In this lecture Neville Goddard examines the 15th chapter of Genesis and teaches that true salvation lies not in earthly wealth but in the ‘great possession’ of life in oneself. He explains the symbolic value of the Hebrew letter ‘taf,’ representing the cross and the number 400, as a way through death to spiritual awakening. Goddard emphasizes that our material possessions enslave us, whereas the real treasure is our inner divinity realized through imagination. He describes his own visionary experience of awakening in a holy sepulcher, sustained by a unique tone that cracked the shell of the skull. Drawing on the prophecy of Zechariah, he shows how memory returns when we awaken from the dream of life and perceive the Father within. He explores the father–son relationship in scripture, illustrating how each individual will one day recognize themselves as God incarnate. Ultimately, Goddard promises that when this inner tone is sustained, we will emerge with the power to stop time, reshape experience, and return with our great possession.
The book of Genesis is made up of three records, called the J, P, and E manuscripts. Tonight I will refer to the E manuscript, which begins with the 15th chapter of Genesis: “As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there and they will be oppressed for four hundred years. After that they will come out with great possessions.’ Abraham believed and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.”
Here we discover that it is not what man is, but what he trusts God to do, that saves him. Believing that God the Father has prepared the way for his banished sons to return, in the state of faith you accepted the verdict that you would be enslaved for four hundred years.
Now when you read this statement you may think in terms of time as we know it, but that is not part of the mystery. In the Hebrew alphabet each letter has a numerical – as well as a symbolic – value. The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is “taf. Its numerical value is four hundred, and its symbolic value is that of a cross. That cross is the body you wear. It doesn’t mean that it will take four hundred years for you to reach the end of the journey, but that a way has been prepared to bring you out of this journey into death.
Everything begins, waxes, wanes, and dies here; but God has prepared a way for us – his banished sons – to return to him, and when we do we will have great possessions. These possessions will not be of an earthly nature, for everything dissolves here.
In this world your possessions enslave you. Buy a home, and the minute you have the feeling of possession you must insure your property against all the elements. Buy a large diamond of which you are so proud, and you must insure it and pay for that insurance the rest of your days.
People who own a fortune in diamonds often place them in a vault and never see them, yet pay insurance on them year after year – but they have the feeling of possession. So you see: regardless of how great you determine your earthly possessions to be, you cannot take them with you. So what is the great possession that you will return with? Life in yourself!
The Old Testament is a prophetic blueprint of experiences which take place in the New. And even that which is recorded in the New is not conclusive and vivid. So we search the scriptures to see what we must experience in order to acquire our promised great possession.
You and I preexisted, for there is only God. Diversifying himself into the many by falling into a deep sleep, God the Father is now bearing his cross by wearing our garments of flesh and blood and dreaming our life into being. In this world we do not recognise ourselves in the other, for – wearing a mask – we are hidden from view. Now an animated body, we are destined to be gathered one by one and brought back into that original state with great possessions. That great possession is to have life in ourselves! The word “Zechariah” means “Jehovah remembers,” and Zechariah’s book is all about remembering. In the 8th chapter the Lord speaks, saying: “I will return to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
When you begin to awaken, you will remember what you were told before that the world was, and memory will return in the form of an experience. When your dream of life comes to an end, a sound – a certain note – will call you from the tomb, and you will awaken in your skull and begin to remember God’s plan for your salvation. Zechariah’s prophecy will be fulfilled in you as you remember, for Zechariah describes Jerusalem in vivid imagery as it will be when city and temple are restored, and we – the exiled – have returned.
The night my awakening began I fell asleep in my normal, natural way. Then a dream possessed me and I found myself in a glorious city, with no buildings more than 3-4 stories high. The sidewalks – wider than any street I have ever seen – were filled with laughing, healthy boys and girls. There were concert grand pianos on the sidewalk at space intervals so that one would not interfere with the other. An artist would appear and play, just for the joy of those who were present, and each artist had his own following.
I sat at one grand piano and watched an enormous crowd follow their hero as he approached my bench. When he arrived I rose, he thanked me, sat down and began to play. As he played, his music formed geometrical patterns, all in colour. Standing next to him, I knew that if I arrested a certain imaginal activity in me, I would have frozen music to contemplate.
I arrested this activity, the music froze, and the sustained note began to increase in volume. As its sound penetrated my very being, I awoke to find myself – not on my bed in my home, but in the holy sepulcher – my skull – where I had been throughout the centuries. Then I innately knew how to get out. I did it and found myself surrounded by all of the imagery of scripture concerning the birth of God.
It took three and one half years for that pattern to unfold in me; but when it was complete I knew beyond all doubt that I was the one scripture called Jesus Christ. Everyone is God incarnate. You may be unknown, unwanted, and shunned by the world; but you really are God, wearing your cross as you swore to yourself that you would.
