669. 15:5 After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. This symbolically means that the inmost of heaven appeared, where the Lord is present in His holiness in the Word and in the Law contained in the Ten Commandments.

In the highest sense, the temple symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and consequently heaven and the church (nos. 191, 529), here the Christian heaven. The tabernacle of the testimony symbolizes the inmost of that heaven, where the Lord resides in His holiness in the Word and in the Law contained in the Ten Commandments, since the Tabernacle likewise symbolizes heaven (no. 585); and the inmost of the Tabernacle was where the Ark was placed, containing the two tablets on which were written by the finger of God the ten precepts that constitute the ten commandments of the Decalogue, which are meant by the testimony here and are also called the Testimony. And it is apparent from this that John's saying, "I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened," means symbolically that the inmost of heaven appeared, where the Lord is present in His holiness in the Law contained in the Ten Commandments.

The tabernacle of the testimony symbolizes also where the Word exists because the term "testimony" is used not only of the Law contained in the Ten Commandments, but of the whole Word as well, and of the Lord as the embodiment of the Word, because the Word testifies concerning Him (nos. 490, 555).

[2] That the Word exists in heaven, in a repository in the inmost of heaven called a sanctuary, and that the light there is blazing and brilliant, surpassing in intensity any light in heaven outside that sanctuary, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 70-75. And with respect to the sanctuary, no. 73 there.

Regarding the holiness of the Law contained in the Ten Commandments, see The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem in Accordance With the Commandments of the Decalogue, nos. 53-61.

To be shown that the Ark containing the two tablets of the Decalogue constituted the sanctuary or inmost of the Temple in Jerusalem, and so the tabernacle there, see 1 Kings 6:19-28; 8:3-9.

That the Law contained in the Ten Commandments was called the Testimony is clear from the following passages:

Moses... went down..., and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand... The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. (Exodus 32:15-16)

...two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

(Jehovah said,) "You shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you." (Exodus 25:16, 21-22)

Then (Moses) took the Testimony and put it into the ark... (Exodus 40:20)

...that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony... (Leviticus 16:13)

(Jehovah said to Moses,) "You shall place (the rods)...before the Testimony... And... Aaron's rod before the Testimony...." (Numbers 17:4, 10)

And Moses left the rods before Jehovah... (Numbers 17:7)

The Ark is called the Ark of testimony in Exodus 31:7, and the Tabernacle is called the Tabernacle of the Testimony in Exodus 38:21.

490. "And I will give power to my two witnesses." (11:3) This symbolizes those people who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, whose humanity is Divine, and who are conjoined with Him by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

These are the people meant here by the two witnesses because these two characteristics are the two essential elements of the New Church.

Regarding the first essential, that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, whose humanity is Divine - that this is a testimony, and therefore that those people are witnesses who confess and acknowledge this from the heart, may be seen in nos. 6 and 846, and still further from the following:

I am your fellow servant... of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus... For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)

(Michael's angels) overcame (the dragon) by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of His testimony... And the dragon... went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:11, 17)

...the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God... (Revelation 20:4)

These are people who have acknowledged the Lord.

The testimony is called the testimony of Jesus because the Lord attests to it on the authority of His Word, thus on the authority of Himself. Therefore He is called the faithful and true witness (Revelation 1:5; 3:14); and He says,

...I testify of Myself, (and) My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going. (John 8:14)

Also,

When the Counselor comes..., the spirit of truth..., it will testify of Me. (John 15:26)

The Counselor, the spirit of truth, which is also the Holy Spirit, is an emanating Divinity, and this is the Lord Himself, as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 46-54.

Now because the Lord Himself is the witness, therefore witnesses also mean people who bear the same testimony on behalf of the Lord, as in John:

(Jesus said,) "You have sent to John, and he was a witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man... (John 5:33-34)

(John) came as testimony, to testify concerning the light... He was not that light, but was sent to testify concerning the light. (The Word that was with God, and was God,) was the true light... (John 1:1-2ff.; see also 1:14, 1:34)

[2] Regarding the second essential of the New Church, namely conjunction with the Lord by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments - that this is a testimony is apparent from the fact that the Ten Commandments are called a testimony, as in the following:

You shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you. (Exodus 25:16)

...the Testimony...(Moses) put into the ark... (Exodus 40:20)

...the mercy seat that is upon the Testimony... (Leviticus 16:13)

(Leave the rods of the tribes) before the Testimony... (Numbers 17:4)

And so, too, elsewhere, as in Exodus 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15, Psalms 78:5; 132:12.

[3] We will say something here regarding conjunction with the Lord by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments:

There are two tables on which these commandments were written, one for the Lord and one for mankind. The contents of the first table declare that several gods are not to be worshiped, but only one. The contents of the second table declare that evils are not to be done. When one God is worshiped and people do not do evils, conjunction takes place. For in the measure that a person desists from evils, that is, in the measure that he repents, he is in the same measure accepted by God and does good from God.

But who, now, is the one God? A trinal or triune God is not one God when the trine or trinity exists in three persons. But a God who has a trine or trinity in one person is one God, and that God is the Lord. Weave your ideas as you may, you still will not extricate from the tangle the existence of one God unless He is also one in person.

The fact of this is something the whole Word teaches, both the Old Prophetic Word and the New Apostolic Word, as may be clearly seen from The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.