On the issue of Jesus and whether the "Jerusalem above" would also be his mother:
The account in Rev 12 could possibly be a key. I guess it depends on who the "woman" and the "male, child" are.
I'm trying to look at it from a perspective that is not so tied to the WT view. Not so easy after many years of having WT explanations wrapped around it. At the same time, I don't want to reject any possible ideas just because the WT also holds to them.
At any rate . . .
The whole picture presented in Rev 12 (esp the first six verses) seems to be a sweeping view of Bible history:
You have the two main 'characters,' as it were, right from Genesis 3:15, the "woman" and the serpant. (vss. 1-3)
You have what appears to be events from pre-flood days with a major angelic deflection hinted at. (vs. 4a)
Satan is standing ready to devour the woman's child when born. (vs. 4b)
This would seem to tie in with Gen 3:15 foretelling enmity of the serpant towards woman/seed.
So at this point, the WT identifies the child as 'the kingdom born in 1914.' They also identify the woman as the Jerusalem above from Galatians. They also identify the woman as God's organization of spirit sons, which is different from how Paul described the 'Jerusalem above' in Galatians. Also skewing the WT view is the fact that they believe only 144,000 among Christians are included. In contrast, Paul describes her 'sons' (in Galatians) as those who have faith in Christ.
The idea that the "male, child" is 'the kingdom born in 1914' seems ludicrous to me. The issue of '1914' aside, why would a kingdom, instituted in heaven where God already is, with an immortal king (Jesus, presumably far more powerful than Satan), need to be 'caught away to God' for protection from Satan. (vs. 5) This seems to be WT writing at its fanciful best. How would a kingdom that is portrayed as such a pansy of govt. to start with, be expected to later dispose of Satan.
On the other hand, if the child is referring to Jesus, as the 'seed of the woman' from Gen 3:15, and the serpant's efforts to 'devour' the child represent Satan's efforts to ruin Jesus while on earth, and the being 'caught away to God represents Jesus' death of integrity and consequent ressurrection to heaven, then . . .
The point I'm getting at is that IF the 'woman' is the same as in Galatians and the 'child' is Jesus, that would pretty much seal the deal about whether the 'Jerusalem above' was also the 'mother' of Jesus.
Thoughts?
By the way, I included the research about the great crowd in some posts above because Londo has had some extensive discussions about the great crowd in other threads and seeing his name on this thread brought up the idea of tying the great crowd into the 'Jerusalem above' discussion. It must be the 'spikey hair' that is influencing me! :)
And as an aside concerning the great crowd and Rev 12:
Verse 17 speaks of "the remaining ones of her (the woman's) seed." The Society always speaks of the "remaining" ones as the few leftovers of the 144,000. I posted on this thread (post #7) that the Society's explanation of the word "remaining" is erroneous.