Verse 19 presents the closing scene--the temple of God opened in heaven. It was the new temple, the vision of that which was measured for preservation in chapter 11:1. It was the “ true tabernacle” of Hebrews 8:2; Hebrews 9:13; Hebrews 10:9. It was only re-introduced here, without further description, to become a part of second series of visions. In this new temple was disclosed the ark of his testament. In the Jewish temple of John’ s time, yet standing, there was no ark of covenant “ within the veil.” It had long been lost. But in the vision of the restored temple--the true spiritual temple (Hebrews 8:2), which supersedes the temple made with hands, there reappears the holiest and most sacred of all the treasures of the old tabernacle--the ark of the covenant. It symbolized that what was lost in the old is restored in the new--and the apostate Jewish state yielded its place to the complete restoration and perfection in the New Testament church of Christ. The curtains fall in the last words of this first vision: And there were lightnings, voices, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail. These things followed all that had gone before in the vision. When the seventh trumpet sounded, the vision ended with lightnings, voices, thunders, an earthquake, and hail, which all at once came, as the sign to John that the revelation had not ended with the first vision. The great crisis just passed was to be followed by more of the same symbolism-- and the heaven of this vision was therefore still open with the close of chapter 11. But the beast that was, and was not, of chapter 13:8, yet is--he would again be active. Thus chapter 11 ends the first sequence of events. T h e second begins with chapter 12, and repeats the imagery in another but similar set of symbols, extending the same events and experiences.