'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because there is no truth. 'Wilderness,' as in Jeremiah 23:10, signifies the Word when it is adulterated.

(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 1927)

1632. I have spoken to angels about representatives, suggesting that the vegetable kingdom on earth included nothing that was not in some way representative of the Lord's kingdom. They replied that everything beautiful and glorious in the vegetable kingdom has its origin in the Lord by way of heaven; and that when celestial and spiritual influences from the Lord enter nature, such things are really created, and that this is the origin of the vegetative soul or life. Consequently they are representative. Since this is not known in the world they called it a heavenly arcanum.