Now listen to these words: “Marvel not at this; for those who are in the tomb will hear his voice and come forth.” You may think the tomb spoken of here is a cemetery or graveyard; but I tell you: the tomb in which you are buried is your skull. Your own wonderful human imagination is the God of the earth and sea who is buried in your skull. That is the holy sepulcher. So don’t go to Egypt or the Near East, to what is called the Holy Land, to find the place where God is buried, for he is not there. God is buried in your skull and it is from that skull that he will rise.
No one knows when the power that you really are will awaken and rise from sleep; but I do know that when it does you will have the power to stop the world, to examine it, and start it again at will. And no matter how long you arrest it, when released there will be no knowledge of the arrest, for there will be no change. Space is a facility for experience; but time is a facility for changes in experience, and when you arrest time you arrest change. If you stopped this moment in time and kept it so for a thousand years, nothing would age because nothing could change. Time is within you and you can arrest it just as I did the night I sustained the tone.
Now, the word translated “voice” in scripture, means “noise; sound; the trumpet; reverberation.” A reverberation sustained – like a storm wind – will awaken you from the dream of life, and you will see the world as it really is, for the world is not as your senses and reason belie. You will awaken to say within yourself: “I and the Father are one.” And if you are one with the Father, who has a son, you must find him. Five months later your son – who is God’s son, David – will reveal you to yourself. I know this doesn’t make sense, but what I am telling you is true and you will know this truth through experience.
In the world, you are oppressed and a slave to the body you wear. No matter how rich or powerful you may be here, you cannot command a servant to eat your food, assimilate it, and eliminate it for you. You must perform all the normal functions of your cross of flesh and blood yourself; therefore, are you not a slave to it?
No one has ever been so wise or powerful that he could forego these functions. If he ever tried, he would die and they would bury him; but the real grave where God is buried is in your skull. There he will remain until the end of the journey when you are awakened from the dream and come out of your skull as the dreamer.
Although banished, God has prepared a way for you, his son, to return. We are all God’s sons, who collectively form the Father; but we are called back one by one. Each one of us is so unique we cannot be called in pairs or groups. And the night you are called will begin with a dream, as described in the 8th chapter of Zechariah.
I, who have told you what to expect, will physically disappear; but I will send the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth. He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Having proclaimed to you that I am the truth, who can I send but myself? So God Himself entered death’s door with we who entered. He lay down in the grave with us in visions of eternity, until we awake to see the linen clothes lying there that the females have woven for us.
Your mother wove your garment of flesh and blood called the linen cloth, and one day you will come out of it, never to return. You, an invisible being, will feel and hear a power so great it will sound like a storm wind. What I saw was conjured by and supported by a tone; therefore if the tone stopped, the beauty I contemplated would vanish. But the tone continued, and as it did I awoke.
There is a tone in you that is unique to you, and one day it will appear in the form of a beautiful pattern. You will arrest that tone, and as it is sustained the shell in which you have been sealed for unnumbered centuries will crack. You did not begin in your mother’s womb and you will not end in the grave. You are an immortal being who came down into a world of death to dream the dream of life. One day you will fulfill the 8th chapter of Zechariah and awaken to discover you are life itself.
Now the word, “Jesus” means “Jehovah saves,” and when Jesus is born Jehovah is born. So when you come out of the shell in which you placed yourself, you are saved.
Today with all of our knowledge we still do not know how a sperm can penetrate the surface of an egg and make that which is inside come forth in the likeness of the one who penetrated it, for all things bring forth after their kind. Now if God is bringing forth that which is after his kind, it has to be God who is born.
Having entered the skull (your sealed egg) you have been dreaming your flesh and blood life into being. You have made a journey into death, and when the journey is over God will penetrate your skull, and you – completely individualised – will come forth as God. And so that you will have no doubt as to who you are, God’s only begotten son will call you Father. Only then will your journey be over.
Last night I retired, dwelling on this father/son relationship, and awoke about 2:30 A.M. to find myself in a place much like the Plaza Hotel in New York City. I had just checked out, and turned to see my brother, Fred checking in. As I went over to greet him I saw my nephew, Philip – Fred’s son – approach. Then I did the strangest thing: I introduced Philip to Fred, and as they shook hands I realized they didn’t know one another. Fred knew I was his brother, and Philip knew me as his uncle, but the father/son relationship they did not remember.
Now let us turn to scripture: “Philip said, ‘Show us the Father and we shall be satisfied’ and he answered, ‘Have I been so long with you and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father.’ “I saw my flesh and blood brother and nephew, yet in my dream they were only symbols of the Father and the son who do not know each other.
