as the Lord Christ Jesus.
It frightens people. But may I tell you? Don’t be scared, and don’t be cynical about it, because you are going to have it anyway. You only delay it by your cynicism. So, if you’re a cynic . . all right, be one, if you must be; but I tell you, you are only delaying the inevitable . . the inevitable “birth” of God-in-you. What does it matter if you own the earth and you didn’t have this? You are building on sand, for you are going to leave everything you build behind you . . but everything! You’ll depart this world, maybe tonight, and leave everything behind you but the unfoldment of Scripture within you. The only purpose of life is to unfold the Promise of God!
And so, the entire Promise is contained in the Old Testament, and you come into the world to fulfill it. And only to the degree that we have fulfilled Scripture, have we really built anything, for we can only take the fulfillment of the Word of God. Everything else is left behind.
I don’t care what name you call yourself, what position you occupy in the world . . the presidents of the world, the kings, the queens, the czars . . they all vanish and leave no trace behind them. All they take with them is that portion of Scripture they have fulfilled. That’s all they are taking, and they take no more. So, you either believe it or you don’t believe it.
So, here are the prophetic sketches. We will take a few. Who would believe this sort of a statement: “Can a man bear a child?” (Jeremiah 30:6) Now, the Lord is asking the question of the Prophet Jeremiah: “Can a man bear a child?” Well, the obvious answer is, No, he can’t do it. “Then why do I see every man with his hands drawing himself out of himself, just like a woman in labor? And why is every face turned pale? Oh, of the day there was no daylight,” (Jeremiah 30:6, Revised Standard Version1) –the most incredible thing that could ever be said of a man: “How could a man bear a child?”
So, now, it’s just simply stated in the 30th chapter of the book of Jeremiah and dropped . . just dropped. It’s an adumbration; it’s a foreshadowing. Now, that book was written six hundred years B.C. (600 B.C.). Who knew that it really was intended one day to be fulfilled in man? So, you and I are walking the earth, just as we are today . . not understanding, not knowing a thing about it. There it is, and so we read it, and people speculate, and we wonder, “What on earth is he talking about? Was Jeremiah insane? So many statements that he made seem insane. Was he insane? And here they are considered words of God.
And then we are told not to add to it. “Do not add to the Word of God, and do not take from it”, (Deuteronomy 12:32), for the Word of God will prove itself in performance. And don’t take from it; leave it just as it is, whether you understand it or not. Well, men not understanding through the centuries . . they altered it. And now today it reads: “Can a man bear a child? Why, then, do I see every man with his hands on his loins just like a woman in labor?” (Jeremiah 30:6, RSV)
It hasn’t a thing to do with any loins! The word in Hebrew is “khawlets” (pronounced “shall-ets”), and it means to draw oneself out of oneself, using one’s hands. That’s exactly how it takes place!
But man, not understanding that has said, Well, now, we’ll just change it; so they changed the meaning of the word. But fortunately for us, we do have the original word and the original meaning of these words, and they didn’t make sense. They didn’t make sense then; they do not make sense now. It only makes sense to the one who has experienced it; and when all of a sudden you awake within yourself, and when you start moving out of your skull, you actually use your hands and pull yourself out of yourself, just like a woman giving birth to a child in the fields. In the ancient days, they didn’t go to the hospital. There weren’t any hospitals. You were in the fields when the child was delivered; and you took your own, formed being . . you formed it within yourself, and with your own hands you pulled what you formed within yourself out of yourself.
Well, you form this within yourself, and the body of man is the Womb of God; and He forms Himself within man, and then pulls Himself . . that which is formed . . He pulls it out of Himself, just as a woman pulls the child out of her womb . . that is, primitive woman did. Today we go to the hospital, and you are put into a sleep; and when you awake, you’re told you have a child, and you know nothing of it. But this Book was not written when you went to the hospitals and you had sleep imposed upon you. You were in the field when suddenly it became necessary to take out of your own being what you had formed within your being.
Well, this is the grand miracle! How did it form in the skull of man? How did man, who is God . . how did God form Himself . . the Unbegotten, forming Himself within Himself . . within a mold called “man”?
So, here, that is an adumbration, isn’t it . . a foreshadowing? But it does not give it in detail. It purposely leaves out all the little . . I would say . . things that the rational mind could hang onto, leaving man to live by faith. Can he really live by faith? So, here, the entire Book is nothing more than a blueprint. It’s the foreshadowing of what every child born of woman one day will experience.
