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:

9356. In this way the truth that God had become Man could be made plain, this being the first and most essential truth for the sake of which the Word exists. For nobody can believe in and love a God whom they cannot picture in some shape or form. Those therefore who acknowledge something they cannot picture lower their thinking to the natural order and so believe in what is not God, see 7211, 9303, 9315. Therefore the Lord was pleased to be born on our planet and to make this plain through the Word, not only in order that people might know it on earth but also in order that it might be made plain to all throughout the universe who enter heaven from any planet whatever. For in heaven all come in contact with others.