In this lecture Neville Goddard reframes eschatology not as a future cosmic cataclysm but as an inward, personal experience of divine fulfillment. He argues that the ‘‘last days’’ occur when an individual has lived through all tribulations and reenacts scriptural visions within their own consciousness. Drawing on prophetic passages from Isaiah and John, he shows that biblical narratives are symbolic visions to be fulfilled in each person. Goddard describes his own mystical encounters—visions of the cross, the peg in the shoulder, and celestial processions—as models for individual awakening. He emphasizes that Jehovah, Christ, and the Father are not external figures but aspects of one’s own divine self. Ultimately, eschatology is presented as the abrupt transition from historical suffering to eternal salvation, realized when one recognizes and lives as God within.
Eschatology is the doctrine of the last days. It is the dramatic end of human history and the beginning of eternal salvation. When you, an individual arrive at that point in time, human history and the appearance of the Son or man (who is God) come together. This will happen in you after the tribulation of human experience, and of that day and hour only the Father in you knows.
Although God the Father appears to be another, He is your very Self, as His spirit is in you. Were this not so, you could not commune with Him or He with you. He tells us to: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth. Bring them all who are called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” You were created for God’s glory, His glory will not be given to another, therefore you must be the one who created you. This you will know when you experience eschatology. It comes at the end of human tribulation, when all of the parts have been played, therefore envy no one, the part they are paying, for you have either played it already or you will play it, for you cannot come to this dramatic end until you have played all of the parts, and of that day only the Father within you knows.
Eschatology was predicted and was fulfilled in vision. Always bear in mind that all of the stories recorded in scripture are visions. The Book of Isaiah begins: “This is the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos.” He tells you it is a vision and the sixty-six chapters do not deny it, modify it, or in any way contradict his words. We speak of the visions of Obadiah, the visions of Ezekiel, and are told that: “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.” These are all visions, not secular history at all.
In the 42nd chapter of Isaiah, we read: “Behold, the former things have come to pass and new I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” A literal rendering of the first part of that verse could be: “The former things, behold they have come, but man will not believe the individual who experienced them.”
Jesus Christ is not a man. He has revealed himself in me and will reveal himself in all even though the world is looking for something entirely different. The visions of the prophets will unfold in individual man when he enters the state called Paul. And when you enter that state, your mystical experiences will reveal the end of your tribulation of human experience and your entry into the kingdom of God.
The entire eschatology of the Old Testament is the coming of Jehovah. He came, but – expecting a physical person to come from without, they would not believe him.
But Jehovah comes only to fulfill what He had predicted through his prophets, saying: “Behold the former things have come and are here now.” The former predictions of the prophets become your experiences of the one who fulfills scripture, for man fulfills the prophecy of himself in the last days.
God, prophesying what he would do through his prophets, entered into the limitation of and took upon himself the restriction of man. The power and wisdom to create emptied himself of all that was his and, taking upon himself the form of a slave, was born in the likeness of man. Spirit became obedient unto death, even death upon the cross of man. And when an individual man told the story of how the prophecies unfolded in him, no one would believe his story.
So today we still have that fundamental rock called Israel. Their calendar year is now approaching 6,000, because to them He has not come. It is only when eschatology comes to the individual does his BC turn into A.D. The Jew will date their letters as the year 1969 because it is part of the world of Caesar, but believing Jehovah has not yet come, in his faith, the Jew keeps alive the long passage of time. But Jehovah comes in an entirely different way. He inspired the prophets to record the visions the individual will experience, personally.
Now if God – being Spirit – is known in a vision, what must you do to experience Him? You must reenact the drama within yourself! The resurrection takes place within. The birth foretold to Abraham takes place within. The three who bear witness to the birth are not seen approaching, but suddenly appear within. And the story of the serpent in the wilderness is fulfilled within when you become the serpent and ascend into heaven as the Lord God Jehovah.
Who would have thought – I know I didn’t – that the story recorded in the 22nd and 53rd [chapters] of Isaiah would be experienced in one night? Remember: when the prophets recorded their visions they were written out, but not paragraphed or made into chapter form. In fact, they were not even punctuated and often one word flowed into the other. It is man who has taken the manuscript and given it punctuation, verses, paragraphs, and chapters.
