17. Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face ¹ of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face ¹ of the waters. The person who has yet to be regenerated is called 'a void and an empty earth', and also 'ground', in which no good or truth at all has been sown - 'void' where there is no good, and 'empty' where there is no truth. Consequently there is 'thick darkness', or stupidity and lack of knowledge about anything that has to do with faith in the Lord and so anything that has to do with spiritual and celestial life. This kind of person is described by the Lord through Jeremiah,

My people are foolish, they know Me not; they are stupid children, having no understanding; they are wise to do evil, and know not how to do good. I looked to the earth, and, behold, a void and an emptiness; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:22-23, 25.

Footnotes:

462.And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the elders and the four animals.- That this signifies the conjunction of the Lord with the whole heaven, is plain from the signification of standing round about the throne, as denoting conjunction with the Lord, for by Him Who sitteth on the throne and the Lamb, is meant the Lord alone, as stated just above (n. 460:1). And by standing round about is signified conjunction; for in the spiritual world those with whom there is conjunction appear as present, and with whom there is not conjunction as absent: and from the signification of the angels, the elders, and the four animals, as denoting those who are in the three heavens, thus those who are in the whole heaven. By the angels are meant those who are in the first or ultimate heaven; by the elders, those who are in the second or middle heaven; and by the four animals, those who are in the third or inmost heaven. That the four-and-twenty elders, and the four animals, mean in a general sense the higher heavens, and that in a specific sense the elders mean those who are in the second or middle heaven, and the four animals those who are in the third or inmost heaven, may be seen above (n. 313, 322, 362). It therefore follows, that the angels here mean the lower heavens. Indeed all who are in the heavens are called angels, but because those who are in the higher heavens, possess intelligence and wisdom above the rest, they are here called elders, and are meant by the four animals, wherefore also they stood immediately round the throne, as seen by John. It is to be observed, that John saw a multitude of angels, and, at the same time, four-and-twenty elders, and the cherubim or four animals, and that he did not see all who are in the heavens, that is, the whole heaven. For it was a prophetic vision, which is of such a kind, that the things seen are significative. Thus the few here seen, signified the whole heaven, just as the four-and-twenty elders signified the second or middle heaven, and the four animals, the third or inmost heaven.