Now, what came into the world? Let me show you in this manner. I’ve told you in the last few days what you are destined to be. I tell you what I’ve experienced. You may believe me. You may doubt. It doesn’t really matter. As far as I am concerned, it really doesn’t matter! It does matter to you if you believe it. And I will show you to what extent I mean, it does matter to you if you believe it.
I tell you that I’ve been “born from above.” I tell you that there’s only Jesus in the world. Everyone who is “born from above” is Jesus Christ . . everyone. Now, you can see a man, but you don’t believe it. Why did you see him” Well, he is “born from above.” To leave it on this level, all right, it makes no difference; you have to actually have the experience of seeing him on the level above, and know the truth of what he is talking about.
Now, why is that important? I’ll show you why it’s important. A lady just dropped dead . . yesterday, really, when the call came through. The last time I saw her was the last Friday in June; and sitting at the table were four enjoying a very nice, simple lunch. She said, “Oh, what a strange feeling!” and the head fell over, and she’s gone from this world. And, so those who know her . . well they regret the departure of Marta; but Marta is free. Marta is not restored to life; Marta is free. I’ll tell you why Marta is free.
Six months ago Marta had the vision of the carriage coming up, self-propelled and I got out; and when I came into this room where she was . . and she was seated she knew that I am the being you know I am. I am Neville. And I was clothed in power . . sheer, almighty power . . just power. I began to speak on power and while Marta sat and looked, she said, “Why, he is Neville, and he is God.” And she kept on repeating audibly to herself: “He’s Neville, and he’s God. He’s Neville, and he’s God.” Well, here, Marta actually saw God, clothed in power, wearing the face of a friend . . the one she knows as Neville. I said, “There is only God in this world; He wears all the faces.”
So, she saw the power of God wearing the face of a friend. Now listen to the words: “I call you no longer servants. I call you no longer servants, because the servant does not know what his master is doing. I call you friends. All that I have heard from my Father, I have told you.” (John 15:15, RSV)
When you see Him, and see Him as a friend, you are set free. How? In the 8th chapter of John: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32) The truth of what? That two and two make four? No . . I AM the truth.” “I have told you all that I have heard from my Father,” and “I AM the truth.”
Now you see me. You see God wearing as a “garment” power, sheer power; but you see a face, and the face He’s wearing is your friend. “And so I call you no longer a slave, for slaves do not know what their master is doing; I call you friends.” And, so, you see a friend, and the friend sets you free.
So, Marta, by that one vision of six months ago, today is not restored to life; she is set free. You can only see it in vision; you can’t see it here. Here you see a man, with all the weaknesses of the world; but in vision, He unveils Himself in vision. So He unveiled Himself, and He was wearing the body of a man; yes, but the body was sheer Almightiness . . all Power. And, then, He wore the face of Marta’s friend . . the same Being; so she knew the truth of what I taught. So, she said, “I am your friend, for all that I have heard from my Father I have told you.” So, she saw the entire drama gathered together into one marvelous picture. The self-propelled carriage comes up. Out steps this Being called Neville. He comes in and begins to proclaim the power of God, and he’s clothed in power. The first appearance of God to man is power, almightiness, called El Shaddai.
“I made myself known unto Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai. By my name, I AM, I did not make myself known.” (Exodus 6.3, RSV)
He made Himself known as “I AM” to Moses first; but to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He appeared only as Power . . sheer power. And strangely enough, the night that I stood in the presence of Infinite Love, when He embraced me, and then I heard the cry “out of the blue”; and then I found myself before Might . . sheer Almightiness; and He wore, as she saw me wearing it, an Inverness cape . . the One who commanded me to go into the world and tell it. And His words were; “Time to act!” He wore an Inverness cape, and He was Infinite Might. There was no compassion in that Being; and one second before I was embraced, and I was one with the Body of Infinite Love. And, yet, when I was commanded to go, it wasn’t Love that commanded me . . it was Might . . Almightiness.
Now, she didn’t know this; and yet when she saw me, the face wearing Infinite Power . . here was Neville, and he was all power. Well, it was Power who sent me. Love didn’t send me. Love embraced me, and I became one with Infinite Love, but it was Almightiness that sent me into this world to tell the story . . to tell the story of Might . . the story of Power.
And, so, when she saw me this night, I was wearing the same cape that He who sent me wore; therefore the words are: “He who sees me sees Him who sent me (John 8.19) If you knew the One who sent me, then you would know me; and if you knew me, you’d know the One who sent me. Who sends me is the One that I resemble. When she saw me, I was wearing the same thing that He wore when He sent me.
