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Neville Goddard Lecture

The Last Days

Neville Goddard—02/08/1968

Man thinks history is moving towards an inevitable climax of good, but that climax has already occurred and [is] recorded in the New Testament in the words: “It is finished.” So when I speak of the last days, I am referring to definite events which will occur in the life of you, an individual, which will take you from this age of sin and death to enter the New Age of eternal life!

The most astute book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes. In it we are told: “What has been is what will be and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See this is new? It has been already in ages before us, but there is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be remembrance of things yet to happen among those who come after.” This statement is difficult for man to grasp, for he is forever thinking of progress. Man sees things today and thinks they are new and wonderful because he cannot remember them. Just a century ago electricity was unknown. Now we have light powered by nuclear energy and think it was created for and by us, but scripture tells us it has always been! The play of life moves in a wheel, closed-circuited by time, and man with his short memory cannot remember other times.

We are told in the same Ecclesiastes: “I saw all the people who move about under the sun, as well as the second youth who is to stand in his place. There was no end to all the people. He was above them all, yet those who come after will not rejoice in him.” Now in the Book of Hebrews it is said: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.” The word “son” has no article in the Greek. The writer is not saying that God revealed himself in one who would be a son among many sons, but in Sonship! Man has completely misinterpreted this passage, as well as the entire Bible.

The New Testament writers recognized the Spirit of Christ who controlled their lives to be one with the Spirit of Jehovah who inspired the prophets. There is only one Spirit. You cannot discriminate between the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of Jehovah, so who is the Son? I tell you from experience: the Son who speaks to you in the last days is David. It is he who “reflects the glory of God and bears the express image of his person, thereby making him superior to the angels, as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs. For to what angel did God ever say, ‘Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee’?” In this letter to the Hebrews, Paul pinpoints David as God’s Son; yet every Christian (and I include myself) is taught that Paul is speaking of Jesus Christ, and it is not so, for to the New Testament writers Jesus Christ is Jehovah. It is David who reflects God’s glory, for it is David who is the express image of his person.

Having stood in the presence of the Risen Lord, answered his question, embraced [him] and been incorporated into his body, I know exactly what the Ancient of Days looks like. And when we were united, I became one with that body, one with that Spirit. I now know what it is to be that body and that Spirit, but I first saw the face. Many years later when I saw David, who called me Father, he was the youth of that being. He bore the express image of his person.

No, David didn’t look like Neville any more than Neville looks like the Ancient of Days, so when I saw David he was the express image of my Spiritual person. One is the Ancient of Days and the other the eternal, or second youth. “I saw all the people that move under the sun, as well as the second youth, yet those who will come after will not rejoice in him.” Why? Because they have no interest in the story of David and God. But I have found in David, the Son of Jesse (I AM) a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.

You are David playing a male or female part right now, and you are God the Father of all life, but you will not know this is true until the drama is over and David calls you Father. You see: history to the Hebrew mind consists of all the generations of men and their experiences fused into one grand whole, and this concentrated time into which they are all fused and from which all generations spring is called eternity. The whole vast world is David playing parts.

Now, in the same Ecclesiastes we are told that: “The Lord put eternity into the mind of man yet so that man could not find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” The word “eternity” is “olam” in Hebrew and means “a youth; a lad; a young man.” God placed an eternal youth in your mind, a young man to do all of his will. If it is necessary for you to play the part of a blind man, or that of a fool, the important, rich man, or that of Hitler, Napoleon, or Stalin in order for the work to be done in you, David will do it. And the one who is blind, who is doing the executing and being executed, is God the Father. You will know this to be true, for when the work is done, David will stand before you as your only begotten Son and call you: “My Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.”

You have reached the last days, when this drama takes place in you. Then you will say with Paul: “The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. Let no one bother me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” These masks are the four great events which begin with your birth from above, for “Unless you are born from above you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” The sign of your birth will be this: “You shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. That is the sign, but David is not a sign. David is your Son, which is given. “Unto us a child is born; to us a Son is given.” These are two entirely different events. The Son is not the child. The child is born as a sign, but “God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son.”

You were taught to believe the Son spoken of here is Jesus Christ, but David “in the spirit” calls Jesus Christ “Father”. As long as you think of Jesus Christ as God’s Son you miss the mystery altogether, for he is God the Father. The same being is called the Lord, God, Jehovah, Jesus Christ. That is the being you will know yourself to be when you fulfill the second Psalm, for when you see David in the Spirit you will say: “Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee.”

David is not an old man but eternal youth, a man after your own heart, who will do all of your will. No matter what state you choose to identify with, David will play it wearing the mask you call yourself. Believe me, for I have finished the race; I have fought the good fight, and I have kept the faith in the story which was told us in the beginning of time. Before we entered this arena, before the light began, we saw the end. We saw the series of events which would take us out of this world of sin and death into the age called the kingdom of God.

