1447. That 'He said, To your seed will I give this land' means that celestial things would be granted to those who had faith in Him is clear from the meaning of 'land' and from the meaning of 'land'. That 'seed' means faith in the Lord has been shown already in 255, 256, and that 'land' means celestial things has also been shown above at verse 1 of this chapter, and in 620, 636, 662, 1066. In the sense of the fetter 'the seed of Abram' is used to mean descendants through Jacob, and 'land' the land of Canaan itself which was to be given to them as a possession, for the reason that they might represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom and Church and that among them a representative Church might be established, and because the Lord was to be born in that land. But in the internal sense nothing else is meant by 'seed' then faith in the Lord, and by 'land' nothing else than celestial things, and here in particular that celestial things were to be granted to those who had faith in Him. What is meant by having faith in the Lord has been stated many times already.

256. Not only faith but also the Lord Himself is called 'the seed of the woman', because for one thing He alone imparts faith and so is faith itself, and for another He chose to be born, and in particular to be born within a Church which, on account of self-love and love of the world, had sunk completely into a hellish and devilish proprium. He did so in order that from His own Divine Power He might within His own Human Essence unite the Divine Celestial Proprium to the human proprium, so that they became one within Himself. Had He not united them the world would have perished completely. Since the Lord is accordingly 'the Seed of the woman', the seed is called 'He' and not 'it'.