Now, this is a strange, peculiar mystery, but it is true. Every word I tell you is true. So, Marta tonight . . this simple, sweet lady, my age who worked up until the very day . . she went down to Laguna to the Art Festival, and it is a perfectly marvelous festival that meets every year. The four of them enjoyed the festival, and on their way back stopped in to have a simple Mexican meal; and there is no alcohol stronger than beer in these Mexican restaurants . . and so, a glass of beer . . she’s not a drinker. And sitting there with the simple little meal and a glass of beer, she said, “Oh, what a strange feeling!” and then her head began to move towards the table, and she’s gone suddenly. And Marta did not find herself, I know, restored to life in a world like this: no, Marta is as free as anyone can be. She’s obtained the glorious liberty and freedom of the “sons of God,” because she saw the vision six months before. She saw the vision of God clothed as man . . clothed in Power, wearing the face of a friend . . the one called Neville. And then as she saw me, she said, “He’s God, and yet he’s Neville; he’s God, he’s Neville!” because there’s only God in this world, and He’ll wear every face in the world.
And, so, tonight as you tell the truth as you hear it from the depths of your own soul, tell it based upon, not speculation; tell it based upon experience. Well, then, tomorrow you could be worn, clothed as Power; and he who sees you in the garment of Power . . but sees you, and you are his friend . . he sees a friend clothed as Power; and, therefore, he is set free. That’s how God frees them in this world.
Now, it doesn’t make sense on this level; but, I tell you, it is true! And, so, should I drop a tear for Marta? No, Marta has been set free. She’s not restored to life to continue the drama and the horrors and the sorrows of the world.
So, everything in Scripture is true. Everything is true. So, I ask you to believe it. I have been set free; so it doesn’t make any difference to me, as far as I am concerned, but it makes all the difference in the world to you whether you believe it or not. If you believe it, as Marta did, then you will have a similar vision. I may not be the one used; someone else who tells you a similar story, based upon his own experience, for I’m only telling you what I’ve heard in the depths of my own soul . . what I’ve experienced. So, having told exactly what I have experienced, my face is used among those that come to me. But others could come in my footsteps and tell you of a similar experience, and maybe their face will be used, because all faces are the faces of God! He is a Being of infinite faces, and every face is His face.
So, do you really believe the story as you’ve heard it? If you do, as she did, you may this night encounter a similar experience; and then when the story comes to its end in this little world of Caesar, instead of being restored to life . . no, you aren’t restored, you are set free. You are in an entirely different world, the world of Heaven, above it all.
So, here: “In the beginning God” . . there’s only God; “in a coffin in Egypt.” (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 50:26) And that “coffin” is every little form that was formed in the womb of woman.
Now, here is a little adumbration. You read it in the 4th chapter of the book of Galatians: “And Abraham had two sons. One was by a slave, and one was by a free-woman. Now, this is an allegory.” (Galatians 4:22, 23) Well, if this is an allegory, what on earth are the priesthood and the ministers and the rabbis of the world doing when they teach this story as history? Listen to the words: “Abraham had two sons; one was born of a slave, and one of a free-woman . . and these are Paul’s words: “Now this is an allegory.” Do you know what an allegory is? It’s a story told as if it were true, leaving the one who hears it to discover the fictitious character of it and learn its lesson. Well, if the story of Abraham is an allegory . . now listen to these words as the New Testament opens: “And this is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matthew 1:1) Well, if the story of Abraham is an allegory, then what is the genealogy of Jesus?
Listen to it carefully: Read the 4th chapter of Galatians, which is the earliest book in the New Testament. That came first. It was written long before the four Gospels. That was the Gospel, and Paul claims it to be the Gospel . . “my gospel”; and he said, “Any deviation from this, let him be accursed, (Galatians 1:9), because: “This came to me, not by man . . I was not taught it by a man; it came by revelation.” (Galatians 1:12) Now, he tells you the story is an allegory, because that was revealed to him. The whole thing was an allegory. Well, if it’s an allegory, can it be history? Can it be secular history? No.
Therefore, if Abraham begins the whole [drama] in the story of Matthew, culminating in Jesus Christ, and that story is an allegory, then what is the culmination? It doesn’t mean it’s untrue, but it’s not as the world believes it to be true. So the world believes it to be secular history, and it is not; it’s supernatural history. The whole thing is completely outside of this sphere, just as my coming into view in a self-propelled carriage into the presence of a woman, and I unveil myself to her. I unveiled myself as the Being that I’m telling everyone in this world that I AM. But you choose an individual, and you unveil yourself to that being. I know I’ve been “born from above”’ therefore I’m one with the Being called Christ Jesus, and he is God. So, in this moment of time, I took Marta. In the depths of my soul I knew Marta had just a matter of moments in this sphere; and here was Marta’s faith, and so I unveiled myself in that picture. And she had no doubt . . no uncertainty in her mind . . she’s looking at God and she’s looking at Neville . . the same Being, and yet it’s man; it’s Neville, and it’s God. And she awoke, and there was no uncertainty on this level. Reason begins to analyze it and tear it apart. Luckily for her, she wrote the whole thing down and then said, “Now, Neville, I don’t understand it, but this is what happened. When I saw you, I knew you to be God . . I had no doubt. I had no uncertainty. As I talk to you now, I know you are Neville, and you have all the weaknesses of the flesh; and still I know that was true.”
