Neville Goddard on Acts 15:12-21 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Acts 15 in context

Scripture Focus

12Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

13And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

14Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

15And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

16After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

17That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

18Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

19Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

20But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

21For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

Acts 15:12-21

Biblical Context

Barnabas and Paul recount miracles among the Gentiles; James declares that God has visited the Gentiles and asks believers not to trouble them, while guiding them to abstain from idols, fornication, and blood.

Neville's Inner Vision

Picture this scene as your inner life. The silence that follows is your mind becoming still as Barnabas and Paul speak through your higher self, bearing witness that God, the I AM, has wrought wonders among the Gentiles within you. James’s pronouncement becomes the inner decree: Simeon—God—has visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. The prophets’ words show the same truth: I will return and rebuild the tabernacle of David in your consciousness, so that the ruins of fear are restored and you set it up anew. The import is that the residue of men—your rounded humanity—might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom His name is called are called in your awareness. Known unto God are all your works from the beginning of the world; nothing within you escapes His sight. Hence you do not trouble the drawn-to-God states within; you revise any sense of separation and affirm that this turning is your present reality. The inner temple is being restored, and your life becomes a witness to the One Life that animates all.

Practice This Now

Imaginative Act: Assume now that the Gentiles in you are turned to God; feel the inner tabernacle rising as if already rebuilt; dwell there until the sense of unity is real.