In this lecture Neville Goddard explores the concept of the inner man as the human imagination, equating it with the biblical Israel. He interprets the story of Isaac, Rebecca and the twins Esau and Jacob as a metaphor for the struggle between the outer senses and the creative faculty within. God’s predestination is framed not for the physical form but for the inner imagination, which God loves and weds. Christ is formed in this sphere of imagination through the union of the individual with the divine, and the resulting ‘son’ bears witness to that union. God, described as a protean being, can assume any form to meet our needs and fulfills whatever we imagine. Finally, Goddard urges the audience to consciously employ their imagination daily—seeing, hearing, and acting as though their desires are already realized—because in doing so they please God and manifest their dreams.
That which is profoundly spiritual is in reality most directly practical. Tonight I will tell you a story from scripture which is profoundly spiritual. It is misunderstood in the world, but I know its inner meaning and will show you how altogether practical it is.
In all the revelations which await you, there is none so fundamental as the forming of Christ in you. How is it formed? By whom and where is the sphere of the forming? In order to answer these questions we will turn to scripture.
In the 9th chapter of Romans, Paul takes an old story whose chronological time is placed at 1856 BC. He ties it in with another story, which time has placed at 400 BC, then gives his interpretation of what took place in the first century AD. Here we find a stretch of 2000 years.
Paul tells the story of the twins in the womb of Rebecca. Having prayed for a child, the Lord heard Rebecca’s prayers and answered them. Then there was a conflict within her, and as the two began to form there was a struggle and she asked the Lord why she should live; and the Lord replied: “Two nations are in your womb and two peoples born of you shall be divided. One shall be stronger than the other and the elder shall serve the younger.” And when the twins were born, the first one was covered with hair and named Esau. The second, smooth-skinned lad was called Jacob, and later renamed Israel by the Lord.
In telling the story, Paul speaks of predestination . . not of the outer man, but of the inner man. Listen to his words carefully: “Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either bad or good, in order that God’s election should continue, not because of works but because of his calling, he made one he loved and one he hated saying, ‘Jacob I love and Esau I hate.’” They had not yet been born and had done nothing that was either good or bad, but in order for God’s election to continue he loves the one he calls and hates the other.
Now Jacob, he who is called and loved by God, becomes Israel; so you see, Israel cannot be those who are descended from Abraham in a physical state. Israel is the inner man, the feminine part of your nature. I have seen that inner man and know he is my own wonderful human imagination. That inner man is he who is loved by and wedded to God. “Your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. The God of the whole earth he is called.”
Your human imagination is the Israel of scripture. That’s your inner man, the feminine part of your nature, to whom God is wed. It is to your imagination that God cleaves, and leaves all until the two of you become one. It is in this sphere that Christ is formed. He is the son, bearing witness to the union of your human imagination and the creator of the universe.
Your imagination is God’s emanation, yet his wife, till the sleep of death is past. But how will he know that this union is productive? By the forming of Christ in you, for your son is your hope of glory!
Paul tied the 25th chapter of Genesis with the 1st chapter of Malachi (a separation of over fourteen centuries). Then he began to show the predestined you, not the outer you . . for it is not loved by your Father, but the inner you . . who is your human imagination.
God hates Esau . . the outer man whose senses anchor him to his financial, social, and educational world; but he loves the one within . . who can, in the midst of hell, visualize harmony, health, and success.
The Lord of the whole earth is omnificent, with unlimited sperm. He so loves you . . his wife, that if you dare to assume anything that Esau . . the outer you . . denies, he will accept your vision and give it to you; for your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
Your human imagination is God’s emanation, his wife that he cleaves to until you become one reality. Desiring your union to be productive, the Lord asks you this question: “If a son honors his father and I am a father, where is my honor?” When that son is completely formed there will be an explosion and he will come out. But by then he is not the son of a little bride and the fabulous Lord of Lords. No. Your son appears, to show you that you are now the one being that man worships as the Lord.
Now the Risen Lord, I appear to individuals according to their sensitivity and needs. I may appear as the spirit of holiness, the spirit of truth, the spirit of power, or the servant of the Lord. You may not believe my words on this level because you see the weaknesses and limitations of the outward man the Lord hates, for you cannot see the inner man that is now one with the body of the Risen Lord.
