The Marks of Jesus (Second Delivery)

The subject is The Marks of Jesus. The story of Jesus is an acted parable, a parable which is all about the last things — that part of the history of salvation which is still in prospect and which presses for realization. And the man who has experienced that part of the history of salvation cannot escape the responsibility of telling its meaning to his fellow man. No one who’s experienced it can really turn away from others and leave them as he was prior to his experience.9011 ¶1

When you and I open the Bible and read of these wonderful characters, it dawns on all of us — as far as we’re concerned, we ought all of us to really understand — that these patriarchs, say Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all of them, are not in the main persons as you and I are persons. They are simply representatives of the eternal spiritual states of the soul, states through which you and I pass from our beginning of the journey to the end, where the end is God. These are all visions of these eternal states as they were received by men qualified to receive them, called by us the prophets, and they recorded them, and we have them in our Bible.9011 ¶2

But these are states. I have seen these things. When you see the state, yes, it’s personified, it’s a person, but you must always remember it’s a state, not the person, as you’re a person or I am a person. So here tonight — the marks of Jesus. What are they?9011 ¶3

Your churches paint pictures of him, and they think the marks of Jesus are the stigmata. They’re not the marks. I have gone from, I would say, gallery to gallery. I’ve seen these pictures of what the artists believe to be Jesus, and here they’ve depicted a man and given him the marks of the stigmata in the palms of the hand, the feet, the head, and — mind you — some even change the side from the right to the left, depending upon the artist. And these are not the marks. When Paul said, “Henceforth let no one trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus,” he is telling us, if we understand it, he has experienced this passage of the last of the history of salvation, and these marks begin with the resurrection. That’s where it begins.9011 ¶4

“I will bring you to remembrance,” says the Evangelist John. “I will bring you to the remembrance of all the things that I have told you, and I have told you before it takes place, that when it does take place you may know that I am he.” When you read that you might think a man is talking to a group and telling the group that when this thing takes place, and I’m telling you now, you will know that I am him. That’s not it. What he is telling everyone is that when it takes place you will know that the I AM in you — who experiences a goal — that I AM, he now disappears. For he says, “I do not go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come, but if I go I will send it.” This is the gift of the Father, and when he comes he will lead you into all truth and teach you all things, and he will bring to your remembrance all the things that I have told you. But the word translated “remembrance” in Greek is cenotaph — a sepulcher, a great interment. That’s where it starts.9011 ¶5

“I will bring to your remembrance” — what will he bring? “That I carry in my body the death of Jesus, that I may also manifest the life of Jesus in my body.” I carry in my body the death of Jesus, that I may manifest the life of Jesus in my body. This is the story: everyone carries in his body the death of Jesus.9011 ¶6

Now let me give you one of the marks. You’re told in the forty-second Psalm — this is the psalm of remembrance, when he brings back to memory. “I remember,” said he, “I walked with this enormous crowd and led them in procession to the house of God.” It was a gay crowd, a festive rout.9011 ¶7

Well, let me give you my own experience. Here I found myself — it is an enormous crowd, all dressed as though the world of the Near East, where the drama is laid. I am leading them in procession, and they’re gay — it’s a very, very gay crowd, singing praises and giving thanks to God, walking towards some unseen Mecca, unseen temple. And as we walked a voice rang out — he heard the voice but no one saw a form — and the voice said, “And God walks with them.” At that a woman at my side asked the question: if God walks with us, where is he? She’s addressing the unseen but heard voice. And the voice replied, and all could hear it, with this enormous crowd, “By your side.” With this she turned automatically to her side, looked into my face, and she became hysterical — it struck her funnily. So now she addresses again this voice — it has no face, it has no form — and she says to the voice that spoke to all of us, “You mean that Neville is God?” And the voice replied, “Yes.”9011 ¶8

