Neville Goddard on Matthew 3:11-17 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Matthew 3 in context

Scripture Focus

11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Matthew 3:11-17

Biblical Context

John baptizes with water for repentance; Jesus comes to be baptized, and the Spirit descends as a dove while a heavenly voice proclaims Him beloved.

Neville's Inner Vision

Imagine the Jordan as the stream of your own awareness and the water as cleansing thoughts turning back to the I AM. John's baptism is your past sense of repentance; the coming One is your higher state—the awareness that you are not the old self, but the I AM made flesh in you. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: immersion into imagination, where the Spirit quickens vision and the ego is gently burned away by truth. The fan in His hand is your discriminating mind, ready to sift every thought, motive, and memory, thoroughly purging the floor of the psyche and gathering your wheat into the garner of harmony. The chaff, false identifications, are burned, unquenchable in the light of this awareness. Then Jesus arrives from your Galilee to your Jordan, the moment when the heavens open and the Spirit descends like a dove, lighting upon you. A voice says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Recognize that you are that Son, and the Father's pleasure is the environment of your present feeling.

Practice This Now

Assume you are already the beloved Son now and revise any sense of unworthiness by whispering, I am that I am. Feel the Spirit descend upon you as a dove and hear the Father's voice affirming, You are well pleased.