But you will meet me in spirit according to your needs, because I have been sent to help the universe and I am a protean being. Whether I am proclaiming the word of God or implanting the seed of God, I appear as power most of the time, but I am not confined to that appearance.
One lady here tonight still thinks of an historical Christ, and . . because of her need to believe that I am telling the truth, she saw me crucified on a cross. She saw me in that position to encourage her to believe me, even though she cannot understand my words.
Being protean in that dimension of myself, I can appear to fill a need; but after fusing with love I was sent back into the world by power. Whether I am speaking the word of God in this other dimension of my being, or implanting the word through union, most of the time I am seen clothed in power.
So, in this world that profound story of the twins is not understood because it does not make sense, but it is so very practical.The outer world may tell you that you can’t have what you want, that you do not have the necessary education, experience, or means to achieve your goal. But your husband hates that outer you, and loving his bride (your human imagination), he gives you whatever you want.
He will give you a home if that is your desire. Today I don’t want the responsibility of owning a home. I like living as we do in an apartment owned and cared for by someone else, and my wife agrees. She has no feeling that a home will give her security. She knows that she either finds security in what I am talking about or she will not have it. I could give her monetary security, but a revolution in our little island could wipe out the family fortune . . so where is the security?
You may think you are secure because you own property or have money in the bank; but your only security is in your Maker, who is your husband. He is the Lord of the universe and loves his emanation, your human imagination (who is clothed in outer flesh) called Esau. He hates Esau and loves his Jacob, his Israel, who will one day rule as God.
So carefully define what you want, then trust your lover . . who is the Lord of the universe . . by accepting his gift of it as a completed fact. Walk in the assumption you have what you want, and let your husband give it to you.
Now, you will discover that Christ is not only formed in you, but by you, for . . being united with the Lord . . you are one with him. If the Lord forms his son in his bride by cleaving to you until you become one being, and he is forming Christ, are you not forming Christ, too? He is formed in you and by you in that one body, the human imagination. In all the revelations that await you, none is so fundamental as the revelation of Christ in you. His beauty is indescribable, and you will know that he is your eternal son who now honors his Father.
If you are a man, don’t be ashamed of speaking of this being in you as feminine, for it is more you than what you see reflected in the mirror. Your awareness is the bride of the Lord. She can’t conceive without the embrace and seed of her husband. So Israel owes his uniqueness to his covenant marriage. Christ is formed from that union and a new state is born. Jacob (desire) becomes Israel (fulfillment) when David reveals himself as your son.
The story told in the 25th chapter of Genesis . . which doesn’t make sense to the outer, reasonable you . . is understood perfectly by your inner, powerful imagination. Rebecca struggled within herself, just as you do and I do; and she was told of the conflict between the outer reasonable mind (called the elder) and the human imagination (called the younger).
Now, make the elder serve the younger. Your elder, reasonable power will say it can’t be done, it’s impossible; but when it is done he adjusts to it. Esau will tell you that you cannot own a certain home because it is beyond your means. But your imaginal power moves in and so occupies the home, the outer one sleeps in it and adjusts very nicely to the change. Esau will resist everything Jacob desires because he can’t believe it is possible. He does not know that Jacob . . the feminine part of your nature . . is wedded to the Lord, and the Lord so loves his wife that he has left all thoughts of another and is making the two of them one.
This is the most practical thing you would ever hear. Test your Self, he who is forming Christ in you, by conceiving a scene which would imply the fulfillment of your dream. What would you see if it were true? What would you hear? What would you do? Now, begin to look, hear, and do it all in your imagination; and when you go to bed tonight, sleep as though it had already come to pass.
Always bear in mind that God is a protean being. He can appear in many forms. A friend and father of five children came to see me the other day. One of his little girls has a pet rabbit, a doe, who was sick. She asked her father to ask me to pray for it. This I did. The following week the vet treated the rabbit and it is now home and well.
The following morning, the father saw a tall man standing at the foot of his bed, whose head was that of a rabbit. Then he spoke saying: “Thank you for helping my people.” The vision was so real the father said to himself: “This must be “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, but I am seeing a rabbit instead of a donkey.”
