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.

3254. 'In a good old age, an old man and full [of years]' means a new state of representation. This is clear from the meaning of 'old age' in the internal sense as laying aside the old and taking up the new, dealt with in 1854, 2198, 3016. The reason why that which is new, or a new state, is meant by 'old age' in the internal sense is that with angels for whose sake the internal sense of the Word exists there is no concept of time, and so no concept of things that belong to time, such as the ages of man, which are those of infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Instead of all these they have the concept of states - instead of the time of infancy they have the concept of the state of innocence; instead of the time of childhood and adolescence the concept of the state of affection for goodness and truth; instead of adulthood the concept of the state of intelligence; and instead of old age the concept of the state of wisdom, 3183. And since, when he dies, a person passes from things belonging to time into those of the life where time does not exist, and in so doing he assumes a new state, 'old age' means that which is new, here a new representative; for it is to this representation involving Abraham that 'old age', and also 'an old man and full [of years]' have reference, as may become clear from what has been stated just above.