Neville Goddard Lectures: “In a Vision of the Night”

01 Jan Neville Goddard Lectures: “In a Vision of the Night”

2/06/64

Tonight’s subject “In a Vision of the Night,” this title is taken from the 33rd chapter of the Book of Job: “In a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon man, while he slumbers on the bed, then he opens the ear of man and seals his instruction” (verse 15). Throughout the Bible, beginning in Genesis and going right through to Revelation, there are stories of the dream. It’s man’s contact with God. We’re told in Numbers: “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and I will speak with him in a dream” (12:6). In the beginning, the great dreamer who was sold into Egypt, one who was called Joseph—and they spoke of him as the dreamer: “Behold, this dreamer cometh” (Gen.37:19). It was his dream that saved the world from starvation, for he interpreted the dream. Most of us are past masters at misinterpreting the dream, but he understood the symbolism of the dream; and because he interpreted wisely, and Pharaoh acted upon it, then they could put aside in their fat years enough to save them from their lean years, when everything simply turned to dust. And so, we mustn’t discount the dream.

But may I tell you, the night dream where you have no control over it is a parable. The earthly story of that parable is secondary to its meaning no matter how simple the dream is…if it is a dream. Not the waking dream; we’ll touch that afterwards. The waking dream is the most wonderful thing for the control and the change of the circumstances of life…that’s the waking dream. But the night dream where you’re not in control and you simply are recording an unfolding drama, God is simply speaking to you through the medium of the night dream. Here we find that when Jesus was on trial just as Pilate took his seat to judge him a message arrived from Pilate’s wife which read: “Have you nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have been much troubled today in a dream because of him” (Mat.27:19). Now, the dream is not related, in other words, it’s not told, I wish it were. But it’s not recorded what she dreamt, only “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have been much troubled about him today in a dream.”

Then we find in the Book of Daniel when the king wondered what was the nature of the dream and he said to him, There is a God in heaven who makes known mysteries, and he has spoken unto you, O king (2:28). And then he tells him how God spoke to him. He said, he’s told you of the latter things. And the latter things are these, in a dream, in a vision of the night, that’s how God speaks to man. When you put your head on that bed and you slumber and lose consciousness here, if you can recall it, God has told you something that really is important, if you can recall it. And the most simple thing in the world has meaning, deep meaning.