Neville Goddard on Isaiah 8:9-22 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Isaiah 8 in context

Scripture Focus

9Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.

10Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

11For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

12Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

13Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

14And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

16Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

17And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

18Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

19And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

21And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

22And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Isaiah 8:9-22

Biblical Context

An oracle showing the futility of outward confederacies and fear, urging you to sanctify the Lord within so the inner light becomes your guidance through darkness.

Neville's Inner Vision

Behold the oracle as a map of the mind. The people gird themselves for outward protectors, and thus are broken when the belief in separation is pressed. Yet the inner I AM can choose a different posture: sanctify the Lord of hosts, allow Him to be your fear and your dread, and He becomes a sanctuary within. The stone of stumbling and rock of offence point to a mind that calls itself separate, chasing confederacies while ignoring the one Source. When I say 'God is with us,' I mean the living I AM that dwells within; I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are signs and wonders—your thoughts, feelings, and acts borne of inner alignment testify to presence more real than any outward power. The command 'to the law and to the testimony' invites your inner scripture to govern your life, not the mutterings of fear or familiar spirits. When hunger and darkness appear, they are invitations to return to the light within. Wait upon the Lord, and you shall be led from confusion into the luminosity of your true nature.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Assume the state 'I am sanctified; the Lord within me is my sanctuary' and feel that certainty now. Revise any fear by declaring, 'There is no other power but God in me' until light returns.