Well, that was Marta; and she goes, enjoying lunch with three friends. So, that moment of departure, she simply found herself in Heaven; and Heaven is the last . . the final union of man with God. So, that’s where Marta is now. Not only that, listen to these words: In the 9th chapter of I Corinthians, when they questioned Paul concerning his claim that he was an apostle, he said, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen the Lord Jesus? (I Corinthians 9:1) He said, the indispensable prerequisite for apostleship and freedom from this world of death was to have seen the Lord Jesus, and to know it. And that’s what Marta did.
He states it in the first verse of the 9th chapter of I Corinthians: “Am I not free?” Freedom depends upon seeing and knowing the Lord Jesus. You can see Him, but not know Him. You can walk the street as Him, seen by people, but they don’t believe it. They do not know it. To see and to know are the same, so they didn’t really see. Well, had they really seen him, they would have known him. But Marta saw me in the true sense of the word; and having seen, she knew me, for the words “see” and “know” in Greek are the same. To see Him in the true sense of the word is to know Him. So, had you really known me, you would have known my Father; but you know neither my Father nor me, for had ye known me, you would have known my Father. So, you have seen me, but you see me what? As the carpenter or the carpenter’s son?
So, in the very, very end, He appears, and they did not recognize Him. They thought he was a carpenter. This is after the Ascension. And then they said, “Did not our hearts burn within us when he interpreted to us the Scriptures? He opened our minds and interpreted the Scriptures, and did not our hearts burn within us?” But they didn’t know Him! At the very end, He was still unknown . . unseen by those who followed Him all through life.
But an individual really believes it . . and the whole thing is determined from within, based upon faith; and so, the only one who really believes it will be singled out; and a drama similar to that will unfold, and he will see, or she will see Him. He’ll be wearing the face of the friend . . the body of a man, and the body will be all power . . sheer Almightiness; and she will know, or he will know, she stood in the presence of the Risen God! And she saw Him as a friend; and so seeing Him as a friend, she is set free, and he is set free . . free from the world of sin and death, no more returning to this world at all.
And I don’t mean reincarnation. The Bible does not teach reincarnation. It teaches restoration, but not reincarnation. You are restored. Everyone is restored in a body that is unaccountably new . . wonderfully new, in a world just like this; and you move on, playing the part that you must play, until that work is done in you. When the work is done in you, then He is formed in you; and so you will actually be telling the story that I am telling you now.
The day will come that you will become so hungry, not for food . . as you are told in the book of Amos: “I will send a famine upon the world. It will not be a famine for bread, nor a hunger nor a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the Word of God.” (Amos 8:11) And not a thing in this world can satisfy that thirst or that hunger but an experience of God.
So, Marta had to have a thirst . . a hunger to experience God; and so I told her what I had experienced, and that God and man are one. She believed it, and she had to come to the point where she could experience God as a friend. “So I call you no longer slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing; I call you friend, because all that I have heard from my Father I have told you. (John 15:15, RSV: Note: in the text the word “servant” is used, but in a footnote the translation “slave” is noted.) In other words, all that I have experienced from my Father, I have told you. I haven’t held one thing back.