In the 53rd [chapter] of Isaiah, the question is asked: “Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” One night in vision I found myself in a room much like this one. I was seated on the floor facing twelve men, explaining the word of God when one quickly rose quickly and departed. As he left, I intuitively knew he was going to tell the authorities what he had heard. Then a tall, handsome man about 6’4″ tall, dressed in costly robes, entered. Because of his importance we all rose and stood at attention as he walked straight as an arrow to the end of the room, turned right, walked to the end, turned right again and came down the centre to confront me. Taking a mallet and a wooden peg, he hammered the peg into my right shoulder. I felt every blow, yet it was not painful. Then he took a sharp instrument and with one quick, circular motion he severed my sleeve, tore it off and discarding it, he stretched out his arms forming the cross, embraced me, and kissed me on the right side of my neck as I – in turn – kissed him on the right side of his neck. And as the vision faded I saw the severed sleeve. It was a lovely shade of baby blue. His robe was costly, but mine was the priceless robe of light, light blue.
So now I know whom I have believed, for that night the arm of the Lord was revealed in me, and the 53rd chapter of Isaiah was fulfilled as well as the 22nd chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter we are told that he puts a peg into the shoulder of the one he has chosen, and on that peg all of the burdens of Israel are hung until the peg is broken. Then the utensils of the temple fall, for he has played his part.
Eschatology will never be understood as long as you look for someone on the outside to fulfill it. It an only be understood when you, personally experience it. Then you will tell your experiences to those who will listen, and some will believe you while others will disbelieve.
Eschatology is not the end of the world, as people believe. This past year a crowd left California and moved to Georgia and parts east, believing an earthquake would suddenly appear which would completely inundate us, and for the first time in recorded history, the east experienced an earthquake which shook twelve states.
What does it matter if an earthquake comes when there is no death? The individual who seems to die, in truth is restored to life in a 20-year old body to continue life in the environment best suited for the work still to be done in him. Cast in a role he has not yet played, he will continue life as we know it here, until he has played all of the tribulations of human experience. Then and only then will he arrive at eschatology – the day of the Lord – and only the Father knows when that day will appear.
I don’t care who you are – you are destined to experience eschatology, for it was God’s purpose to give himself to you and God is able to fulfill his purpose. He created you to radiate his glory and be the express image of his person.
You cannot stop God from fulfilling his purpose, but you will not arrive at that moment called eschatology until you have played all the parts – be they good, bad, or indifferent. So I say, envy no one. It doesn’t matter what they have done, are doing, or will do; do not envy or pity anyone, for you have either already played that part, or you will.
The Bible records every conceivable evil in the world that man could do to man and describes it openly. And you have played, or will play, every part before the last days come upon you, and in that day, events of scripture will unfold in you in a dramatic form imaginable. You will be possessed and find yourself the centre of the entire Bible. As scripture reveals itself in you, you will discover from experience that you are the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you share your experience with others, they will question how a little nonentity who suffers and has nothing the world he would brag about could dare to make this bold assumption. They will think of you as blaspheming God, just as they accused him, claiming he blasphemed by stating, I and my Father are one, that when you see me you have seen the Father; that if you really knew me, you would know my Father also, but you know neither me nor my Father, for my Father is playing the part that I am.
And then one night in vision, I fulfilled the 42nd Psalm. That night, in vision I found myself leading an enormous crowd in gay procession to the house of God as a voice rang out: “And God walks with them.” A woman at my side asked the voice: “If God walks with us, where is he?” and the voice replied: “At your side.” Turning to her left she looked into my face and, laughing hysterically said, “What, Neville is God?” and the voice replied, “Yes, in the act of waking.” Then the voice spoke in the depths of my soul, saying: “I laid myself down within you to sleep and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed…” and, knowing exactly what he was going to say, I became so excited I actually nailed myself upon this body in the same manner tradition tells us he was nailed upon the cross, but it was not a painful experience. Six vortices, each an ecstatic, joyful feeling, hold me here.
Now I know that no man took (or takes) my life, for I lay it down myself. I know I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again; for I, God the Father, deliberately took upon myself this limitation upon myself. When I heard the voice that night say: “I laid myself down within you to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed a dream,” I knew he was telling me that he was I and when the dream is over and he awakes I would be He, radiating His glory and bearing the express image of His person.
This is not for me alone, but for all. Listen to the words: “The glory that thou gavest me I would give to them that they may be one even as we are one.” I have told you of the glory that is now mine, thereby giving you the glory that we may be one. I in you and thou in me, that we may be made perfectly one. I have made God’s name known to you and I will make it known that the love by which I am loved may be in you. Not less love, but the same love, so that the whole may become one love!
In the end everyone will experience the whole Bible and tell it as I am telling it now. A few will believe but the majority will not. That’s all right, for all of the tribulations of human experience must be fulfilled, with no omissions. Today you may be one of the so-called beautiful people, possessing inherited wealth. You may be one of the ten best dressed women and spend a quarter of a million dollars on clothes to create the part you are playing. But tomorrow, even if you haven’t played it, you may play the part of a scrub woman, for every part must be played before you can arrive at eschatology.
