1044. And it will serve as a sign of the pact between me and the earth means an indication of the Lord's presence in charity, and the earth here means human selfhood, as statements above show [§§1036, 1038]. The symbolism of the earth as human selfhood can be seen from the inner meaning, too, and also from the sequence of thoughts. Earlier the text said, "This is the sign of the pact between me and you and every living soul that is with you," which symbolizes whatever has been reborn. Here, however, the phrasing changes: "It will serve as a sign of the pact between me and the earth." The change — and the repetition of the sign of the pact as well — shows that the present verse has another meaning. It shows, in fact, that the earth is that which has not been reborn and cannot be reborn, and this is human self-will.

[2] So far as their intellectual side goes, regenerate people are the Lord's, but so far as their voluntary side goes, they are their own. These two sides in a spiritual person are opposed to each other, but although a person's voluntary part is opposed, its presence is still unavoidable. All the darkness in spiritual people's intellectual part, all the thickening of their cloud, comes from the will side. The darkness constantly streams in from their will side, and the more it does, the more the cloud in their intellectual part thickens. On the other hand, the more the darkness withdraws, the more the cloud thins. That is the reason the earth in this case symbolizes human selfhood. (It was shown earlier that the earth symbolizes our bodily concerns and much else besides [§§16, 17, 28, 29, 82, 566, 620, 662, 800, 895].)

[3] The situation resembles that of two people who were once bound together in a pact of friendship, as will and intellect were among the people of the earliest church. When the friendship breaks down and enmity arises — as it did when humanity completely perverted its power of will — and a new pact is entered into, the hostile party then takes center stage, as if it were the party with which the pact had been struck. The pact is not with this side of our mind, however (since it is diametrically opposed and contrary), but with what streams from it, as noted earlier [§1023] — with intellectual selfhood, that is. The sign or indication of the pact is this: the larger the Lord's presence in our intellectual selfhood, the more remote our self-will.

The case is just like that of heaven and hell. A regenerate person's intellectual half is heaven because of the charity in which the Lord is present. But such a person's will side is hell. The more present the Lord is in heaven, the more hell moves away. When we depend on ourselves, we are in hell. When we depend on the Lord, we are in heaven and are always being lifted up from hell into heaven. The higher we rise, the greater the distance between us and our hell.

The sign or indication that the Lord is present, then, is the withdrawal of our own will. Times of trial and many other means of regeneration work to distance it.

17. Genesis 1:2. And the earth was void and emptiness, and there was darkness on the face of the abyss, and the Spirit of God was constantly moving on the face of the water.

Before regeneration a person is called the void, empty earth, and also soil in which no seed of goodness or truth has been planted. ¹ Void refers to an absence of goodness and empty to an absence of truth. The result is darkness, in which a person is oblivious to or ignorant of anything having to do with faith in the Lord and consequently with a spiritual or heavenly life. The Lord portrays such a person this way in Jeremiah:

My people are dense; they do not know me. They are stupid children, without understanding. They are wise in doing evil but do not know how to do good. I looked at the earth, and there — void and emptiness; and to the heavens, and these had no light. (Jeremiah 4:22-23, 25)

Footnotes:

662. All that is on the earth will pass away symbolizes the people who were part of that church and who adopted its nature. As demonstrated earlier [§§566-567, 620], the earth does not mean the whole inhabited world, only the part that constituted the church. So the verse is not referring to any kind of flood, let alone a worldwide one. It is talking about the death, the "drowning," of those in the church who were cut off from the remnant within them and consequently from any comprehension of truth or will to do good; which is to say that they were cut off from the heavens.

Scriptural passages quoted earlier attest to the symbolism of the earth or land as the area where the church existed, and so as the inhabitants of that area. ¹ The following verses also confirm the symbolism. In Jeremiah:

This is what Jehovah has said: "The whole earth will be stripped bare, yet I will not make a full end. Because of this the earth will mourn and the heavens above will be draped in black." (Jeremiah 4:27-28)

The earth stands for residents in the area where the church, which had been devastated, existed. In Isaiah:

I will shake heaven, and the earth will quake out of its place. (Isaiah 13:13)

The earth here stands for an individual in the church's territory who is to suffer devastating experiences. In Jeremiah:

The people stabbed by Jehovah will on that day reach from the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth. (Jeremiah 25:33)

The ends of the earth here do not mean the entire globe but only the tract of land where the church was. So they symbolize the people who belonged to the church. In the same author:

I am calling for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the land. Upheaval has come all the way to the ends of the earth, because Jehovah has a quarrel against the nations. (Jeremiah 25:29, 31)

Again it is not the whole globe that is meant but only the territory of the church and so the inhabitant there, that is, a person who belongs to the church. In this passage the nations stand for falsities. In Isaiah:

Watch: Jehovah is leaving his place to exact punishment for wickedness in the inhabitant of the land. (Isaiah 26:21)

The meaning here is similar. In the same author:

Are you not listening? Has it not been pointed out to you from the beginning? Do you not understand the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

In the same author:

Jehovah is creating the heavens; he is God, forming the earth and making it; he is also establishing it. (Isaiah 45:18)

The earth stands for a member of the church. In Zechariah:

This is the saying of Jehovah as he stretches out the heavens and founds the earth and forms the human spirit in the middle of it. (Zechariah 12:1)

Plainly the earth stands for a person in the church.

The earth (or land) is distinguished from the ground, just as a person in the church is distinguished from the church itself, or as love is distinguished from faith.

Footnotes: