Neville Goddard Lectures: “Ask What I Shall Give You”

29 Dec Neville Goddard Lectures: “Ask What I Shall Give You”

By Neville Goddard December 17, 1963

Tonight’s subject is, “What shall you ask of me?” This story we find in the Book of Genesis, we find it in the Book of Samuel, and repeated again in the New Testament. It really begins with ___(??) “What wilt thou give me?” and that is in the 15th of Genesis. Then he said, “I am childless, I have no heir… and a slave boy in my home will be my heir” and he was told, “The slave will not be your heir; your own son will be your heir.” Then we are told, “As the sun went down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and a dread and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord God said to him, “For a surety your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and they will be as slaves in that land; they will be oppressed for four hundred years… and afterwards they will come out with great possessions” (verses 12-14). Now, there’s not a word said that Abram was in any way awakened from this sleep, not a word. He fell into a deep sleep and all this was told him in a deep sleep, and there was a dread and great darkness that fell upon him.

Now this is our subject this night. He asked for a son; he was promised a son. Then we are told in the story, as he dreamed and the son was mentioned, he made this statement, he fell on his face and laughed when he was told he would have a son. And said he, “Shall a man who is a hundred years old have a son? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? And said that he laughed—is this the laughter of derision, laughter of incredulity, or the laughter of rejoicing? We’re told in the scripture of John that “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). You can take it in any form you want. Either you can say, well, he laughed because of disbelief, or he laughed, he rejoiced he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.

Now when we read scripture, we’re not reading secular history, we’re reading divine history. Man is not aware of that. The Bible is a vision. It is a mystery to be known only by revelation. And those who think they know it by trying to analyze it they’re far removed from the truth. It comes by revelation and only by revelation. If you haven’t had the experience, listen to one who has had it, and either believe him or disbelieve him. Don’t try to rationalize it. So I will tell you and I have told you what I have seen, and you will not accept my testimony. Seeing and knowing in the Greek are one. Seeing is experiencing. He is telling you, I have experienced it and you will not believe it, because I can’t share it with you on the level where you now live.

And so here, what is he trying to tell us in this story of falling asleep and being told what must happen to man? Well, first of all, we’re reading in the Hebrew. Every letter in the Hebrew world, as it were, has a numerical value and a symbolical value. He was a hundred years old. The nineteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Qoph. If you want to sound it, Q-o-p-h, Qoph. We put a q in the q. The symbol of it is “the back of the head.” The number, its numerical value is a hundred. A man is not a hundred years old. This is a mystery. Here is a hundred., a hundred what? The number of the back of the head. He is being told you will bear a son; it will come from the back of your skull. And so you will say, he fell on his face and laughed. That’s ridiculous on this level. It comes from the womb of a woman. But he is told, he’s a hundred years old, and you will bear a son, and it will come from the back of your skull. Well, you can take the laughter in any way you want, either the laughter of disbelief, or, as we’re told in the Book of John, the 8th chapter, rejoicing. “He rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it, and was glad”(verse 56).