Now, who do you think wore the form? God. He sends himself in everyone that he sends, and the one sent is one with the sender. He too then is protean, and can assume any shape or form. My friend asked for help and received it, and is now encouraged to believe all the more.
Like all fathers he could use more money to buy clothes, food, and pay for an education for his children. Now he knows what happened and will not forget it. He saw the one sent, clothed as a rabbit, but it was in the form of Man, for God is Man and he was thanked for helping his people.
This is how God speaks to all to encourage faith, for by faith all things are made and faith is simply loyalty to unseen reality. If you imagine a state, it is unseen by others, but if you assume it is true, your husband . . who is a god of truth . . will give it to you. He so loved you he became you, and when you imagine, he imagines. Then one day the fusion will be complete and then there will no longer be you and God: you will know yourself to be God, who actually became you that you might become God. This is the story of scripture.
Now, God does not become this body of flesh. It is Esau . . the hairy outer form . . he hates. He is in love with Jacob . . the human imagination . . who is the subjective, feminine part of your nature. So don’t be ashamed to admit there is in you that which is feminine and loved by God, for only by fusion with this feminine part of your nature can Christ be formed.
Start now to use your talent, which is your imagination. Use it consciously every day, for any time you use your imagination you are pleasing God; and when you do not use it God is displeased. You don’t have to sit down and burst a blood vessel pounding out the details of your desire. You can imagine as you walk down the street.
A simple assumption is easy and can be lots of fun. A friend called today to thank me for aiding her in the selling of her home. It was an enormous house in Highland Park, which had been empty for some time. She had hired a lady to go to the house and do some cleaning there, when a man came to the door and asked to buy it. Two weeks later the house was sold. What did I do? I imagined hearing her tell me the house was sold. That’s all I did. There was nothing else I needed to do; for all things are possible to God, and he so loves me he abides by any request I make of him.
Try it. You will never disprove God’s law; and the more you consciously use your imagination, the more you please your husband, for you are wedded to the God of the universe . . He who is omnificent to achieve any purpose, be it the sale of a house or the health of a rabbit. Certainly it matters little to me if the rabbit lived or died, but the child wanted me to pray for it. I know there are many rabbits and she could have had another had this one died; but she wanted this one, so I didn’t modify her request. Do not modify the request of another if it is within your ethical code, and certainly her request came within my ethical code.
So, the Risen Lord can appear as the Spirit of Holiness or the Spirit of Love. When my Father fused himself with me he appeared as the Spirit of Love, but he sent me wearing the form of power. That is the part I have played most of the time. Martha, who has now gone from this sphere, saw me as power. That, too, was done for a purpose, so that Martha would know the power of truth. But on this level of my being I am just a normal man with the human weaknesses of any outer man. Money doesn’t give you power. They just buried a man who possessed millions. He left behind $500 million, and could not take one million of it with him. He is now probably the richest spirit in the graveyard.
Now, the story of Paul begins in the 8th chapter of the Book of Acts, but his name does not appear until the beginning of the 9th. In the 8th, a eunuch is reading the 53rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah, when Philip approached him, and said: “Do you understand what you are reading?” and he answered: “How can I without a guide?” Then Philip interpreted the chapter on the suffering servant, and the eunuch . . not understanding . . asked: “Is the prophet writing about himself or another?”
Isaiah was not writing about a man of flesh, but was telling an eternal, immortal story. God himself is the suffering servant. He so loves you, he will not alter your imagination. If you imagine some horrible thing he will fulfill it, and because you have to experience all that you imagine he will suffer with you. Always allowing you to imagine, be it wisely or unwisely, he fulfills it with you. That is your suffering servant. But in the end, having gone through hell with you . . the one he loves most . . he rejoices, for when he comes out he and his emanation are one. This story makes no sense if seen only on the page of a book. It must be experienced to be understood.
Let me put this in a simple way: Tonight, when you look in the mirror, you will see Esau. The one who is looking in the mirror is Jacob. The word “Jacob” means “to supplant.” Jacob can supplant his physical reflection by replacing the one there with one he desires to experience. Loving Jacob, the Lord will mold Jacob into the likeness of what he is seeing, and you will become what you have been beholding.
