The Jerusalem Temple: What the 3 Divisions May Mean

Like there are "3 heavens" (2 Corinthians 12.2-4),
there were 3 sections to the Jewish Temple:
(1)The outer court yard,
(2)The Holy Place,within the court yard
(3)The Holy of Holies. within the Holy Place.
So the Holy of Holies was a room within a room within a room.

The Holy of Holies, God's Throne room, was definitely like the "Third Heaven".
For the "Mercy Seat," the lid of "the Ark of the Covenant," served as the throne of God.
A likeness of the real throne of God in the Third Heaven.
Moses and then Paul much later claimed that things
of the temple were a sort of copy of the heavenly original (    ).

Now as to how the Holy Place, the room "below" the Holy of Holies,
would relate to the second Heaven, I am at a loss.
(Except to say that there were steps, possibly a staircase
from the courtyard into the Holy Place.
If so, that would convey that the Holy Place stands for
the heavens above the atmosphere.)

Ditto, as to how the outer courtyard might correspond to
the first heaven, ie, the atmosphere around planet Earth.
So we will have to consider this piece "a work in progress" -
I'll add to it as I get more data.

I spoke above of the Holy of Holies being a room within a room within a room.
It's the exact opposite with the first,second and third heavens.
The first heaven (the atmosphere around the Earth) is the smallest,
It's surrounded by Outer Space, ie the Universe.
In turn, the universe is enveloped by the Third Heaven,
In the sense that, according to Paul, we are "In" God and
therefor, by extension, "inside" His heaven.
So the third heaven may be larger than the universe.

more later