The Levitical system practiced in the temple in Jerusalem (or, the tabernacle in the wilderness) was intended to be a instructional system that reflected the heavenly reality. The temple (or, tabernacle) was a hupodeigmati, or a “copy,” “model,” or “example,” and, a skiai, or a “shadow.” The heavenly realm with its eternal truths was shown Moses on Mount Sinai and he was instructed to construct a model of what is in heaven:

                “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”– Ex 25:40

This “pattern” that Moses was shown on Mount Sinai (also referred to in Exodus 25:9; 26:30; 27:8) was visibly seen by Moses and included verbal directions (as in Exodus 25-30). Moses may have actually been shown the heavenly dwelling of God which may best be seen in scripture in Isaiah 6:1-9 and Revelation 4 and Ezekiel 1. Below are accounts of Isaiah and John who may have seen the same thing Moses was shown and told to make a copy of for eathly worship of a heavenly God who would dwell in the earthly model of his throne room in heaven:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.'

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.” – Isaiah 6:1-4

“After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven… At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lampswere blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.  The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.  Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

‘Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.’ ”  - Revelation 4:1-8

"Do not let those who seem worthy of credit, but teach strange doctrines, fill you
with apprehension. Stand firm, like an anvil which is beaten. It is the part of the noble athlete to be wounded
and yet to conquer."
- Ignatius to Polycarp
in 110 AD