There isn’t a month but what I get invitations from people, little groups, saying: “You certainly must have something more than you tell publicly. Would you form a class? We’ll pay anything you ask.” And they are willing to pay any price for an exclusive class of, say, twenty. I have not one thing I could tell a class of twelve, twenty, or one, that I haven’t told you! I have not a thing that I have kept back as a secret. I have no secret. So, I couldn’t possibly, unless I was a liar . . if I formed a group as an exclusive class to tell them something I haven’t told publicly, it would be only to make the dollar that they’ve offered me. It’s quite a temptation. When twenty people get together and say, “I’ll give you one thousand dollars each,” . . so twenty thousand dollars, you say how long the class will be . . one week, two weeks . . well, it’s quite a temptation not to take the twenty thousand dollars in two weeks. But what could I tell them and live with myself that I haven’t told everyone in the world? I tell it to my maid. She comes home once a week, every Monday, and she’s like a member of the family. When Doris comes to the house, we discuss. When I hear some statement from her that is on the negative side, I jack her up; and then I will spend five, ten, fifteen minutes with Doris. I’m paying her, mind you; so I am simply stopping her doing the work she is supposed to do by telling her something. What more could I tell someone else than I tell Doris? I can’t find anything that I’ve held as a secret. “All that I have heard from my Father, I’ve told you” (John 15:15) So, I have not a thing that I could give to any private class that I cannot give, and haven’t given, to the public class. No private class, none whatsoever. But there are those who believe you have a secret that you haven’t yet revealed, and it’s something they can put their fingers into and claim that they had something that no one else had. Well, I don’t have that. So I call you friends. I called Marta a friend. I called Marge, with whom she was when she dropped dead . . and Marge had a similar experience; only Marta saw it was God . . he’s Neville, and he’s God; but Marge, with whom she was when she dropped dead, saw me as Jesus standing on the beach, facing this enormous crowd of people, all of different faiths, and I am speaking in a language they all understood, yet they differed, but each heard me in the language of his own tongue, and she said, “Why, he’s Neville, but he’s Jesus!”
It seems the height of blasphemy to say this, but I am telling you what I know from my own experience. But it doesn’t take place here. Jesus as a man never walked the face of this earth . . not here. The Bible has no reference to any man that ever walked the face of this earth. It’s a supernatural drama unfolding in man. So every child born of woman is the Jesus-to-be; and that is simply a pattern unfolding within him. He is the Pattern Man. And when it unfolds, he knows who he is. He tells it to his friends; some believe him, some don’t. The majority will not. He tells it to his family, and they laugh at him.
As you are told in the 7th chapter of John: “His brothers did not believe him, and they turned from him.” (John 7:5, RSV) They did not believe him. No one believed him, save a very few . . just a handful; and at the very end of the drama he walked with them and said, “What is all this ado about? And they said, “Haven’t you heard?” and they began to tell him, but they thought he was the gardener. They still did not recognize him! (Luke 24:17, 18)
But the glory to me this night is that Marta recognized it here, and that today, by that recognition, she’s been set free. Free as the wind . . no more restoration to life in the world of Caesar; and the same thing is happening . . will happen eventually to Marge when Marge falls from this world . . the same thing. And everyone will have it who really has faith in what I am talking about and they will see me because I will have the urge to unveil myself. He unveils . . self in a vision, and reveals Himself in that manner. He speaks in a dream, as Marge had the dream of the box like a little coffin, and she knew that within it she was there and she was Joseph. She knew she couldn’t get out of that box until in that box she became Jesus, for only Jesus resurrects. And so, he resurrects. Who resurrects? He is designated “Son of God” in power by his resurrection from the dead. So, only Jesus resurrects; so she has to actually form herself into Jesus to resurrect, and everyone who resurrects as Jesus. There’s not a thing in this world resurrects, but Jesus! So, even though your name is John or Mary or Peter, when you rise from the dead, you are Jesus without loss of identity of being Mary, being Peter, being Neville, or being any other name. This is the mystery.
Now, these mysteries of the Bible are not matters to be kept secret, but they are truths that are mysterious in character. It’s difficult to convey them to the rational mind. The mind stands still before the mystery of God. You are trying to rationalize it. You can’t do it.
So, here, the entire Old Testament is an adumbration . . a foreshadowing in a not altogether conclusive or immediately evident way. It is like a rough sketch. That’s why, when Paul said to the Galatians . . he said: “Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” (Galatians 3:1)
He’s asking them: Have you forgotten? Let me ask you only this: “Did you receive the spirit by the hearing of the law or by faith? Are you so foolish? Having received it, the Spirit by faith, are you now returning to the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2, 3)
Are you going to see Jesus as a being of flesh and blood? He’s not flesh and blood; He’s not of this world . . “I AM not of this world.” (John 8:23)
“You are from below, I AM from above; you are of this world, I AM not of this world.” (John 8:23)
Are you going to see Him of this world? “Oh, foolish Galatians!” (Galatians 3:1) you saw Him “portrayed” . . “go to a play and see the drama unfold before you. Do you really believe what you see as the fact; or are you going to extract from it, like the allegory, and take from it what it really intends to tell you? So, here is a play unfolding before you. That’s not the fact; that’s the allegory. Now, try to extract the meaning of the story as you saw it unfold before you, for it was portrayed before you.
