Hidden and Revealed: The Descending City

Most of us were taught that the hope of a Christian is to go up to heaven and stay there. But read what Scripture says. We are hidden in Christ now. When He comes back, we are not taken away for good. We are shown. And the city of God comes down.

Ephesians 2:6 and Colossians 3:3

“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:6

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Colossians 3:3

Paul wrote this to people walking on the earth. Yet he says they are already seated in heavenly places. So this “heaven” is not a place they live in. It is where they stand with Christ, who rules “far above all principality, and power” (Ephesians 1:21). The same letter says there is “spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). So “heavenly places” tells us about ruling, not about an address.

My life is hidden with Christ. I cannot see it yet. No one can.

Colossians 3:4 and 1 Peter 1:4-5

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Colossians 3:4

“To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 Peter 1:4-5

What is hidden will be shown. When Christ appears, we appear with Him. Peter says our inheritance is kept in heaven, ready to be revealed. Heaven is where it is kept safe, like a treasure in a vault. It is not where we go to spend it. It is brought out when He appears.

Revelation 21:9-10

“Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.”

Revelation 21:9-10

The angel says, “I will show you the bride.” And what does John see? A city. The bride is the city. The city is the people of God, “lively stones” built into “a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). So when the city comes down, the saints are arriving. What Colossians says of each believer, Revelation says of all of them together.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17, Acts 1:11 and Zechariah 14:4-5

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him… the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

“…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:11

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives… and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”

Zechariah 14:4-5

This is how the city arrives. The dead rise. The living are caught up. Paul’s word “meet” was used when people went out from a town to meet a coming king and walk with him back in. That is what happens here. We go out to meet Him, and we come with Him.

Paul says it already in verse 14: God will bring them with Him. The angels said Jesus will come back the same way He left, from the Mount of Olives. And Zechariah says His feet will stand on that mountain, with all the saints. He does not stop in the air and turn back. He lands, and His people with Him.

Revelation 20:9

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

Revelation 20:9

This is the end of the thousand years. The enemies surround “the beloved city,” and they do it on the earth. So the city is already on the earth during Christ’s reign. It came down when He came.

Each time Revelation speaks of the city coming down (3:12; 21:2; 21:10), it says it as a name: the city that comes down from God. Just as Jesus is “the living bread which came down from heaven” (John 6:51). Coming down is not only something she does once. It is who she is. She is given from God.

John 3:13 and James 1:17

“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

John 3:13

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

James 1:17

This ties it all together. No one goes up to heaven except Christ, and even He first came down. Every good gift comes down from the Father.

In Scripture, the ones who try to climb up are the enemies of God. “I will ascend into heaven… I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Babel built a tower to reach heaven. That is the way of pride. I know that way. I have tried to climb.

God’s way is the other way. He gives, and what He gives comes down. We do not climb into it. We receive it.

What this means

The first resurrection is the coming down of the New Jerusalem. The saints are hidden in Christ in heavenly places now. At His return they are revealed as the heavenly Jerusalem. The thousand years are on the earth, because the King lands and His city lands with Him.

So my hope is not to escape the earth and move upstairs. My hope is that what heaven is keeping for me will be shown, when Christ comes back. I do not have to climb. It is given, and it comes down.

Road to Eternal Life