In the act of waking, then, from the depths of my own soul the voice spoke, but only to me — no one heard what it said but the speaker — and the voice said to me, “I lay myself down within you to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed a dream.” I dreamed, and I knew the end. I became so ecstatically happy — I can’t describe in words the thrill, the emotion that possessed me — for I knew the end of that sentence: yes, I dreamed I am you. Thank you.9011 ¶9

With this I felt the crucifixion, and may I tell you, far from what the churches preach and all the teachers talk about, it is sheer ecstasy — what a joy! My hands became vortices, my head a vortex, my two feet vortices, my right side a vortex — these vortices nailed me to this body, but it was joy. And then you would understand: no one takes away my life, I lay down myself, I have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again. So it was in love that he laid himself down within us to sleep, to dream the dream of life, that at the end of the dream, to raise us with him — he the dreamer raises us because he’s dreaming that he’s us, and he individualizes us in this manner. It was a voluntary act, and there was no pain whatsoever in that decision of God to become you. God became man voluntarily, that man may become God, and there is no pain in that act whatsoever — sheer ecstasy, and that word doesn’t describe the thrill that was mine when I felt it that night, in fulfillment of the forty-second Psalm: “I will bring to your remembrance all that I have told you.”9011 ¶10

Now he disappears from the scene. God tells the story of his plan, of his purpose, and then becomes invisible — he isn’t there, for nearness implies separation. God becomes man — there’s no nearness about it, he is actually man. Can you say “I am” is near? You can say “I am,” and say that it is near — that’s the core, that’s the center. You may say the hand is there, that is there, everything else is near — to what? To I AM. But I AM can’t be near — it can’t be, even so far off as even to be there, for nearness implies separation. He actually became — and in becoming man, man is using the name, the only name, which is I AM.9011 ¶11

So here, that’s a mark: I bear on my body the marks of Jesus, because I carry always in my body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in my body. And this story of Jesus is always about the last things — this is the eschatology of scripture. It’s the very age of the great drama, when it’s coming to an end. There are certain signs that will appear on the body, not visible to any mortal eye — the signs are experiences of the individual who bears the signs. Christianity is based upon the assertion that a series of events happened in which God revealed himself in action for the salvation of man, and it begins with the tomb, with the resurrection.9011 ¶12

“I will bring to your remembrance all the things that I have told you” — if he brings to my remembrance, I go back to the cenotaph, where he is buried. He is buried in the skull of man — that’s where God is actually buried. The sleep is so profound it’s called in scripture death. It isn’t — it’s the great mystery of life through death, for he had to empty himself completely of all that he is, to become this little thing called man. He completely exceeded himself and took upon himself the fullness of man, and becoming man he dreams the dream of life, and takes himself through this dream of horror. We are the incarnation of the tragedy and the glory of this wonderful message of salvation. We should not forget the glory in the tragedy — that there is tragedy, who denies it, look all around, there is tragedy — but we must not forget, and should not forget, the glory that follows when the dream is over and God awakes from the dream. He has told us in the Psalms: “Arouse thyself, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Do not cast us off forever. Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead.” So he equates sleep with death — “awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead” — so he takes these two and they are equated, sleep and death. It is so profound: God had to completely forget who he was, to become you.9011 ¶13

So I’m speaking from experience, I am not theorizing, I’m not trying to build some little philosophy of life — I promise you, and my purpose here is to tell you what portions of scripture I have experienced. Man must experience scripture — to sit down and work out some little philosophy of life, millions have done it, and they’re all over the world, little isms all over the world. I am not here to work out some little ism, but just to tell you the word of God as recorded in scripture is true — but not as the world teaches it. It is true for the individual to experience, and every person in this world will experience scripture.9011 ¶14

He has told us — the scripture must be realized in me, scripture must be realizing me, fulfilled in me, and then, beginning with the law of Moses and all through the prophets and the Psalms, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So we go back to the tomb — that’s where the real aim is coming in. No one understood it until the resurrection, as we’re told in scripture. He said to them, “You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will afterwards.” He was washing their feet, and he told them, “You do not now understand the reason behind this, the meaning of this, but you will afterwards.” And it was only after the resurrection that the disciples understood the unfolding drama.9011 ¶15

