And the temple sanctuary of God that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple sanctuary. And there occurred lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and a great hail.”

Jehovah God, the Almighty, as the present Possessor of the “kingdom of the world,” has come to his temple sanctuary. His presence in that holy place was symbolized by the sacred receptacle, called “the ark of his covenant.” Just the size and shape of this “ark” are not described for us by the viewer, the Christian apostle John; but it represented the presence of the Lord God, whom it is impossible for us to see and to describe fully in human language. This symbolic “ark” is the ark of the “new covenant” of God with men, which has been in force since the year 33 C.E.

5. Historically, what is a temple, and at what temple must all nations worship in order to gain endless life?

⁵ The records of history show that a temple is a building or place that is dedicated to the service and worship of a deity or deities. In the case of the symbolic “ark of his covenant,” the temple sanctuary is that of Jehovah God, the Almighty. It is to this divine temple that all the nations must yet come to worship unitedly, even if it is necessary to bring the peoples of the nations back from the dead by the promised resurrection of the righteous ones and the unrighteous. (Rev. 11:18; Acts 24:15) This is the one and only way by which the peoples of all the nations can gain endless life on our earth, which will be duly transformed into a global paradise. They must all recognize and worship and serve the divine Holder of the “kingdom of the world,” who will rule as King at his temple sanctuary forever and ever.​—Rev. 11:15.

6, 7. What question arises as to the worshiping at this temple by inhabitants of Paradise, and what did Solomon say about God’s dwelling in a temple building?

⁶ Does this worship, in being carried on in a paradise earth, mean that the peoples of the nations will not go to heaven? If they do not do so, how can they go to God’s temple, inasmuch as Revelation 11:19 speaks of it as “the temple sanctuary of God that is in heaven”?

The ark of the covenant was the sacred thing toward which the high priest of God sprinkled the blood of the sin-atoning sacrifices on the annual Day of Atonement. In this way the ark represented the throne of Jehovah God in the heavens. In keeping with this fact, the Most Holy of the temple, where the ark was located, pictured that part of the limitless heavens where God has his holy residence. That place is large enough to contain Him.

[Picture on page 712]

Solomon’s temple, as well as the tabernacle, typified God’s spiritual temple​—the arrangement for approaching Jehovah in worship on the basis of Jesus’ propitiatory sacrifice