Then said he: “From now on, I consider no one from the human point of view. Even though I once regarded Christ from a human point of view, I regard Him thus no longer.” (II Corinthians 5:16) So, he believed in a physical Christ, as the whole vast world does; then when the light came to him and the whole thing unfolded within him, he couldn’t see a physical Christ. He said, “I regard no one from a human point of view. Even though I once regarded Christ from a human point of view, I regard him thus no longer.” (II Corinthians 5:16) Read it.
So, here, you and I are the One Being, wearing this cross (indicating the body); and from this cross we will rise and when we rise, we are the Lord Jesus Christ. And then dramas like the one I’ve told you will take place, and you will set free those who believe it. “And everyone who believes me now” he said “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
The truth? Well, what truth must I know? He said, “I AM the truth.” (John 14:6) The truth? Well, what truth must I know? He said, “I AM the truth,” . . in other words, “Know me. I’ve told you who I AM, and the day will come that I will unveil myself to you, and you’ll know me; and therefore you’ll be knowing the truth, and that truth will set you free.”
You will actually know me as I have told you I AM; and in that day you’ll be set free the minute you know me. For the minute I unveil myself before you, I’ll be wearing the body of a man, for God is man. I’ll be clothed in that of power, for He is Infinite Power. But I will wear my face, and my face is your friend. And, so, I will be your friend, and call you no longer a slave, for the slave will not know what I am doing; but I will call you a friend, for I’ve told you all that I’ve ever heard from my Father . . all that I’ve ever experienced in the mysteries I’ve told you. So, then, you are my friend, and you will see me as I’ve told you that I AM; and in that moment that you see me and you believe it, because you have no uncertainty within you, you are set free!
So, when your little moment comes in time to depart this world and you drop the body, you are not restored; you are free. You are a child of God . . immortal, wearing a glorious, glorified body in the Body of the Risen Christ.
Everyone is going to have it. We can only postpone it by our cynicism and our . . well, unbelieving attitude towards it. It’s the most difficult thing. I’m not saying it’s the easiest thing in the world to grasp, but it’s true. Every word of it is true. And can you conceive of anything worthwhile dwelling upon, other than this? It doesn’t deny the world of Caesar. Oh, in the world of Caesar you can have anything you want . . but anything you want you can have! It’s all here for the taking. If you dare to assume that you are now what you want to be, and do not fail in the assumption, you’ll get it. If you walk as though you were what you would like to be, you’ll get it.
Here is a friend of mine in L.A. He comes to all the meetings, a handsome, wonderful lad of about 40 years of age. He says, “In my office this perfectly lovely girl, she serves all the different gentlemen who are in the office and we all love her. One day she came into my office, and she spent twenty minutes telling me of the horrors of this world, where there are so few eligible men for marriage, and so many jerks . . millions of jerks and so few eligible men. So, after she poured it out for twenty minutes, I didn’t say a word to her; she left the office, and I sat there for a few minutes, and I heard within me . . I heard her tell me that she had met the man . . the most glorious man that ever walked this earth, and they are dating and . . oh, she’s just walking in the heavens. I did it at that moment. On my way home, driving on the freeway, I did it again. The next morning when I was shaving, I thought of her, and I did it again. Well, in ten days I had no confirmation of it. She still came into the office bringing the papers; and as she came in and she still seemed to be gloomy, I did it again. Well, ten days went by, and all of a sudden she came in, and here is sheer ecstasy! She spent one-half hour of my precious time telling me of the man of men in this world. They are dating, and they are dating night after night. Why, there’s not a person in this world comparable to this man.”
Well, what did he do? He simply used his imagination to give her what she wanted. She wanted a man, not a jerk; so he simply got a man. And, now, as far as she is concerned, he is just the best man in this world. Well, I closed on this very last Friday in June; so I do not know if it is consummated or not . . I don’t know. But they are dating every, every day; and as far as she is concerned he is the only man in the world. But who did it? My friend, his name is Ray Lee. He sat down . . he likes her as a friend, and all the men in the office . . they like her. She has worked in the office for a while. It’s an advertising office. And Ray, knowing this principle, he figures, “All right, we’ll forget all of the people in this world that she thinks are no good, and I will now see that she has a perfect man.” And that’s all that Ray did. On his way home, he did it; next morning when he was shaving, he did it; and he was reminded by her gloom that something must be done more than what he did, so he did it again. So, he did it maybe four or five times in that interval; and in less than two weeks, she finds an angel on earth. Of course, he may not always be that; but, nevertheless, at the moment, he is all that he (Ray Lee) wanted her to find.
