362. I heard the second animal saying. That this signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord, is clear from what was said above (n. 353); for by the animals are meant the cherubim, and the cherubim signify, in the highest sense, the Lord as to Providence, and as to defence, that He may not be approached except by means of the good of love; and in a respective sense, the inmost heaven (see above, n. 152, 277, 313, 322). The reason why the cherubim also signify the inmost heaven, is, because this heaven is in the good of love to the Lord, and the Lord cannot be approached except through the heavens, and into the inmost or third heaven there is not anything admitted which does not savour of the good of that heaven. The reason there were four animals or cherubim, is, because four signifies conjunction into one, and such is the conjunction with those who are there; for the Lord thus conjoins them by love to Him from Him. Hence it is that four were seen. From these things it is also evident, that the same is here meant by the second animal as by the first, and also by the third and fourth in the verses following. (That four signifies conjunction, may be seen in n. 1686, 8877, 9601, 9674.)

9481. 'In accordance with all that I show you, the pattern of the dwelling-place' means a representative of heaven where the Lord is. This is clear from the meaning of 'the pattern of the dwelling-place' as a representative of heaven; for 'the pattern' means a representative, and 'the dwelling-place' means heaven. The reason why 'the pattern' means a representative is that Divine realities in heaven are also manifested in visible shapes, which are representatives. For the meaning of 'the dwelling-place' as heaven where the Lord is, see 8269, 8309. What the representatives that appear in heaven are like is clear in the prophets, for example in John's Book of Revelation, in which he describes lampstands, Chapter 1:12ff; a throne with twenty-four thrones around it, and four living creatures before the throne, Chapter 4:2ff; a book sealed with seven seals, Chapter 5; horses going out when the seals were opened, Chapter 6; angels who are clothed in various ways and have bowls, Chapters 9, 10, 15, 16; a white horse, Chapter 19; and at length a new Jerusalem, its walls, gates, foundations, height, breadth, and length, Chapters 21, 22. Similar sights are also described by other prophets.

[2] All those sights are representatives such as appear unceasingly in heaven before angels' eyes, manifesting in visible shapes the Divine celestial realities that belong to the good of love and the Divine spiritual realities that belong to the good of faith. Such realities taken all together were represented by the tabernacle and its contents, that is, the ark itself, the table on which loaves were laid, the altar of incense, the lampstand, and everything else. Therefore when these objects, being outward forms of Divine celestial and spiritual realities, were beheld by the people while they were engaged in holy acts of worship, such realities as were represented by those objects were brought to notice in heaven. These, as stated above, were the Divine celestial realities that belong to the good of love to the Lord and the Divine spiritual realities that belong to the good of faith in the Lord. All the representatives of that Church had that kind of effect in heaven. It should be realized that a person always has spirits and angels present with him and that a person cannot live without them. It should likewise be realized that through them the person is linked to the Lord, and that in this way the human race, and heaven too, is kept in being. From this one can see what purpose was served by the representatives and also the ritual observances of the Church established among the Israelite nation. One can also see what purpose is served by the Word, in which all things mentioned in the sense of the letter correspond to Divine realities that exist in heaven, thus in which all the objects mentioned are representative and all the words used carry a spiritual meaning. This is what brings about the linking of a person to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord. Without that link the person would have no life whatever, for without being linked to the actual Essential Being (Esse) of life, from which the Coming-into-Being (Existere) of life emanates, no one has life.

[3] But these considerations are unintelligible to those who think that life exists essentially in a person himself and that a person lives without spirits or angels, thus without influx from the Divine by way of heaven. But in actual fact anything that is not linked to the Divine perishes and ceases to exist. Indeed nothing can ever come into being without that which is prior to itself, thus without the Divine, who is the First and is self-existent Being (Esse) or Jehovah; nor consequently can it remain in being, for remaining in being is constant coming-into-being. Because 'the dwelling-place' means heaven where the Lord is, it also means the good of love and faith, since these compose heaven; and because all good comes from the Lord, and heaven is called heaven by virtue of its love to and faith in the Lord, 'the dwelling-place' also means in the highest sense the Lord, as is evident in Isaiah 63:15; Jeremiah 25:30; Ezekiel 37:26-27; Psalms 26:8; 43:3; 90:1; 91:9; Exodus 15:13; Deuteronomy 12:5, 11; and other places. From this it is clear that the tabernacle was called Jehovah's sanctuary and dwelling-place for the reason that it represented the realities mentioned above.