Your citizenship is in heaven

"Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time." - Revelation 12:12

The book of Revelation always pictures the people of God as being in heaven. They are around the throne, taking part in a glorious worship service, looking down. They ultimately take over the earth when the new Jerusalem, the lamb's bride, comes down, the earth having been cleansed from the evil presence of the beast, the prophet and the harlot. From above, God's judgments are poured out. On the other hand, the earth and the sea are pictured as the chaotic and rebellious domain of sinful men. The beast rises out of the sea; a hailstone is thrown there; the new heavens have no sea. God's people have to live for a time in the earth, but they do not live in the world's city, the harlot Babylon. They live in a wilderness, having been commanded to come out and be separate.