You can have anything in this world . . I don’t care what it is, if you’ll apply God’s law. And God’s law is simple: Whatever you desire, believe that you have received it, and you will. Well, if you believe that you’ve received it how would you feel? Just how would you feel? That’s the feeling . . catch it! Catch that feeling, and don’t let it go! You have found Me; well, don’t let Me go. Let all the others go, but don’t let Me go. You have found salvation in that mood. That mood, were it true, would save you from all that you formerly had but you didn’t want.
Now, this mood will save you. Catch this mood, for that’s the mood that will save you . . and walk in it. That belongs to the world of Caesar; but while we are in the world of Caesar, why not use it? And use it wisely; use it lovingly. But I am trying to get you beyond the world of Caesar to something that never passes away, because the most glorious romance in the world today must come to an end, and death will end it.
You love your child, and you’ll die this very moment for your child. If you and your child were held by some monster in the world, and they said; “One of you must die,” no father in this world would hesitate for an nth part of a second, who loves his child, to say, “Take my life.” He couldn’t for one moment, if he were a father who loves his child, hesitate to say, “What are you asking about?” You don’t ask those questions; it’s just, “Take my life.” What does it matter? “But promise me as a man and save hers. Don’t take hers . . you can’t take both. You take my life.”
You wouldn’t hesitate if you loved someone. Yet it has to part; either you go first or she goes first; and every man worthy of his name wants himself to go before the ones he loves. He doesn’t want to say “Good-bye” to one here that he truly loves. He wants to go first. But it has to be a parting in the world of Caesar, but not in the world of Heaven. There is no parting. It’s an immortal body. It is a body that is forever, and relationships are forever; they are not parted. And it is harmony, and one body holds it all: one lord, one body, one spirit . . without loss of identity.
So, here, while we are here, even though we know we’ve got to part, you go into a building or you go into a city, and a building that you knew and loved . . where is it? It’s gone. I go to New York every year. You can get into a taxi and say, “Take me to So-and-So.” “That’s gone, Sir.” “Well, I’ll tell you what . . take me to that restaurant.” “Why, that’s gone, too, Sir.” Then you get another restaurant; after a while, you think, “What’s left?” You had better stick to something that you think is left, because you mention this hotel… that hotel is gone; and I’m not kidding. I mean from experience, I lived there for years and years. I came to New York City in 1922, and I have lived in New York City. I knew every square inch of it. And here, these lovely hotels where I used to go to dinner and different restaurants . . well, that hotel is gone now, that restaurant is gone, and they are all gone. New buildings are in their place, yes but you don’t know these buildings, and you don’t know the personnel of the restaurants. They are all gone. So, not a thing is permanent in this world. It all vanishes. But while vanishing . . all right, you have to live in the world of Caesar, apply His law, and have all the happiness that you want in this world.
Don’t let anyone tell you that any limit is placed upon the power of belief. There is no limit placed upon it. But don’t forget the Promise. Dwell upon the Promise for that’s the only important thing in this world: When you awake and you are God, without loss of identity. And, may I tell you? No matter what you might think of yourself today, as a man . . and you know every person in the world can be improved in his body, in his face . . I am telling you, when you see the face that is your face, there is no room for improvement. There is no room for improvement! I don’t care what you may think of yourself today, or what anyone in the world may think of you; there is no room for improvement. That face is God’s face! It’s perfect, and yet it’s your face; and everyone will know they are looking at you, and yet, it’s your face, and there’s no room for improvement. It’s God’s face!
And the body is man, and you may wear the garment of power, or you may wear the garment of wisdom, for both are the definitions of Christ. “Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.” (I Corinthians 1:24)
In the case of these two: I wore the garment of Power in one, and I wore in the other the garment of Love, for that is God’s true garment. But you don’t wear it because you’re simply a man in the eyes of Caesar, and a very weak, limited, fragile person.
Now, let us go into the Silence.
Good.
Now, are there any questions, please?
(Question was inaudible on the tape)
Neville: No, I said that man can, by his cynicism, as told in Scripture, turn his back upon the Truth. He’s not going to stop it from coming into fulfillment. He could, by turning away from it, delay it as far as he is concerned; but he’s not going to stop the ultimate end, because it’s God’s will that not one be lost, and all will be saved.
Everyone is going to be saved . . I don’t care who he is, even the Hitlers and the Stalins of the world. Not one will be discarded. But, if I scoff at the Word of God, as we are told in the second letter of Peter: “In the latter days, scoffers will come scoffing saying, where is the promise of his coming?” (II Peter 3:3, 4)
Well, ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the foundation of the world; and they forget that a thousand years is as a day in the eyes of God. So, they are wondering, what has happened since the fathers fell asleep. Well, you and I are “the fathers,” and we are asleep, and we don’t’ believe these things.
