The appointed time has come. No longer strangers, no longer rootless... a nation is being gathered. No longer separated, no longer alienated... a commonwealth is being formed. The ancient writings speak of a mystery: "Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb... the holy city, Jerusalem... with twelve gates... the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel..." Tribes? What are these tribes? "The tribes of Jacob... the preserved ones of Israel... a light to the nations, so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth..." (Isaiah 49:6). "...a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars..." (Revelation 12:1).