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.

800. The meaning of all flesh creeping on the earth passed away as the fact that those who belonged to the final generation of the earliest church died out can be seen from later sections that describe their delusions and desires [§§803, 806, 808].

Here for the first time they are called flesh creeping on the earth, because they became obsessed with sensory and bodily matters. The earliest people compared sense impressions and bodily concerns to creeping animals, as noted earlier [§§195-197], so that when the text mentions flesh creeping on the earth, it symbolizes the kind of people who have become entirely absorbed in what is sensory and bodily.

Previous statements and evidence [§574] have shown that flesh symbolizes everyone, when used in a broad sense, and body-centered people, when used in a narrow sense.

574. The symbolism of flesh as the fact that people became body-centered is established by the symbolism of flesh in the Word, where it is taken to mean both every person in general and a body-centered one in particular.

Flesh is understood as implying all people, in Joel:

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. (Joel 2:28)

The flesh stands for people; the spirit, for truth and goodness flowing in from the Lord. In David:

Hearer of prayers, to you will all flesh come. (Psalms 65:2)

Here flesh stands for all people. In Jeremiah:

Cursed will the man be who trusts in humankind and uses flesh as his arm. (Jeremiah 17:5)

Flesh stands for people, the arm for power. In Ezekiel:

... so that all flesh will know ... (Ezekiel 21:4-5)

In Zechariah:

Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah. (Zechariah 2:13)

Here flesh stands for all people.

[2] Flesh is understood as particularly implying a body-centered person, in Isaiah:

The Egyptian is human and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. (Isaiah 31:3)

This stands for the fact that their knowledge was limited to the bodily level. Horses here and elsewhere in the Word stand for the rational level. In the same author:

They will withdraw to the right and be hungry and will eat on the left and not get enough. They will each eat the flesh of their own arm. (Isaiah 9:20)

Flesh stands here for the things that are our own, which are all on the bodily level. In the same author:

From soul to flesh he shall consume [it all]. (Isaiah 10:18)

The flesh stands for bodily preoccupations. In the same author:

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed and all flesh will see it together. A voice says, "Shout!" And he said, "What shall I shout?" "All flesh is grass!" (Isaiah 40:5-6)

Flesh stands for all body-oriented people.

[3] In the same author:

Jehovah will argue his case by fire, and argue it with all flesh by his sword; and the number of those stabbed by Jehovah will multiply. (Isaiah 66:16)

Fire stands for punishment inflicted on corrupt desire, the sword for punishment inflicted on falsity, and flesh for bodily preoccupations. In David:

God remembered that they were flesh, a spirit wandering, never to return. (Psalms 78:39)

This is about the people in the wilderness craving flesh, or meat (Numbers 11:32-33, 34), describing them as body-centered. Their yearning for flesh represented the fact that they desired only bodily rewards.