Devotional 07 May 2025

May 07, 2025 • Steve Torres

Revelation 21:10-11.jpg

“Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” (Revelation 21:9–11, ESV)

As John is carried to a high mountain to behold the heavenly Jerusalem, we are reminded of Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 40:2, where he too is taken to a high mountain to see a restored city. Yet this moment in Revelation is not merely a restoration—it is the fulfillment. The angel shows John “the Bride,” which is also the City. This is the Church in her glorified state, descending from God, adorned in the very glory of the Lamb.

But another mountain comes to mind: the temptation of Christ. In Matthew 4:8–10, Satan takes Jesus to a very high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world, offering them in exchange for worship. Jesus refuses. He knows that those kingdoms are a poor substitute for the Kingdom of Heaven. Instead of bowing, He brings the true Kingdom into the world through His death and resurrection.

This is the temptation we all face—trading the eternal glory of Christ’s Kingdom for the fading lights of earthly power and prestige. Yet John sees a city “coming down out of heaven from God.” It is not in heaven, but it originates from heaven. This shows us that the life of the Church is heavenly in source and mission, but earthly in impact. We are not waiting to escape to heaven; heaven is invading earth through us.

The city has “the glory of God” and its radiance is like a rare jewel. The word for radiance (phōstēr) links us back to Genesis 1:14, where God placed “lights” in the heavens to govern day and night and serve as signs. These lights brought order to creation. Paul uses the same word in Philippians 2:15 when he calls believers to shine as “lights in the world” in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.

Christians, therefore, are not passive recipients of future glory—we are active participants in the present mission of the Kingdom. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). As the Bride, the New Jerusalem, the Church is called to radiate the glory of God here and now.

Colossians 3:1–4 urges us to “set our minds on things above,” because our true life is hidden with Christ. The more we gaze at the heavenly, the more we reflect it on earth. We do not wait to shine; we shine now. We are called to bring heavenly order, light, and truth into the darkness of the world—not through compromise with the world’s kingdoms, but by fidelity to Christ.

Let us not trade away the glory of the City of God for the dust of earthly kingdoms. Instead, let us embrace our identity as the radiant Bride of Christ, reflecting His glory as signs of the times, as rulers with Him, as the light of the world.

You are not waiting to become the City on a Hill. You are that city. Shine.

-steve