MAN_AS_GOD
The Divine Incarnation and Return (Plant Analogy)
Neville teaches that humanity's journey mirrors Christ's: a pre-existence in the Father, a detachment and incarnation into the mortal world (a form of…
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FatherChristresurrectionPre-existenceIncarnationDeath and rebirthDivine purposeBecoming the Father
He Is My Resurrection
The gospel, which appears to be a little secular story, is truly a mystery to be known only by revelation. In the 16th chapter of John we are told: “I came out from the Father and came into the world. Again I leave the world and I return to the Father.” In these four short phrases we find the pre-existence of Christ, his incarnation, his death, and his ascension. I could put this in the first person, plural sense and say: “We came out from the Father” for we are told in the 1st chapter of Ephesians: “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” So all of us were chosen in him. That is why I can say, “We came out from the Father and came into the world. Again we are leaving the world and are going to the Father.” How can this be? Let me use a simple analogy. A plant contains within itself the suckers which can be removed and transplanted. While existing within the plant, the suckers partake of the plant’s life, but when removed and transplanted they become the parent. It was God’s purpose to give us himself, and God is a Father. The only way he could do it however was to detach us from himself. Yet, like the sucker, he who sent us has never left us; therefore we must express that which the parent plant is. If its flowers were red, that which was transplanted will bear red flowers. Now, regardless of how healthy the stock may be, when it is transplanted it appears to die, showing us the secret of life through death. The seed falls into the ground and dies in order to be made alive. So the seed, containing within itself all that the parent contained, dies and is made alive to become the parent, containing within itself that which was in the parent stock. And so it is with us. We came out from God the Father and were planted in a world of death, a world of mortality. Then, having died, we become quickened and grow into the parent stock, for if we were a father before detachment, we must return as the one Father who sent us out. And everything God the Father possesses, we possess in our fullness. His son reveals himself as our son. Whatever happened to him happens to us, for we came out from the Father and came into the world. Again, as we leave the world we go to the Father. That is the great mystery of scripture.
Neville teaches that humanity's journey mirrors Christ's: a pre-existence in the Father, a detachment and incarnation into the mortal world (a form of 'death'), and a subsequent spiritual quickening and growth that leads to returning as the Father, possessing all that the Father possesses. This process is likened to a plant sucker detaching, appearing to die, and then growing to become the parent plant.