872. 'The face ¹ of the ground' means those things that reside with the member of the Church, and the expression 'the ground' is used because it is the first stage at which man comes to be the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', dealt with already, as the member of the Church who is at that point called 'the ground' when the goods and truths of faith can be sown within him. Previously he is called 'the land', as in Genesis 1 where 'the land' refers to man prior to his becoming celestial, while Chapter 2, when he has become celestial, refers to him as 'the ground' and 'the field'. It is similar in the present chapter. The expression 'the land' and the expression 'the ground' are sufficient by themselves to enable someone to recognize what is meant in the internal sense, not only here but also anywhere else in the Word. 'The ground' in the universal sense means the Church, and as the Church is meant so too is the member of the Church for, as stated already, every member of the Church is the Church.

Footnotes:

3635. In the human body there are two organs which are the mainsprings of its entire movement, and also of every action and external or purely physical sensation - the heart and the lungs. These two so correspond to the Grand Man or Lord's heaven that celestial angels there constitute one kingdom, and spiritual angels the other, for the Lord's kingdom is celestial and spiritual. The celestial kingdom consists of those who are governed by love to the Lord, the spiritual kingdom of those who are governed by charity towards the neighbour, 2088, 2669, 2715, 2718, 3235, 3246. The heart and its kingdom in man corresponds to celestial angels, the lungs and their kingdom to spiritual ones. Also the angels flow into things belonging to the heart and lungs, so much so that these things receive their being and are kept in being by means of that influx from them. But the correspondence of heart and lungs with the Grand Man will in the Lord's Divine mercy be presented as a separate subject.