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.

3251. 'These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived' means the state representative of the Lord as regards the Divine itself that was portrayed by means of Abraham. This is clear from the meaning of 'days' and of 'years' as states, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and from the meaning here of 'life' also as state, dealt with in 2904, here as the representative states portrayed by means of Abraham. Indeed his whole life as described in the Word was representative, the end of which life is the subject now. The consideration that Abraham represented the Lord as regards the Divine itself has been shown in the explanations that have been given, and so as to represent Him he was named Abraham - the letter H, taken from the name Jehovah, having been inserted, 2010. Abraham represented both the Divine itself, which is called the Father, and the Divine Human, which is referred to as the Son. He accordingly represented the Lord as regards both, though the Divine Human represented by Him was the Divine Human existing from eternity, of which the Lord was the manifestation and to which He subordinated the Human born in time when He glorified it. This is the representation of the Lord portrayed by means of Abraham.