But what is the job? You’ve gone to the theater and you’ve seen the most wonderful play, with the meaning, with the message — not everyone in the audience got the message. I know two got it in the same manner. So we’re told, in Galatians — it’s the same book from which we quoted tonight’s title, when we say, “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” — he said to the Galatians, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Let me ask you only this: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or did you receive it by hearing with faith? You heard it and you believed it. Are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are you now ending in the flesh?”9011 ¶16

For the whole vast world accepts this personification of God’s creative power as a being of flesh, and he’s asking the Galatians, you heard it in the spirit, didn’t you — a story was told you, the most incredible story in the world, the story of God’s plan, his purpose, to actually endow his own creation with life, like an artist conceiving, like Pygmalion and Galatea. A Pygmalion conceives the most glorious thing in the world, as he can conceive it, but it’s dead, it’s made of marble, and it can’t respond, it can’t love him, the creator, and he doesn’t know what to do because he wanted it to become animated, something alive. And to whom does he pray? He prays to the goddess of love, and Galatea responds — the first word that she utters is the name of her creator. I’ve seen the play, and here this beautiful marble statue, and suddenly it begins to pronounce “Pygmalion” — the statue becomes alive and is saying “Pygmalion.” In our case, we become alive; we call our creator’s name — we don’t call him God, we don’t call him that, we don’t call him — before man can say anything, man must first be, aware that he is, to be aware that he is he, is saying — by the emotions or not — he is saying “I am.” So we are the so-called dead who become animated, and we know that we are, knowing that we are, we’re saying “I am.”9011 ¶17

So the Creator is calling forth life and making us become animated lovers in his world — he wants lovers. So here in this wonderful picture, he goes to this state of death — it begins with death, and then he animates it, and it brings it up.9011 ¶18

So here, let me give you now my own experience, beginning with the first great mark — the crucifixion, yes, that’s one — but although the crucifixion is over, the resurrection is taking place. This is the most damnable statement he pronounces upon those who teach that the resurrection is past — read it in his second letter to Timothy — those who teach that the resurrection is over and past are leading people astray and causing them to move from the faith, the true faith. So the churches say the resurrection took place two thousand years ago; Paul, in his letter to Timothy, condemns the man unmistakably who teaches that it is over. It is taking place every moment of time — someone is being raised from the dead.9011 ¶19

And stop — and stop where he was buried. I bear always in my body the death of Jesus, for I know the location — it’s my skull. I didn’t know it until it happened, and so when it happened, and I walked within my skull, to discover the skull to be a tomb, to be a sepulcher — it was only a day that I realized that that’s where he was buried. I heard the voice say to me, “I laid myself down, putting you to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed — yes, I dream I am you” — but I didn’t realize how literally true that statement was, that he actually entombed me, this death, and laid himself down within me and shared with me these visions of life, until the dreamer awoke. [Passage garbled — kept close to the raw stream: “I know Lincoln, he breaks me with him, because he fused that interval, refused, and became one.”]9011 ¶20

And then we come up, and saw the mark that Paul speaks of, “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” He starts now with the tomb. Do I bear the mark of the tomb? Yes, I have had experience of the tomb — you can’t see it with mortal eye, but I know it from experience, and so that one mark was my first mark, the mark of the tomb, for all have had them — of the crucifixion, that was only a remembrance. Remember, “I will bring to your remembrance all that I have told you.” So everyone is going to have that experience of leading the crowd in procession to the house of God, and when it happens, the night it happens, it will only be a remembrance of the things that he’s telling us would happen. But beginning with the tomb, that’s something we did not experience before — these things would have simply told us, and now men could not believe it. I’m starting to begin to unfold within it.9011 ¶21