So when I speak of the last days, I am not speaking of the end of this world, for it is a play, which goes on and on and on. Having entered the play, you are always the same actor. You will play the rich man, the poor man, the beggar, and the thief, retaining the same identity. And when you reach the last days, a series of events that are mirrored in the story of Jesus Christ, will unfold in you in a first person, present tense experience. You will not observe it happening to another; you will experience it happening to you!
The last days begin with your awakening to the realization that you have been entombed in your own skull; that you have been dreaming this world into being. You think you are fully awake right now, yet you are dreaming the dream of life. I know, for when I awoke within my skull I had no memory of how or when I was placed there, I only knew I was alone in an empty skull, and I came out of it just as a child comes out of the womb of a woman. Being born from above, I found all the symbolism of scripture unfolding before me: a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and the three witnesses to the event of [sic – at?] which I was invisible, for God was born and God is Spirit. You are told: “This shall be a sign, for unto you is born this day a Savior.”

The only savior is Jehovah, who is one with Jesus Christ. “I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, and besides me there is no Savior.” There is only one God, so when He is born the symbolism of his birth is described in scripture as the birth of Jesus Christ.

Now, since God is a Father there must be a Son. I tell you that Son is David, and when you look into his eyes you will see the express image of the Ancient of Days. You will see your image reflected in his eyes, for you will be wearing and know yourself to be the one body, the one Spirit, the one Lord, the one God and Father of all who is above all, through all and in all. One Father, one Lord, one body fell and fragmented into unnumbered beings and all are gathered into that one body.

The King James Version calls David “the express image of his person”, while the Revised Standard Version states: “He bears the very stamp of his nature.” That does not describe my experience, for when I saw David he was the express image of God, for God is a person. God is not an impersonal force; God is Man. “Thou art a Man, God is no more, thine own Humanity learn to adore.”

You are Man, and when you stand in the presence of the Risen Lord you see the Ancient of Days as a Man of Infinite Love. You feel this love! Although you can’t describe the joy of wearing the body of love, when you see David you feel yourself to be that Risen Lord! David expresses youth in detail. He is the youth and you are the Ancient of Days. These are the last days, which precede your entrance into the New Age called the kingdom of heaven.

Nothing comes near the Bible, and it is literally true! Men have misunderstood it and those who are preaching it as secular history are doing far greater harm to the soul than those who damage the body by getting blind drunk during the day. The alcoholic injures himself, while the preacher who does not know what he is saying distorts the mind by misinforming the people concerning the mystery of scripture.

Ecclesiastes is right when he claims there is nothing new under the sun. I know this from experience, for I have gone into other worlds – terrestrial, just like this – where dreams of modern man appear as child’s toys. These worlds are here now, one within the other, all part of the one grand play. My friend Bob, who has had all of the experiences, found himself in a fantastic world where at the lunch hour people stopped what they were doing and took a little card from their pocket, made notes on it as to what they wanted to eat, and replaced the card. Then he saw heavenly expressions on their faces as they enjoyed the food which no one could see. This is taking place now. It’s a real world, yet man here hasn’t begun to dream of such a time. He is interested in producing more chickens, more cattle, pigs, and lambs for the bursting population; yet a world exists where a little card in the pocket allows food to be selected and consumed.

These are worlds that are taking place right now, worlds within worlds, all part of the world of Caesar. But I am speaking of another world. A world where those who are accounted worthy to attain neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore. [They are] Now sons of God, being sons of the Resurrection in the sense that God’s creative power has returned. But you never return until David calls you Father, for only then is the drama at its end.

When David, in the Spirit, calls you “My Lord,” (which means “My Father” in the ancient world) you bear the marks of Jesus. “What think ye of the Christ? Whose Son is he? David? Then why did David in the Spirit call him ‘My Lord’? If David called him Lord, how can he be David’s Son? He can’t, for he is David’s Father.

The average Christian believes that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, not God the Father; but David is God’s only begotten Son. There is no mother in David’s story. He claims: “I am the Son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite.” This is eternity, which was put into the mind of man. Giving his creative power to man, God came with him. Everything God wants done David will do while he wears the mask called John, called Bill, called Helen. Now wearing the mask of everyone in this world, when the mask is removed for the final time, memory will return and he will know himself to be God the Father once more, but now individualized. And the only one who can reveal him to himself is God’s only begotten Son, David. There is no other way that you can ever know that you are God, save through David!

So in the last days he speaks to us through Sonship. I can tell you from now until the ends of time that you are God and you may think me either mad or arrogant; but the day will come when David will stand before you and call you Father. Then it will not matter what the world will say; you will know who you really are and that’s all that really matters.

When you see David you won’t have to ask his identity. There will be no uncertainty, for you will see the express image of the being you saw as the Risen Lord. “Express image” really means: “the impression of a seal on wax or clay.” He is not a resemblance, as something painted from a model, but the express image of the Ancient of Days, only young.

