9681. Verses 34-37 And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark of the Testimony in the holy of holies. And you shall place the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table, at the side of the dwelling-place towards the south; and you shall put the table on the north side. And you shall make a screen for the tent door from violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of shittim [wood], and you shall overlay them with gold; and their hooks [shall be made] from gold; and you shall cast for them five bases of bronze.

'And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark of the Testimony in the holy of holies' means the hearing and reception of all things which in the inmost heaven belong to worship arising from the good of love from the Lord. 'And you shall place the table outside the veil' means influx through heavenly blessings belonging to love. 'And the lampstand across from the table, at the side of the dwelling-place towards the south' means the enlightenment of the spiritual kingdom by means of the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human to those who are governed by good. 'And you shall put the table on the north side' means good dwelling in obscurity. 'And you shall make a screen for the tent door' means the intermediary uniting the second or middle heaven to the first or lowest heaven. 'From violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet and fine twined linen' means composed of the good of charity and faith. 'The work of an embroiderer' means things that belong to factual knowledge. 'And you shall make for the screen five pillars of shittim [wood]' means a sufficient amount of support provided by the uniting intermediary through the good of merit belonging to the Lord's Divine Human. 'And you shall overlay them with gold' means a representative sign of the good. 'And their hooks [shall be made] from gold' means the modes by which they are linked together through good. 'And you shall cast for them five bases of bronze' means power derived from external good.

408. Once the Church has been so vastated that faith exists no longer a fresh start is made, that is, new light begins to shine, which in the Word is called 'the morning'. The reason new light or the morning does not shine before the Church has been vastated is that the things constituting faith and charity have been mingled with things that are unholy, and as long as they are mingled no light or charity can possibly be introduced, for tares are ruining all the good seed. But once faith is no more, it is no longer possible for faith to be profaned, since people do not believe what is said. People who do not acknowledge and believe something but merely know it are, as stated already, incapable of profaning it. A similar situation exists at the present time in the case of Jews who, because they live among Christians, cannot help knowing that the Lord is acknowledged by Christians to be the Messiah whom they, the Jews, have been waiting for and are awaiting still. Yet they are incapable of profaning because they do not acknowledge and believe these matters. Nor, in a similar way, can Moslems and gentiles who have heard about the Lord do so. This was the reason why the Lord did not come into the world until the Jewish Church had ceased to acknowledge and believe anything.