Having played every part as recorded in scripture, when I aw a man betray me I knew I had played the part of the betrayer, for I have fulfilled scripture.
Everyone must play it all, if not on this stage, then on another, for when you leave this set on the stage of life, although you are no longer seen by the audience here, you are not dead, but have entered another stage in the great theater called life, to continue the work that is still to be done in you, until all of the parts in the play have been played.
Eschatology is not the end of the earth, but the end of human history and the beginning of eternal salvation. It is the abrupt cleavage between this world and the transcendental world of God. It is your entrance into an entirely different world where you radiate God’s glory which you create by your very being, for you are now the Father. God the Father created you to radiate his glory and bear the express image of His person in that world. I cannot describe it because there are no images on earth to aid me. Life there is entirely different from this one, for there you are not some little pygmy, but God Himself, completely equipped to do it all!
So if you condemn someone, the chances are you have not played the part he is playing, but will play it tomorrow, for condemnation simply moves you closer to the fulfillment of what you have condemned. Let no one judge you and don’t judge another, for you know too much now. It is my hope you have played all the parts and that tonight your eschatology will come. Sacred history has been brought to its climax, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ in you is the one who does it.
Addressing God as, “O righteous Father, he [John] said: “I in them and thou in me.” Now, if God the Father is in me, and I am in you, is He not in you also? Yes, God the Father is in you and Christ, his God’s creative power, is in you as the pattern man who must fulfill scripture. The plan was made for, and erupts in Christ – the Christ in you. He is your hope of glory, for you are the one spoken of as Abraham.
In the state called Abraham the promise was made that you would have a child. So what part are you playing then the child appears? Abraham looked up to see three men standing before him. He thought they were messengers of the Lord for he did not realise he was the Lord himself. It is said he did not see them approaching they came so suddenly. And when the prophecy is fulfilled your attention is diverted for a few seconds by an unearthly wind, and when you look back those that you did not see approaching are sitting where your body was, for your body is now gone. The body has been removed because you only wore it for a little while, but while you wore it something happened in you.
Now a lady wrote this past week, saying: “In my dream I was shoveling dirt. Although it seemed as though I was digging in the earth, I knew I was digging in my own brain.” That’s a lovely vision and a true one. Everything takes place in the brain – the earth, for man is made up of the dust of the earth, so her vision was perfect. She was digging in her own brain. For she is on the verge, although I cannot tell her the day or the hour, for only the Father in her knows.
If you will read the Book of John – which differs somewhat from the synoptics, you will discover that John pinpoints the day the vision will occur, stating that the birth, followed by the resurrection, will take place between 6:00 P.M. on Sunday and 6:00 P.M. on Monday. That is when it happened in me. I went to bed on Sunday evening about 11:00 P.M. and awoke, was born from above, and resurrected at 4:00 A.M. on Monday morning. You will follow the same pattern. Having entered the world before the coming of Jehovah, you entered the world from B.C. and when it happens your world turns into the year of the Lord, A.D.
The Old Testament is crowded with eschatology – the coming of Jehovah. He came but was not recognised because it was not what people expected. But He is coming in your world and you are going to fulfill scripture. When you realise you are the central character of the Bible, you are going to feel so wonderful. I cannot tell you the thrill that is in store for you when you experience everything written there. Even though it has happened to others, scripture is all about you, because in the end there is no other. In that day, you will know that I dwell in them and thou in me, and we, all gathered together are perfect in that one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.
You will not have a different son from the speaker. We have the same son. When I tell this to priests, rabbis and ministers, they throw up their hands in holy horror and claim I have taken all of their religion from them. What they have been taught is true on a certain level of awareness, but I am speaking from experience. I have experienced scripture. I know it is true, but it is not what the world teaches.
Jesus Christ is God the Father and Jesus Christ is in you. One day you will find out that you are God the father and because you are you will produce a son to bear witness to that fact. Now no one knows who God the Father is, except his son who comes into your world to reveal you to yourself. And when he appears you don’t have to ask him who he is; the minute you see him you know exactly who he is and he knows who you are. There is no uncertainty as to this relationship. To know that you are God the Father, yet while you remain here in the world of Caesar you will continue to wear the little garment that suffers, as all garments do. But after you have experienced eschatology and leave this little garment behind, you will no longer be restored to life, for you will have come to the end of human history.
In the Book of Acts it is said that Paul remained at home, talking from morning to night about the word of God and the kingdom of heaven. It does not say how Paul departed, in spite of tradition where they claim he was a martyr. Paul was not murdered. The word “martyr” means “witness”. He was a witness, yes, a witness to the truth of God’s word, for the word is true, and someone had to witness it.
