⁹ “And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls which were full of the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me and said: ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ So he carried me away in the power of the spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God and having the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone shining crystal-clear. It had a great and lofty wall and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names were inscribed which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. On the east were three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The wall of the city also had twelve foundation stones, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

11. What body does that New Jerusalem picture, and what nationality do the members thereof have and on what official level?

¹¹ There is no mistaking of it. That “holy city,” New Jerusalem, pictures the clean, undefiled, holy Christian congregation. It is composed entirely of spiritual Israelites, Jews inwardly, circumcised in their hearts. True, the “twelve apostles of the Lamb” were natural, circumcised Jews or Israelites; but from the festival day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E. onward they all became spiritual Israelites or Jews, for then Jehovah’s holy spirit was poured upon them through the Lamb Jesus Christ. (Acts 1:12 to 2:42) These spiritual Israelites are 144,000 in number (12 x 12 x 1,000), grouped into twelve tribes, as it were, the names of these twelve tribes being inscribed over the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. (Revelation 7:4-8) Calling attention to their official position is the fact that they are called ‘the kings of the earth.’ (Revelation 20:4, 6) They are higher than “the nations” on earth who walk by means of the light of the New Jerusalem.​—Revelation 5:10.