So the last days do not signify the end of this world, for it is not coming to an end, in spite of all the prophecies. The end of which Ecclesiastes speaks is when the individual departs this world through the fulfillment of scripture. He is not speaking of a departure by shooting yourself or taking poison. You could drop dead this very moment to be instantly restored to life in a body the same as before, only unaccountably new, to find yourself in a section of time best suited for the work still to be done in you. You may be in the year 1,000 or the year 4,000, but it will not seem strange. You will be perfectly at home in an environment you understand. There you will play your part, get married, and be just as afraid of death there as you are here, until the last days come upon you.

In this wonderful group so many are waking. Yesterday a lady wrote, saying: “I woke receiving an enormous blow on my head resounding like a hammer on steel. Then all the suns of the universe came alive; all the planes, buses, and cars of the world moved within me. And then the suns magnified to the nth degree, then subsided and the normal street noises returned. That night I was awakened about 1:00 o’clock in the morning hearing my neighbor say good night to guests. I rose, had a drink of water, and returned to bed. Suddenly I was aware of looking at my body. It was lying prone on the bed outlined in light. As I looked at it I saw a light descend toward it, and before they merged the body disappeared and the light possessed me from head to toe. For the past week I have been feeling the presence of God surrounding me. Now I feel the presence glowing from within.”

Then she continues: “Everything I see now, whether my physical eyes are open or closed, is in vivid color. During the day I can sit under a tree, be washing dishes, or taking a walk when another world appears and I simply step into it.”

Here is a lady whose inner being is completely awake. This inner being of which I speak is stirring within all, and everyone will reach the last days, for that is the only purpose of life. And when the time for your departure comes, the marks of Jesus will be placed upon you. You are born from above with the sign of the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes; David will call you Father; the curtain of the temple (which is your own body) will be split and you will ascend into heaven in a spiral manner. Then the dove (the sign of God’s love) descends upon you and smothers you with affection. When these marks are yours you will say, with Paul: “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”

This world that appears so real to you now is repetitious. I have had moments when I have watched people repeat actions over and over again. One night I said to a group as they crossed a bridge: “Do you know you have been doing this over and over again? I have watched you cross this bridge unnumbered times to continue down the street beyond,” yet they would not believe me because they had no memory of ever having done it before. This is life!

Recently I was talking to my brother, who is a doctor, and he said: “Neville, the Bible doesn’t make any sense to me, especially Ecclesiastes. How can he say there is nothing new under the sun? Penicillin is new.” I answered: “No, it is not, only you have no memory of it. Penicillin is wonderful, but it would be considered nothing in other worlds which exist now. There are worlds where even a heart transplant is obsolete, yet each belongs to this world of Caesar.”

But the world into which everyone will eventually go cannot be described. You cannot describe “that age” when there is nothing here to relate it to. How can I describe fusing with the Lord of lords and the King of kings?

Read the 30th chapter of the Book of Jeremiah carefully. The Lord is speaking, saying: “Can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man drawing himself out of himself just like a woman in labor? Why does every face turn pale? Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved because of it.” (Because the whole thing is done, Jacob will be saved).

Now the Lord continues, saying: “I will break the yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds. No more shall anyone make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord, their God and David their king whom I will raise up.” Here the Lord is telling you that he will not leave his Son in the grave, but will raise him up in the last days.

Having found David, I have anointed him with my holy oil and he has called me: “My Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.” God the Father and his son David entered the human mind, and David – a man after his Father’s heart – does his will. And when he has fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith in the vision shown in the beginning, David will rise and call you Father and the drama is over!

But you are told that those who will come after will not rejoice in him. This is true. You can tell the world of this beautiful Father/Son relationship and yet those who listen will say: “What? Oh, I want more money and some fun first.” A friend of mine, a very successful writer who was five years my senior, would not listen to me, for he was afraid. He was not interested, and therefore did not rejoice in the story of David. Stating he wanted some fun first he did not care for anything of this nature. My friend died about three years ago while watching T.V., so now he is restored to life as a young man, jolly, handsome, and wonderful. He is in a terrestrial world like this, playing a part, perfectly oblivious of what he could have heard from me. And he will remain in this world until the last days come upon him. Then and only then can he depart the stage.

You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven until you are first born from above. Then you must find David, experience the splitting of the curtain and the descent of the dove. Then and only then do you enter the one body of the one God, to be one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all. This is what I mean by the last days.

This world goes on and on, continuing to revolve on its wheel of recurrence, as the one actor plays his many parts in one lifetime. Just like the actor on the stage, he may play the part of Hamlet tonight and Othello tomorrow, but, regardless of the part he plays, he never loses his identity. You will play the rich and the poor man, the known and the unknown, but in the last days God will speak to you through his Son. That is the final revelation of God to Man, for God reveals himself through his Son, and you can’t go any further, for then God reveals himself as you!

Now let us go into the silence.

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