Now, I have told you that when a man dies he finds himself in a terrestrial, solid, and real world like this one. The lady who saw me in the crucified form told me of seeing her mother (who has been gone from this world many years) as a young girl. Her mother spoke and introduced her to her present husband. Now this lady knows from experience that there is no death, but worlds within worlds, where people marry, grow old, and are just as afraid to die there as they are here, until the union is complete. Then there is no need for any marriage, for they are married to the Lord and are one with God. When the two become one flesh, there is no need for any marriages. But until the son of God bears witness to this union, man leaves this world to enter another, to marry and continue the struggle, just as it is done here.
I am telling you the truth. I take the Bible and let my intuition play upon it, then the meaning comes to the surface. Scripture will last forever in the form in which it is written because of its simplicity. But its revelations will not come unless you dig for the words’ deeper meaning.
One day you will know why I am telling you about the forming of Christ in you, for of all the revelations this is the most fundamental. There is no other way for you to know that you are God. You can be split in two from top to bottom, come out of the grave of your skull, and find the little child who symbolizes your birth from above . . but you will still not know you are God the Father.
Only when you find the Christ which was formed in you will you know who you really are. Then you too will decree to David: “Thou art my son. Today I have begotten thee.” No one has ever seen God, but the son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. When Christ appears it is because he has been formed in you, by you, because by then you have been born . . not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man . . but of God. You will know you are Spirit and your son is Spirit, and together you form the Lord Jesus Christ.
There isn’t one nth part of one per cent who will accept this, but I will not change it one iota because I know the day will come when everyone will experience it. Then their married state will be over. They will know they have only one husband, who is their very self. This coming of marriage is your redeeming power, for your husband . . the God of the whole earth . . is your redeemer. He has been so long with you, yet you have not seen him; but I tell you, when you see me you have seen the Father.
God the Father is Spirit, Imagination . . which can take on any form. You meet him, and his outer form is a faint resemblance; but he is the inner one and perfect . . while the outer man is only a faint shadow that can never reach perfection.
Bear in mind the sphere in which Christ is formed. It is the inward man . . the feminine part of your nature, for it takes woman to conceive. Imagination is the great power and that is the bride of the Lord.
So let everyone be bold enough to claim that within him is an eternal woman, who is his bride. He left everything for her, and brought her into himself to make the two one flesh. And to prove that they are mated and one in love, their son appears, bearing witness to that union.
Christ is being formed in you, by you; and when your journey is over you will take off your garment of flesh for the last time and return to the heavenly sphere as God the Father.
Now let us go into the Silence.
In this lecture Neville Goddard reinterprets key biblical narratives through a metaphysical lens, positioning human imagination as the true ‘Israel’ of scripture. By tracing Paul’s links between Genesis 25 and Malachi 1 and culminating in the revelation of Christ in you, he underscores how ancient texts point to timeless psychological truths rather than mere historical events.
Goddard’s symbolic exegesis transforms figures like Rebecca’s twins into archetypes: Esau represents the outer, sense-bound mind, while Jacob symbolizes the inner, receptive imagination. This dichotomy becomes the foundation for his teaching on ‘predestination’—not as fate imposed externally but as divine love bestowed upon our subjective faculty, which in turn shapes our reality.
The concept of God as a protean being reinforces the practical dimension of the lecture. Neville argues that divine power adapts its form to match our perceptual needs, whether as healing energy or guiding presence. This idea bridges mystical theology and everyday faith, suggesting that God’s omnipresence operates through the dynamic interplay between believer and divine imagination.
Finally, Goddard issues a clear pedagogical prescription: employ your imagination consciously and consistently. By assuming the feeling of fulfilled desire and ‘sleeping in the assumption,’ practitioners align themselves with the creative power of God. This practice, he asserts, is both profoundly spiritual and directly practical, offering a method for manifesting health, prosperity, and personal transformation through faith in the unseen.
Overall, the lecture weaves scriptural interpretation, psychological insight, and pragmatic instruction into a cohesive metaphysical system. Goddard’s appeal is both transformative and accessible, urging individuals to recognize their own God-like creative capacity and to actualize it through disciplined imaginative practice.
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