So when it happens to you, you will tell it. You may not speak from the platform, as I do, but you will tell it. You can’t restrain the impulse as we are told in Jeremiah: “If I say I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, there is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire and I am tired of holding it in and I cannot.” It’s simply something within you and you cannot stop telling your story. You will be compelled to make known unto them God’s name and the love by which you are loved, that that same love may be in them.
Now, Jesus Christ does not stand before himself and call himself Father. God’s only begotten son, David, stands before Jesus Christ in you, and calls you father as he called me Father. Then you will know we are the same Jesus Christ.
I can say to every one of you: you are going to have this experience and know from experience who you really are. There are not a lot of Jesus Christ’s running around, there is only God the Father. If I am the father of God’s only begotten Son as told me in the 2nd Psalm and you have the same experience, then you and I are the same Father. And if the whole world has the same experience – and they will – then we are the one God and Father of all, are we not? So John’s prayer is that all will become one as he has become one Father. And he speaks of the glory recorded in Isaiah, saying: “The glory thou gavest me, I have given them.” God didn’t keep a little glory for himself and share the rest. It’s the same glory, because there cannot be another. So in the end there is only one God, only one Lord, only one Father, and only one Son and you will be the Father of that son, as I know I am the Father of that one and only son.
This is eschatology – the arrival of the end of the tribulation of human experience and the beginning of eternal salvation. And, although you may not remember, you had to have played every part in this world to arrive at the fulfillment of scripture. The blind man, the deaf man, the poor man, the rich man, the beggar, the thief, the murderer, the betrayer, the betrayed – you name it and scripture has mentioned it. , You can’t name one vile or evil state that is not described openly in scripture. And you have played them all, or you will.
I think you who come here have played them all or you would not be this constant. You would find something far more interesting tonight, raining as it is, than to be here. So in the not distant future you will be fulfilling scripture and experiencing the thrill of the events as they happen. Today we watched the inauguration of a new president. It was a marvelous production, but it pales into insignificance compared to the dramatic quality that possesses you when scripture unfolds within you. Can you imagine waking and coming out of your skull as one coming out of a womb? Then five months later finding your son who calls you Father? These two different events are recorded in the 9th chapter of Isaiah as: “To us a child is born; to us a son is given.” The child appears to bear witness to your birth, and the son is given to witness your Fatherhood. You may think the child and the son are the same, but they are not. They signify two dramatic events within you. I am sure our new president felt thrilled to be sworn in by our chief justice, but the thrill you will experience when scripture unfolds within you is far greater, for these experiences belong to the transcendental world of God, and not to this mortal world of history.
Can you imagine the thrill that possesses you when, like a fiery serpent, you ascend into heaven and it reverberates like thunder? Having played that part of one in generation, you are regenerated and all that you have ever done is forgiven.
I have shared my visions of the last days with you. They will come, but only after you have experienced all the trials and tribulations of human experience. Don’t try to remember them for God, in his infinite mercy has hidden the memory from you for a purpose and in the end it is all washed away anyway. “Though your sins are as scarlet they shall be as white as snow,” so it really doesn’t matter. But I urge you to condemn no one, for you have played the part he (or she) is now playing or you will play it.
It’s a horrible play, but in the end when eschatology unfolds within you, you will understand the meaning behind it all.
Now let us go into the silence.
Goddard’s reinterpretation of eschatology shifts the emphasis from apocalyptic external events to a transformative inner drama. By insisting that the ‘‘last days’’ unfold in each person’s experience, he democratizes what has traditionally been seen as a collective end-time prophecy. This inward turn parallels modern psychological approaches that locate revelation and redemption in personal consciousness.
Central to his argument is the idea that all scripture consists of visionary narratives meant to be lived rather than historical accounts. Citing Isaiah’s ‘‘former things have come to pass,’’ Goddard contends that prophecy is fulfilled in the individual who ‘‘plays all parts’’—from betrayal and crucifixion to resurrection. His vivid account of the peg driven into his shoulder and the baby-blue robe underscores the tangible, sensory dimension of these inner visions.
From a metaphysical standpoint, Goddard portrays eschatology as the soul’s culmination of self-realization, where spirit ‘‘sleeps’’ and ‘‘dreams’’ a divine story before awakening to identity as the Father. This reenactment of Abraham, Paul, and Christ within the psyche becomes a model for spiritual initiation. The process respects free will and divine timing: only the ‘‘Father within’’ knows the hour of culmination.
The theological implications are profound. By collapsing the distinction between God and man, Goddard invites listeners to inhabit what Christian tradition reserves for a single Messiah. He thus reframes salvation history as collective potential rather than unique salvation. Letting go of envy, judgment, and linear time, the seeker discovers eschatology as ‘‘the beginning of eternal salvation’’—a transcendental reality where one becomes ‘‘the express image’’ of divine glory.
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