1056. And they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder, signifies those of that religious persuasion who reject the Word. This is evident from the signification of "they that dwell upon the earth," as being those who are of that religious persuasion; for the "earth" signifies the church, but here a religious persuasion because there is no church, since there is a church only where the Lord is worshiped and the Word is read. That those who reject the Word are meant is clear from what follows, namely, that they are those "whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world," and are those "who saw the beast that was and is not, and yet is," "beast" signifying the Word (as above); therefore they wonder that the Word still is, although it was and is not.

(Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation)

[2] The love of having dominion by the holy things of the church as means wholly shuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts towards the outmosts, according to the kind and extent of that love. But to make clear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about the interiors belonging to the human mind. Man has a spiritual mind, a rational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind. By means of the spiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form. By means of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its least form. Heaven with man communicates with the world in him by means of the rational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind. The sensual mind is the first to be opened with man after his birth; after that the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent the rational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind. And at length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as the head, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves as a neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes like the sole of the foot.

[3] With infants the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of the inflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened. But with those who begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of having dominion by means of the holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is wholly shut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, even to the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose. And thus they become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in things spiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all in worldly and thus in civil matters. That they are so stupid in spiritual things they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believe these things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and malice to be wisdom. And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind and extent of their lust of having dominion and of exercising it, also according to the kind and extent of the persuasion that they are holy, and according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that they profane.

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.