The impenetrable wall surrounding the city of God symbolizes the resistance to sin that has been created in the personalities of the victorious saints. They have been submerged for years in the filth of the world, the filth of the satanic spiritual environment, and the filth of their own personalities.

Little by little, command upon command, rule upon rule, they have struggled upward. They have climbed the "secret places of the stairs" that are known only to the cross-carrying disciples of the Lord.

They have grown to love righteousness and hate iniquity. They are not merely righteous, they are militantly, aggressively righteous. They have been clothed in white robes, in bodies that also are militantly, aggressively righteous.

Throughout the eons to come, when it enters the spirit of any angel or any human to rebel against the Father, the rebel instantly will be faced with a saint whose face is as steel. "Repent of your wickedness or prepare to spend eternity in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur." Standing at each side of the outraged saint will be angels of gigantic stature carrying their razor-edged swords, ready to avenge all disobedience to the Father's will.

Rebellion against the Father's will has been finished forever.

Once there was only God, dwelling alone in the Light that He Himself Is. There was no one to see Him, to love Him, or to have fellowship with Him. There was nothing that preceded Him because He always is.

Then came the first beginning. From the Father proceeded the Logos, the Word, the express Image, the exact Representation, called God by the God from whom He issued.

Now God could be seen had there been anyone to see Him.

Then the Father (whether understanding this was to be a temporary universe, the form of which would be made eternal at a later period, we do not know) spoke through the Logos, the eternal Light and Word of God, and the angels came into being.

The Prophet Ezekiel states that Lucifer was perfect in his ways until iniquity was found in him. The Lord Jesus declared that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. These two statements appear to be contradictory. Perhaps the meaning is that Satan was a murderer from the time that the rebellion began.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. (Ezekiel 28:15)

"You were perfect in your ways."

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

"He was a murderer from the beginning."

Since the Scriptures cannot be changed and are always true, the Lord Jesus may have been referring to a different "beginning" than Ezekiel's "from the day that thou wast created." It is not likely that the Divine Word created a murderer and liar. It is more probable that Satan became a murderer and liar from the time he conceived rebellion against the Father.

To be continued.