“Let the Reader Understand”: A Call to Look Deeper

Among the many fascinating phrases scattered throughout Scripture, one stands out for its quiet urgency and profound depth: “let the reader understand.”

We encounter it most strikingly in Matthew 24:15:

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand).”

At first glance, it seems like just an aside — a small editorial note slipped into the text. Yet, when read symbolically, as Neville Goddard encouraged us to do, it becomes an open invitation: a direct call to perceive Scripture not as historical record but as a psychological revelation unfolding within the individual.

The phrase implies that what is being described is not to be taken literally. It is a signpost, urging us to move beyond surface appearances and search for the inner drama. Neville taught that the Bible is a great psychological play, depicting the journey of consciousness as it moves from fragmentation to unity, from forgetting to awakening. Every story, every character, every place is a state of mind — an aspect of your own inner landscape.

When Matthew writes, “let the reader understand,” it is as though the text momentarily breaks the fourth wall. It whispers directly to you, reminding you that the "holy place" is your own consciousness. The "abomination of desolation" is any false state or limiting belief standing where pure awareness should reign.

This simple phrase is not just a side note; it is proof in itself that the Bible was never meant to be read as a historical document about an external God acting upon humanity. Rather, it reveals that Scripture is a symbolic map of your inner world. A purely historical record would not pause to call the reader to "understand" — it would just present events as they happened. But here, the text deliberately urges you to look within, to perceive the deeper psychological meanings, and to recognise that you are both the reader and the story.

In the original Greek, the phrase “let the reader understand” (ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω, ho anaginōskōn noeito) is truly part of the text — not a later addition or marginal note. It stands as a quiet instruction to anyone willing to see beyond literalism.

Neville often said, “All things exist in the human imagination.” In this light, the Bible becomes a living, breathing document within you. The call to "understand" is an invitation to observe what assumptions you have enthroned in your mind’s holy place. What have you allowed to rule your inner temple? What false beliefs have you accepted as true?

This phrase, small and easily overlooked, encapsulates the entire message of inner transformation. It is a gentle but firm reminder that salvation, awakening, and creation are all inner acts. You are both the temple and the one who must guard it.

So, the next time you come across “let the reader understand,” pause. Let it become more than a footnote — let it be a personal call to deeper perception. For in that moment, Scripture stops being a distant tale and becomes the living map of your own consciousness, waiting to be unveiled.