Ark of the Covenant and the Third Woe

John’s First Vision of the Second Coming

The Time of the Dead

Christ will return to earth in glory at the end of the Third Woe.

Revelation 11:18 identifies the Third Woe as the time of the dead—

• a time of physical death to all mortal people living telestial law (Revelation 19:21),
• and spiritual death to all spirit sons of perdition (Revelation 19:20; 20:1–3).

Unlike the Second Woe, where only a third part of wicked people will die (Revelation 9:15, 18), death is the decreed judgment for all wicked people and evil spirits—collectively referred to as the angry nations.

“[The Lord] is going to come in the day of wickedness, in the day of judgment, and when vengeance against the ungodly is in his heart. At that time he will cleanse the earth of its unrighteousness, and we are told there will be ‘few men left.’”

— Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1930, p. 24

The Temple of God Opens in Heaven

During the time of the dead, John looked heavenward in Revelation 11:19 and said: “The temple of God was opened in heaven.” This image represents “the sign of the Son of Man,” which John mentions again in Revelation 15:1, saying: “I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous.” (See also Rev 15:5)

Joseph Smith clarified this sign:

“After the tribulation of those days, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.”
Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:36

The sign of the Son of Man will be given at the end of the Second Woe and start of the Third Woe, just before the Seven Vial Plagues bring physical death to wicked people and spiritual death to evil spirits, respectively.

The Veil of the Temple Parts

The temple in heaven symbolically opens in John’s vision as the veil or curtain of heaven rolls back like a scroll at the Second Coming to reveal Jesus Christ.

“The day is fast approaching when ‘the curtain of heaven [shall] be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled’ [D&C 88:95]. This is called ‘the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth,’ and it ‘shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me’ [D&C 101:23], declared the Lord.”

— Joseph Fielding McConkie & Donald W. Parry, A Guide to Scriptural Symbols, p. 36

When the veil of the heavenly temple parted in Revelation 11:19, John saw what he would expect if the veil in Herod’s temple had parted in Jerusalem: the heavenly Holy of Holies with the ark of the testament.

This gold covered ark of the covenant symbolizes Christ and His enduring covenant to bless and protect His righteous people. The covenant is symbolized by the items located inside the ark including

• The stone tablets with the 10 Commandments,
• The pot of manna, representing Christ as the bread of life,
• The rod of Aaron, that budded in the wilderness as a sign of eternal life to the faithful followers of Jehovah and his ordained servants.

The covenants represented by the ark of the testament will be fully realized at Christ’s Second Coming.

Learn More

For a deeper dive into the imagery from Revelation 11:18–19, listen to my podcasts from:

🎧 September 7, 2025 – → Click here to listen.

 🎧 September 9, 2025 – → Click here to listen.

(Also available wherever you get your podcasts 🎧)

John Cassinat
Unveiling Jesus Christ