So the first great mark is to awaken in your skull, to find it a sepulcher, and then you come out — you push the base of that skull from within, something gives, and you come out, and you come out in the manner that a child comes out of the womb of a woman, head first, and you come out inch by inch by inch, and there you are on the floor, and you rise, and look back at that cervical — the body out of which you’ve just emerged — as ghastly pale, to fulfill scripture, pardon me — Jeremiah, the thirtieth chapter of Jeremiah: “Why is every face so pale?” And so you look at it and it’s ghastly pale.9011 ¶22

And now comes the great unfolding of the wind, the spirit. So much is said in John about the importance of the spirit, the importance of the wind, and you hear it, and you feel it, and you wonder where is this strange, unearthly wind coming from — you know it’s here, you feel it here, but it’s all of them. And then all the symbolism of scripture begins to appear before you, and it happens so automatically and so naturally. Three men take the place where the body was when it disappears — you look at these men, they can’t see you, but you see them, and you hear every thought, and read and discern what they’re thinking, and when two of them — well, they can believe what the third has announced, for the third has announced the body is found. And he finds the sign of your birth, for you’re told in scripture, “This shall be a sign unto you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.” It’s a sign, it’s not the event, it’s not any more the event than the flag flying on the White House tonight — if the president is there, if he’s in residence, the flag flies. It only signifies his presence, but that’s not the president. If I want to know is he in office, look to see if the flag is flying, for whenever he is in office that flag should fly, and when he is not in the White House the flag is lowered. So the little babe wrapped in swaddling clothes is a sign — signifying an event, this unearthly event where the individual has been born into an entirely different age, a new world, a new beginning.9011 ¶23

So they find the sign, lift the sign up, and place it on the bed, and you will take that sign, a child, you will raise it, you look into his heavenly face and say some wonderful, endearing sentence, and with that it will break into a smile, and the whole thing will resolve while you are still holding that sign — a living, living babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. So that’s the second mark: I bear upon my body the marks of Jesus, for in my body I bear the death of Jesus, and now, because it’s life through death, he must now spring into flower, and these are all the marks of the flowers — there’s a bud upon the tree, and that’s the second one.9011 ¶24

And then comes the third — and the third mark you will bear upon your body is when he reveals to you your true identity, for God is a father, and if God is the father, and he succeeds in his purpose, which is to sow — to give himself to you — that he actually becomes you, in that moment of becoming you, you are a father. And so he brings, and this third mark, his son — and the son calls you father, and you’re exactly who you are, and you know exactly who the child, a boy, is — he is David, of biblical fame — and there is no doubt in your mind, no uncertainty as to this eternal relationship. So you can say, “I bear that mark upon my body.”9011 ¶25

And then comes the other sign, for he brings us out of this wilderness with signs and wonders, and so the one sign identified with the escape from Egypt, as we make our exodus, is that of the serpent, and so the great fiery serpent is lifted up upon a rod that buds, and here in your wonderful body you will feel it as though it took place physically, you’ll feel it just as though the whole thing was taking place physically. You’ll be stripped from top to bottom, and you will observe this thing that is split, that the book of Hebrews equates with the body of Jesus — the curtain of the temple is the flesh of Jesus, as we’re told in the book of Hebrews — and you feel the flesh being cut right down from top to bottom, and just as it splits and you see it parted, you look, and behold the blood of God at the base — it’s not red, it’s liquid golden light — as you look at it you know, in the depths of your soul, “I am it, that is my very self.” Knowing it, you fuse with what you perceive, and the perceived and the perceiver become one. And then, like a fiery serpent, this rod goes right up into your skull — that’s the other mark you bear upon your body.9011 ¶26

And then comes the seal of approval, as the final mark, and that seal of approval is when the heavens open, and there is no limit, no circumference, just infinite transparency, translucency, and you look up, and hovering above you, as though floating on water, yet there is no water, but just as though it’s floating, is this heavenly dove, and it looks at you, and its eye catches your eye, and you do it automatically — you raise your hand — it gently descends upon your hand, and you bring it to your face, and it smothers you with affection, kisses you all over your head, and while it’s smothering you the whole thing dissolves.9011 ¶27

