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.
