'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because there is no truth. 'Wilderness,' as in Jeremiah 23:10, signifies the Word when it is adulterated.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 1927)

When we talk about "going up" in the modern world, we usually mean either that we're going north -- which is toward the top of a map -- or else that we are literally going up a hill or mountain. To "go up" in the Bible, however, represents a movement to a higher, more internal, more elevated spiritual state. In the Old Testament people generally went "up" to Canaan, for instance, and "down" to Egypt and other places. And within Israel people went "up" to Jersalem and "down" from it.