Revelation 11:19 Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. And the temple of God was opened in heaven. This temple is not New Jerusalem, which is still above, the mother of us all \ And shall come down from God out of heaven. \ For in that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. \ St. John saw no temple therein; for the Lord, the God, the Almighty is the temple of it, even the Lamb. \ o yeov; pantokratwr, naov authv authv; kai to arnion But this temple is that which St. John was commanded to measure, verse 1 of this chapter, \ viz. the true, visible, constituted, organized churches of saints in the apostles days (whereof see more in our exposition on the first verse of this chapter) See KNOLLYS: Revelation 11:1 which are called the Temple of God \ And after that I looked, and behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; And there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament This ark bears some allusion unto that ark in the temple of God’ s tabernacle called the sanctuary. \ And in the temple of the house of the Lord, which Solomon built. \ There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. Compare 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 with Revelation 15:5-8 wherein you have the full allusion. By the ark of his testament we are to understand Christ, in whom is safely laid up the new covenant of grace; or the testament of the gospel; for all the promises of God in him are Yea, and in him, Amen. \ And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail By these metaphorical expressions, are signified the ruins and destructions of all those nations, kingdoms, potentates, powers, kings, princes and people, that oppose the Church of God, and the Kingdom of Christ on earth in that day \ And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever \ For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish;  yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. \ The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the highest gave his voice, hailstones and coals of fire: Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomforted them; especially the righteous judgments and plagues of God upon mystical Babylon in that day of her desolation. Compare Revelation 16:18-21 with Revelation 18:2-21. Lastly, by the voices here we are to understand those alleluia’ s expressed \ and after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, alleluia;  salvation, and glory, and honour, and power unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments;  for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, alleluia. And her smoke rose up forever and ever. -And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. All which things will be more fully manifested in our exposition of the sixteenth chapter of this Book of the Revelation. See KNOLLYS: Revelation 16:1[ff]