46. The literal meaning of the Word is symbolized by the veils and curtains of the tabernacle.

The tabernacle represented heaven and the church, which is why its form was outlined by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Because of this, everything in the tabernacle - the lampstands, the golden altar of incense, the table for the showbread - represented and therefore referred to holy matters of heaven and the church; and the most holy place, where the ark of the covenant was, represented and therefore referred to the very heart of heaven and the church. Further, the actual law written on the two stone tablets and kept in the ark meant the Lord as the Word. Now, since outer things get their essence from inner things, and both outer and inner things get their essence from the very center, which in this instance was the law, everything in the tabernacle also represented and referred to the holy contents of the Word. It then follows that the outermost features of the tabernacle, the veils and curtains that were coverings and enclosures, meant the outermost features of the Word, which are the true and good elements of its literal meaning. Because this is what they meant, all the curtains and veils were made of fine linen tightly woven, and of blue, purple, and double-dyed scarlet [thread], [and were embroidered] with angel guardians (Exodus 26:1, 31, 36).

The general and specific symbolism and meaning of the tabernacle and everything in it has been explained in the treatment of this chapter in Secrets of Heaven [9593-9692]. It is explained there that the curtains and veils represented outward features of the church and therefore also outward features of the Word. The linen or fine linen meant truth of a spiritual origin, blue meant truth of a heavenly origin, purple meant heavenly goodness, double-dyed scarlet meant spiritual goodness, and angel guardians meant protection for the inner contents of the Word.

205. In sequential order the first degree constitutes the highest element, and the third the lowest; but in concurrent order the first degree constitutes the inmost element, and the third the outmost. Discrete degrees exist in sequential order and in concurrent order. The sequential order of these degrees extends from highest to lowest, or from top to bottom. In such an order are the angelic heavens. The third heaven in this order is the highest, the second heaven is intermediate, and the first heaven is the lowest. That is their situation in relation to each other.

In a like sequential order in the heavens are the states of love and wisdom in angels, and likewise their states of warmth and light, and also those of the spiritual atmospheres. In a like order are all perfections of the forms and forces there.

[2] When degrees of height or discrete degrees are in sequential order, they may then be likened to a column or tower divided into three levels through which one may ascend or descend, whose uppermost story contains things most perfect and beautiful, the intermediate story things less perfect and beautiful, and the lowest story things still less perfect and beautiful.

[3] Concurrent order, on the other hand, which consists of like degrees, has a different appearance. In it the highest constituents of sequential order - which, as we said, are the most perfect and beautiful - are at the core, its lower constituents in an interjacent area surrounding that, and its lowest constituents on the periphery. They are like concentric layers in a solid object consisting of three such degrees, whose core or center contains the finest elements, round about which are elements less fine, and in the outmost parts which form the surface, elements composed of these, and thus cruder. It may be likened to the column or tower referred to just above sinking down into a single plane, whose highest level then forms the inmost degree, its intermediate level the interjacent degree round about, and its lowest level the outmost degree.