For instance, I find greater belief among strangers than I would in my family. Among my family, I have no belief whatsoever. My wife, yes, my wife believes. My son, no . . as far as he is concerned, this is all stupid. My daughter, she is believing; but like all these young girls today . . she is 26, a college graduate . . and no one is more stupid than your father when you’re 18; and then by the time you are 24, it’s amazing how quickly he became wise! In four short years he became so wise; but at 18 he was the most stupid person in the world, because she knew that I couldn’t pass any examination that was given her to enter college. I would flunk any college examination; and so, therefore, she catalogued me right away as stupid. And the wisest people she ever knew, which were in college, were the teachers. Everyone was simply a giant in her eye; but all of a sudden, they became just normal people; and then her father, who was stupid . . well, she doesn’t voice it, but I know that she has changed her attitude. But my brothers and my sister at home, they can’t give me one word because they don’t believe one thing I say. First of all, Neville is simply one of the boys. Well, I am one of the boys . . I can’t deny that. And so, what on earth is he talking about, because they all believe in the historicity of Scripture. I tell my sister it isn’t history, not secular history. It’s Salvation history. It’s eternal history but it’s not secular history. Well, my sister is a pillar of the Christian church . . the Anglican Church. She contributes, not only her time, but her money. She gives generously to the church . . supports the old men’s home, the old women’s home . . all the homes; and she is the most generous one because she has it. She has oodles of money, and she gives generously to the church. But she also gives her time to the church, and she’s always in the church Sunday morning, whether she feels well or not; her husband has to drive her to church, and she goes. She has to be in church. So we get together and over the morning’s breakfast, she doesn’t want to discuss it; but something will always come up to . . you know . . prompt some little thing. But it’s an irritant as far as she is concerned. That will disturb her, and she doesn’t want to be disturbed. She’s satisfied that Jesus is a man, as she was taught . . not as she discovered from Scripture or from a vision, but as she was taught by her ministers. And they are just as blind as my sister.
And as far as my brothers are concerned, they have made all the money in the world that they want or they need . . and don’t disturb them. As my brother Victor said, “Look here, you are interested in what is going to happen after this world. I didn’t know what was going to happen when I came into it, and I made a good world of it. I came here without knowing what I AM supposed to do, and I did a darn good job,” said he. “Well, when I go into the other world, I’ll do a good job, too.” So, that’s his concept. So, “just don’t bring up any of these things because I’m not interested.”
So, when I go home, I leave them alone . . only to fulfill Scripture. This whole thing is fulfillment of Scripture. “His brothers did not believe him.” (John 7:5, RSV) I have an Aunt . . she’s 92 years old. The family supports her. She lives in Jersey. She and I, when I was just a boy and the visions began, she thought herself one marvelous, wonderful Christian. She couldn’t let her daughter marry the son of the devil, not because he was a Christian, but of a different denomination; so he was the son of the devil. So, they got married anyway. And here is this Aunt of mine, and one day I said to her, “Don’t you know that Jesus had brothers?” because I knew that she believed in the literal word of the Scriptures. She said, “Our good Lord had brothers? And she just got up and ran out of the room. She couldn’t be in the presence of the devil who was her nephew!
So, when she came back, I said, “Do you have a Bible?” “Yes.” I said, “Go and get it.” She brought it in. I said, “Open it up. Turn to the 6th chapter of Mark and start reading.” Well, you only get to the third verse when they name the brothers: James, Joses and Simon and Judas, and “his sisters are with us this day” (Mark 6:3) . . plural; and when she read it she took the book . . and she could have eaten it, because I made her see what she hadn’t seen before.
She wants the literal word. Well, read the literal word. He had at least . . at the very least, it was a family of seven. And, so, she wants to believe in this strange, peculiar rigidity. No!
A man came to my meetings every night when I lectured in L.A. until one night when I said, “I am Mary.” I said, “I am Mary, and birth to God must give, if I am blessedness for now and evermore would life.”
And he said from the audience . . he was in the first row . . “You don’t look like Mary to me.” I said, “May I tell you that you are Mary, too? You call yourself a man.” He’s a Green Beret . . always wore his green beret; he’s from the Green Beret Regiment, and very proud of it. He always wore it, even though he was in the meeting . . he never took the hat off.
I said, “You are Mary; and just as I gave birth to Christ, you must give birth to Christ or live in hell for the rest of eternity, for the only salvation is to bring forth Christ, and you will give it.”
He never came back. After the meeting, he came forward and said, “You know, I want to tell you something, Neville; you do teach some of the truth, but not all the truth.”
I said, “Well, thank you very much.”