But I’ll give you one little instance — whether this happens to you or not, I don’t know, but I must tell you — I have not written it, I omitted it from the telling in the book. A woman was at my side, and the woman said to me, “He loves you.” Well, it was so obvious that he loved me, smothering me with kisses. “So he loves you.” Then she said to me, “You know, they avoid man” — man gives off the most offensive odor, and to avoid the odor they avoid man — “but he so loved you, he penetrated the ring of offense and came down to demonstrate his love for you.”9011 ¶28

So this scene from on high is not only a world of bliss, but a world of death, a world of decay, a world that gives off the most horrible odor, but the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the dove, showing his infinite mercy, penetrates this horror called the odor of man, which is his violence, and comes down upon the one that at that moment he has selected and sealed and approved. Everyone will have it — but everyone — I didn’t put that in the little pamphlet, for reasons I do not know if it’s the experience of everyone. The dove is the experience of everyone, but that portion I omitted, because I didn’t want someone to feel that it was something different. But that was my experience — she said to me, “He loves you,” and I didn’t reply, because to me it was so obvious that he loved me. And then she gave me the reasons for his descent, and told me that this horrible odor that man gives off so offends them that they avoid that, but that his love was so intense for me that he penetrated the ring of offense and came down to demonstrate his love for me. His work in me was finished, and he sealed it with himself.9011 ¶29

So this is our story concerning the marks of Jesus. So here, as Paul said, “Henceforth let no one trouble me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus,” has nothing to do with the stigmata. Stigmata is actually — beyond measure, not painful — as you see on these paintings, don’t for one moment believe it. Last year in the Metropolitan in New York City here was one, at a fantastic price, and they had the six points on the left side — well, that was not my experience, it was on the right side, but these points came simultaneously — he didn’t puncture this and then that, and then my feet singly, and then my head — all came together, I was sucked into this body by these six whirling vortices, and I can’t describe the sheer ecstasy of that, kneeling on this body, when God made his decision to take what he had created and make it alive, and give himself to it. So they’re not two of us, just one, and I am here — that’s the story.9011 ¶30

So this wonderful vision, or experience, I would say, of Paul’s, would really be the experience of every child born of woman. No one will fail, for the very simple reason you aren’t doing it. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” He began it in us, and he completes it, and so no one does it — it’s being done unto man.9011 ¶31

If it seems a trying time, all right, do not dwell upon the tragedy, dwell upon the glory, for the glory is ours — we are the incarnation of both tragedy and glory, but we should not dwell upon the tragedy to the exclusion of the glory. So here, these marks are not to be seen with mortal eye, they are to be seen by being experienced, and then you hold them forever in your wonderful immortal memory. When you take off this garment for the last time, you will see the full significance of the experiences — they’ll all be revealed to you, why this eschatology had to take place.9011 ¶32

So the story of Jesus is simply that portion of the message of salvation that is still in being, still in prospect, but pressing for realization, and is realizing us. So the aim comes so suddenly, it takes us unaware — it takes us suddenly, and comes to us while we’re still living in this strange existential situation. You wake in the morning the same person you went to bed that night, the same timbers that you were the day before, and all of a sudden, in this strange — [...] — and then you go back into the ancient scriptures, and you read it, and see it was all foretold. That’s why the ancient rabbis said that we are predestined — or events are predestined — if foretold by a word of scripture. If I can read it, the scripture — it’s predestined, I don’t make it, it just happens. It happens when the word is being brought to completion, and the moment that word is coming to completion, well then it unfolds within us.9011 ¶33

