AE 700 - the ark of His Covenant

AE 700 [2-5]
And there was seen in His temple the ark of His Covenant,
(Revelation 11:19)

That the ark with the covenant or testimony enclosed,
signifies the Lord in respect to the celestial Divine
which is Divine truth in the inmost or third heaven,
can be seen from what is said of the ark in the Word.
As in Moses:

They shall make Me a sanctuary,
that I may dwell in the midst of them,
according to all that I have shown thee,
the form of the habitation.
First, they shall make an ark of shittim wood;
and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,
within and without shalt thou overlay it;
and thou shalt make for it a border of gold;
four rings of gold for the staves.
And thou shalt put into the ark
the testimony that I will give thee.
And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold;
and thou shalt make two cherubim of gold,
solid shalt thou make them out of the mercy-seat
that the cherubim may spread out their wings,
and cover the mercy-seat with their wings;
and their faces shall be towards the mercy-seat.
And thou shalt put the testimony into the ark;
and there I will meet with thee,
and I will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat,
from between the two cherubim
which are upon the ark of the Testimony,
of all things which I shall command thee
unto the sons of Israel.
 (Exodus 25:8-22)

Thou shalt make a veil of hyacinthine and purple,
and scarlet double dyed, and fine twined linen, with cherubim.
Thou shalt put it upon four pillars of shittim overlaid with gold;
and thou shalt place the veil under the clasps;
and thou shalt bring in thither within the veil
the ark of the Testimony;
so that the veil shall divide unto you
between the holy place and the holy of holies;
and thou shalt put the veil before the ark in the holy of holies.
(Exodus 26:31-34)

It was said above that the tent where there were the ark,
the lampstand,
the table for the loaves,
and the altar for incense, together with the court,
represented the three heavens,
and that the place within the veil where the ark was
that contained the law or testimony,
represented the third heaven.
That place represented that heaven,
because the law was there,
and the "law" means the Lord
in relation to Divine truth or the Word,
for this in a broad sense is what that "law" signifies,
and it is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord
that forms the heavens.
This is received in the greatest purity
by the angels of the third heaven,
because they are in conjunction with the Lord
through love to Him,
since all angels in that heaven are in love to the Lord;
consequently they see Divine truth in themselves,
like something implanted,
although it flows in continually from the Lord.
For this reason that heaven
more than the other heavens which are below it,
is said to be in the Lord,
because it is in the Divine that proceeds from Him.

It was that heaven that was represented
by the ark that contained the law,
that is, the Lord.
This is why the ark was overlaid with gold within and without,
and the mercy-seat was over the ark,
and over the mercy-seat and out of it were
the two cherubim which were of pure gold;
for gold signifies from correspondence the good of love,
in which are the angels of the third heaven.
The "mercy-seat" signified the hearing and reception
of all things of the worship
that is from the good of love from the Lord;
and the "cherubim" signified the Lord's providence and guard
that He be not approached except through the good of love.
That heaven with its angels
is a guard against anything being elevated to the Lord Himself
except what proceeds
from the good of love to Him and from Him.
For all worship of God
passes through the heavens even to the Lord,
and is purified in the way,
until it is elevated to the third heaven,
and there it reaches the Lord and is received by Him;
everything else, being impure, is removed on the way.
This is why cherubim of gold were placed over the mercy-seat,
which was over the ark;
also why that place was called a sanctuary,
and also the holy of holies,
and was divided from the outer part of the tabernacle
by the veil.

That the tent with the court represented the three heavens
is evident also from this,
that all things instituted among the sons of Israel
were representatives of heavenly things;
for the church itself was a representative church;
thus especially the tabernacle with the altar
was the most holy thing of worship;
for worship was celebrated upon the altar
by burnt-offerings and sacrifices,
and in the tabernacle by incense offerings,
and by the lamps that were lighted every day,
and by the loaves that were placed in order daily upon the table.
All these represented all worship in heaven and in the church,
and the tent itself with the ark
represented the heavens themselves.
For this reason that tabernacle was called
"the dwelling place of Jehovah God,"
as heaven itself is called.
That the heavens were represented by the tabernacle
is evident also from this,
that the form of it was shown to Moses
by the Lord upon Mount Sinai,
and what is shown in form by the Lord
must represent either heaven or the things belonging to heaven.
That the form of the tabernacle
was shown to Moses upon Mount Sinai,
can be seen from what was said to Moses:

Let them make Me a sanctuary,
that I may dwell In the midst of them,
according to all that I have shown thee,
the form of the habitation.
[And afterwards:]  See and make them in their form
which thou wast made to see in the mount.
(Exodus 25:8, 9, 40)

That is why it is called "a sanctuary,"
and it is said "that I may dwell in the midst of them."

The holiness itself of the whole tabernacle
was from the testimony, that is,
from the two tables of stone on which the law was written,
because "the law" signified the Lord in relation to Divine truth,
and thus in relation to the Word,
for that is Divine truth.
That the Lord is the Word is evident from what is said in John:

The Word was with God,
and God was the Word,
and the Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us.
(John 1:1, 2, 14)