Tonight I tell you that you are the father of God’s only begotten son, who is named David – but you do not know it. One day, however, you will, for David will stand before you and call you Father. Then this mutual understanding between father and son will be accomplished, and your journey into the world of death will be over.
In my dream I played the part of David as I brought my brother Fred and his son Philip together. The word “David” is defined in Strong’s Biblical Concordance as “beloved; the uncle; the father’s brother.” As David, I made the announcement; and yet I am the father of David, for I and my Father are one.
These are mysteries, not of things to be kept secret, but mysterious in nature. They confuse the rational mind, as it wants to think on the level of this secular world where a man fathers a child and that’s all there is to it. The rational mind cannot solve the mystery of scripture, for the Bible is not a record of secular history, but divine history – which is something entirely different.
All the names recorded there are significant and tell a story that unfolds in the soul. You are the God whose name is I AM, but you are in this world and will bear the form of flesh and blood for an allotted time. Then the tree of life that you are will be split from top to bottom, and you – the Spirit trapped inside – will be set free.
In the meanwhile, dwell upon your great possession. If tonight you owned the earth and it vanished at your death, what would it matter? Stalin thought he controlled the world. He killed twenty million people then vanished. But Stalin did not die; he was restored to life in an environment best suited for the work yet to be done in him. Stalin is a name God adopted in order to play that part, just as God adopted the name Hitler and thought he would rule Germany.
They are all restored to life now, and adopted other names in order to continue the work that must be done in them; for in the end they, too, will be redeemed. Everyone will be redeemed because everyone is aware that he is, and therefore saying: “I am” – and that is the name of God. While playing their parts they were used, and although they do not know it they are God, moving towards their ultimate good.
Now, forget the individual and return to scripture, for you are only here to fulfill it. Even though I have completed the story as told in the New Testament, every night I find myself re-enacting the prophecy of the Old Testament. As I dwell upon a promise of the Old, the waves begin to break in my consciousness (as it did last night) and I am shown the perfect representation of the lack of memory of the father/son relationship. In the past my brother used to say: “Of my four children the one I do not understand is Philip.” They looked like each other but had nothing in common on physical level, and here on the spiritual level they did not know their physical relationship. I had to remind my brother of the relationship between Philip and Fred. He knew my brother Fred, but did not identify himself with the name.
Everything contains within itself the capacity for symbolic significance. There isn’t a dream that is insignificant, but we are past masters of their misinterpretation. We cannot see the story behind the story. But I tell you: you are here for one grand purpose and that is to awaken from the dream, and when you do you will have power in yourself. “As the Father has power in himself, so he has granted the son also to have power in himself. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming when those who are in the tomb will hear his voice and come forth,” and as you come forth your power is exercised.
There is a note, a tone that will awaken you when the boys and girls play in the streets of the Jerusalem within you. Zion is within you and the Lord is within you, for the entire drama unfolds in the imagination. One day you will be so completely carried away with the beauty of something produced by a note that you will arrest it. That sustained note will cause you to awaken to the truth that you are the Christ of scripture, the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Then you will know that you have returned with your great possession, for you will have transformed an animated body into a life-giving Spirit.
Now let us go into the silence.
Neville Goddard’s approach marries biblical exegesis with mystical psychology. By focusing on the E manuscript’s account of Abram’s deep sleep, he transforms a historical narrative into a universal inner journey. The numerical and symbolic interpretation of the Hebrew alphabet—especially the letter taf—becomes a metaphor for the body as a cross, through which we pass into true life.
The lecture’s core teaching is that imagination is the creative faculty of God within us. Material wealth is shown to be transient and straitening, while the inner ‘great possession’ is unassailable. Goddard’s anecdote of owning diamonds contrasts earthly insurance and anxiety with the freedom of spiritual self-possession.
His recounting of a personal dream-vision—of a city of children, grand pianos, and geometrical music patterns—serves as both proof and template. The ‘tone’ that sustains and eventually awakens him symbolizes the vibratory key within every individual. Arresting this tone, he argues, is the mechanism of resurrection: the awakening of the Christ consciousness from the ‘tomb’ of the skull.
Goddard weaves in Zechariah’s prophecy and the father–son dynamic of God’s incarnation, arguing that each soul will one day recognize itself as the Father and the Son. This mutual recognition completes the path from banishment to redemption. By reclaiming our preexistent divinity, we fulfill scripture’s blueprint and return with the ‘great possession’ of life in ourselves.
Finally, the lecture challenges linear conception of time and change. Goddard teaches that time is an internal facility for change in experience, and that by sustaining a divine tone one can arrest and reshape the dream of life. This culminates in the promise that the awakened individual will possess the power to stop, examine, and restart reality, demonstrating the ultimate sovereignty of imagination over matter.
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