So Jesus Christ is a wholly supra-personal being — don’t look for him in the flesh. So let me remind you what Paul said to the Galatians: “Are you so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are you ending in the flesh?” Don’t look for any physical Jesus, don’t look for any man outside of yourself as the savior. Listen to the words of Isaiah: “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior, and besides me there is no savior.” Who spoke? I AM. “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior.” So don’t make any image of a savior outside, for when he comes he’s going to come within you, and when he comes you’ll understand the words: “I have told you before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.” So all this was said of the Lord, and it happened — but then you’ll believe, “I am he,” for these things only happen to the Lord. He is born out of a tomb — he allowed himself to be entombed voluntarily. “No one takes my life, I lay it down myself, I have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again” — or, “I put me in the tomb, and I will rise.” And so they put him in the tomb, the human skull, and when he rises you will know, “I am he.”9011 ¶34

So he rises, and may I tell you, the sensation is one of rising from sleep — the only reason that you know it was so deep, that it was like unto death, is the location. When you find yourself in a tomb — only the dead are placed in tombs — therefore, finding yourself in the tomb of your own skull, and it’s completely sealed. However I got there I don’t remember, but whoever put me there must have thought I was dead, because I didn’t realize that I went into the place, but here I am, I’m in it, and it’s sealed, and I awaken — I’m waking in a tomb. I must now associate my state with death, but I’m not dead anymore. Then you know the words of the first chapter of the Book of Revelation: “I was dead, and I am alive forevermore, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead.”9011 ¶35

The mystery of life through death — “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains alone, but if it falls into the ground and dies, it brings forth much.” So that grain of wheat was the creative power of God, called in scripture Jesus Christ, and so it penetrated the tomb, the cenotaph, the son of man, and there in that tomb it dreams the dream of life. And then comes the last scenes, these wonderful scenes as they unfold, revealing how you really are the very being that entered you, for in that day you will know that I am he.9011 ¶36

Now you dwell upon it, for I’m telling you, everyone is going to have this experience, everyone, no one can fail, because you aren’t doing it — you’re not doing it on the outside at all, while you go about your business, doing all the things on the outside, being a greater person, a wealthier person, contributing more to society — all these things are lovely, but while you’re doing these things, a work is taking place in you of which you’re totally unaware, and when that work is being completed it begins to unfold and unveil itself in a series of supernatural experiences, and one by one they unfold, and then you know, I am he.9011 ¶37

I can tell you, the first time I told the story of the crucifixion there was a strange reaction — it happened in New York City, and so the very next night was lecture night, and I told my friends what had happened that night — well, their reaction was one of, who does he think he is. That was the reaction. I wasn’t telling them that I differed from them, I was just telling them exactly what happened to me, and what happened to me I can’t conceive as something different from what has happened to you or will happen to you.9011 ¶38

And so, as I heard the voices speaking, they heard the voice, but only I heard the last expression of the voice. They heard this wonderful conversation between the woman and God, the voice of authority, but when it came to the very end, I, and I alone, heard it, and it came from the depths of my being: “I laid myself down within you to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed the dream, I dream — yes, I dream that I’m you, I’m dreaming that is me fused with me.” And you’ll understand that second chapter of the Book of Genesis: “And the Lord God caused a profound sleep to fall upon man,” and he slept — there’s not a word said in scripture where he was ever awakened, he awakes only when God — [and he told Abraham the fourth fantastic story] — and a deep, deep sleep fell upon Abraham, and he slept, and there’s no thought in scripture where Abraham, in his long, long journey, was awakened — he was dreaming, but who was dreaming? God entered death’s door with those who enter, and lay down in the very grave with the man, and dreams with them until they’re both awake, but they are two when they’re awake — when they’re awake they’re one, and you will say “I am he.”9011 ¶39

So I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. You can take this little body here and cut it up, you won’t find anything — open up the skull, you’ll find nothing in there that looks like it — and yet, in my body — I’m speaking now of my supernatural body, the eternal body, the immortal body — that’s where the drama really takes place, and these are only shadows of that body. Now, are there any questions, please?9011 ¶40

It’s a very good question.9011 ¶41

Any other questions, please?9011 ¶44