29. Verses 11-12 And God said, Let the earth cause tender plants to spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth tender herbs, seed-bearing plants, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Once the earth or the individual has been made ready in such a way that he can receive from the Lord heavenly seeds and produce some measure of good and truth, the Lord first of all causes something tender to spring up, which is: called 'a tender plant', then something more useful which reproduces itself and is called 'a seed-bearing plant', and finally something good which bears fruit and is called 'a tree bearing fruit' in which is its seed, 'each one according to its kind'. The person who is being regenerated is at first such as imagines that any good he does comes from himself, and that any truth he utters comes from himself; but the fact of the matter is that all good and all truth come from the Lord. Consequently anyone who imagines that these originate in himself does not as yet have the life that belongs to true faith, though he is able to receive it later on. Indeed he is not yet able to believe that they come from the Lord because his state is one of preparation for receiving the life inherent in faith. That state is represented in these verses by plant life, the subsequent state, when the life inherent in faith is present, by living creatures.

[2] The Lord Himself saw fit to tell us that He is 'the sower', that 'the seed' is His Word, and that 'the earth' is man, Matthew 13:19-24, 37-39; Mark 4:14-21; Luke 8:11-16. He describes the matter again in a similar way,

The kingdom of God is like a man casting seed into the ground, and sleeping and rising night and day, and the seed sprouts and springs up, he knows not how; for the earth bears fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. Mark 4:26-28.

In the universal sense, 'the kingdom of God' is used to mean the whole of heaven, in the less universal sense the Lord's true Church, and in particular every individual who has true faith, that is, who has been regenerated by means of the life that inheres in faith. For that reason the individual is also called 'heaven', for heaven is within him, and 'the kingdom of God', since that too is within him. This the Lord Himself teaches through Luke,

Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, When is the kingdom of God coming? He answered them and said, The kingdom of God is not coming with observation, nor will people say, Behold, here it is! or, Behold, there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20-21.

This is the third stage of a person's regeneration, a state when he is repentant. It is like passing from shadow into the light, or from evening to morning, and this is why it is said in Verse 13, And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

10568. 'And he said to Him, If Your face is not going [before me], do not cause us to go up from here' means that if the Divine is not present there, nothing constituting the Church will be there. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah's face' as things that are interior and Divine in the Church, worship, and the Word, dealt with immediately above in 10567; and from the meaning of 'do not cause us to go up from here' as that nothing constituting the Church will be there. The reason why these words have this meaning is that being led into the land of Canaan means the establishment of the Church, and therefore 'do not cause us to go up from here' means that without those interior things nothing constituting the Church will be present. For the meaning of being led into the land of Canaan as the establishment of the Church, see above in 10560, 10561. The reason why being led into the land of Canaan means the establishment of the Church is that by the land of Canaan in the Word those in heaven understand nothing at all other than the Church. They perceive everything in the Word on a spiritual level; consequently when any land is mentioned they think of the kinds of things constituting the Church that exist in that land or among the nation inhabiting it. Angels in heaven cannot keep their mind focused on the idea of a land because that idea is a material one, nor on the idea of any nation since this idea too is material; therefore a spiritual idea is what immediately presents itself to them, an idea that has something to do with the Church. In general a spiritual idea has to do with the Lord, His kingdom, heaven, the Church, love to the Lord and faith in Him, and countless aspects of faith and love, thus of the Church. And if you are willing to believe it, it is impossible for any material idea to enter heaven; it is cast off at the gateway of heaven. This is how it is with every single thing in the Word. So it is then that being led into the land of Canaan means the establishment of the Church, and not being led in, implied in the present verse, its not being established.