4736. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness. That this signifies that they should conceal it meanwhile among their falsities, that is, that they should regard it as false, but still retain it because it was of importance to the church, is evident from the signification of a “pit,” as being falsities (see n. 4728); and from the signification of a “wilderness,” as being where there is no truth. For the word “wilderness” has a wide signification, it means where the land is uninhabited, and thus not cultivated; and when predicated of the church, it denotes where there is no good, and consequently no truth (n. 2708, 3900). Thus by a “pit in the wilderness” are here meant falsities in which there is no truth, because no good. It is said in which there is no truth because no good; for when anyone believes that faith saves without works, truth may indeed exist, but still it is not truth in him, because it does not look to good, nor is it from good. This truth is not alive, because it has in it a principle of falsity, consequently with anyone who has such truth, the truth is but falsity from the principle which rules in it. The principle is like the soul, from which the rest have their life. On the other hand there are falsities which are accepted as truths, when there is good in them, especially if it is the good of innocence, as with the Gentiles and also with many within the church.

6363. 'Judah are you' means the celestial Church. in the highest sense the Lord's Divine celestial. This is clear from the representation of 'Judah' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine love, which is His Divine celestial; but in the relative sense the Lord's celestial kingdom, thus the celestial Church, is meant, dealt with in 3881. What the celestial kingdom is, or the celestial Church, and what the celestial is, see 640, 641, 765, 895, 2048, 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2896, 3275, 3246, 3774, 3886, 3887, 4448, 4497, 5113, 5921, 6295.