Own
In many cases, the spiritual meaning of "own," both as a verb and as an adjective, is relatively literal. When people are described as the "Lord's own," however, it specifically means those people who know Him and have His Word. This has taken various forms since the dawn of humanity; in the prehistoric church known as the "Most Ancient Church" the Lord's truth -- the direct expression of His love -- flowed into people directly. In the Ancient Church the Lord's Word was recognized in nature and in the form of deeply representative stories, some of which were passed on to us in the early chapters of Genesis. Among the Children of Israel the Lord's Word was expressed through the Ten Commandments, the laws of Moses, the very history of the nation of Israel and the various psalms and prophecies. The early Christians had those stories along with the teaching and inspiration of Jesus himself. We now have the whole Bible, including the teachings of Jesus, and can understand the Bible's true meaning. Each of these churches, then, was at some point the Lord's own.
The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms # 152
152. Internal Meaning of Ezekiel, Chapter 29
1-3 Of the natural man who, in things Divine, trusts nothing but His knowledges [scientifica]. (2)
4-5 Such will pervert the truths of the church by applying their knowledges to falsities. (2, 1)
6-7 Because truths have been perverted in this manner, all power, which is of truth, has been destroyed in their case, (3, 16)
8-12 and all truth will be utterly devastated, until they will no longer have truth. (3)
13-16 Nevertheless something of a church will be established out of those who are natural and in knowledges [scientifica]. (11)
17-18 Reasonings from knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man will not destroy knowledges [cognitiones] of truth with them; (11)
19-20 but these will be destroyed by reasonings from the natural man with those who trust knowledges [scientifica] alone, and have perverted the truths of the church. (2)
21 Those who are of the church that the Lord will establish will have truths of doctrine. (11, 11)
