Late on the first Easter Sunday, after the Lord had risen from the sepulcher, ten of the disciples gathered for the evening in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem (John 20). They were afraid and probably confused. Since their leader had been crucified by the Roman power, as organized by their own Jewish leaders, they feared that now his followers might also be hunted down and punished. They closed and locked the doors. Were any of the women there? The story does not say, but Peter and John were, who saw and talked with the angels that morning, and the stories of the women were known. Some time must have been spent wondering and perhaps arguing - was He really alive? How could they know it was really Him? This kind of thing, coming back to life after you’re dead, this doesn’t happen in this real world, there must be some mistake!

Then two of the followers, not of the twelve, but the two that had gone to the village of Emmaus, came in, excited and bursting with their news. They had seen Him! They had walked with Him for seven miles and He had told them wondrous things! They had only recognized Him when He broke bread and ate with them. "Don’t doubt us, it really was Jesus!"

And then as they all talked and argued, there He was, standing with them in the room. "Peace be unto you," He said, and He showed them His hands and feet and His side, where he was wounded. He calmed them, and told them that just as he had come down to mankind, so they must go out and teach to all people all the true things that He had taught in the years He was with them.

It was these truths about how to live one’s life that were saving, not the disciples themselves. These saving truths have the power to remit or retain sins, because they were from the Lord, the disciples only transmitted them from the Lord to those who would listen and take them to heart. Then He breathed on them - representing His holy spirit - so that they would not only want to pass these truths on to people, but would also be given the words to say whenever the times came. And then He was gone again.

Thomas was not there that night. We don’t know why. And Thomas, when he heard the story, just could not swallow it. "Except I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe", he said. (John 20:25.)

The next verse tells us that the next Sunday they gathered again, and that Thomas was present this time. As before, the Lord was suddenly there, saying again, "Peace be unto you", and then directly to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger… and reach hither thy hand… and be not faithless but believing". Now Thomas's response was, "my Lord and my God". It seems as if the Lord came this time just to convince Thomas, because it was Thomas who needed Him.

I think He does work this way. I am reminded of another story, from the gospel of Mark (Mark 9:17-27) where a father comes to Jesus with a young son who is possessed by a devil, and asks Jesus to cure him, and is asked in turn: "Do you believe I can do this?" In Mark 9:24 the father responds. Crying out, he said with tears, "I believe, help thou my unbelief."

I think many people have this conflict between lingering doubts and a desire to have the doubts taken away. If we carry on and make our decisions in life as if the doubts were indeed gone, then indeed they will lose their strength and actually will be gone.

These are the only details given of these two meetings in Jerusalem. Chronologically the next post-Easter stories are the ones that take place in Galilee.

John does go on to say at the end of his gospel "...many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God...." (John 20:30-31). Perhaps there were more post-Easter stories that weren't written down, but the ones we do have are strong. For the disciples who were involved, there was an unstoppable impact from the life and teachings of the Lord, and His crucifixion, and physical death, and now - in these stories - His resurrection. Hearing the Lord's charges to them, these Galilean fishermen and their colleagues launch out into the wide world, and work to achieve the Great Commission, enduring hardships and persecution, and succeeding - probably beyond their wildest dreams!

7495. Exodus 9

1. And Jehovah said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, and you are to tell him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, Send My People away, and let them serve Me.

2. For if you refuse to send them away and you still hold them back,

3. Behold, the hand of Jehovah will be on your livestock that are in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the herd, and on the flock - an extremely severe pestilence.

4. And Jehovah will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians, and nothing will die of all that belongs to the children of Israel.

5. And Jehovah set a fixed time, saying, Tomorrow Jehovah will do this thing in the land.

6. And Jehovah did this thing on the morrow, and all the livestock of the Egyptians died; and of the livestock of the children of Israel not one died.

7. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not even one of the livestock of Israel had died. And Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he did not send the people away.

8. And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, Take for yourselves in fistfuls ¹ the ashes of the furnace, and let Moses scatter them in the direction of heaven before Pharaoh's eyes.

9. And there will then be dust over all the land of Egypt, and there will be on man and on beast sores breaking out into pustules, in all the land of Egypt.

10. And they took the ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses scattered them in the direction of heaven, and sores producing pustules developed, breaking out on man and on beast.

11. And the magicians could not stand before Moses on account of the sores; for there were sores on the magicians and on all the Egyptians.

12. And Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart unyielding, and he did not hear ² them, as Jehovah had spoken to Moses.

13. And Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up in the morning early, and stand before Pharaoh; and you are to say to him, Thus said Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, Send My people away, and let them serve Me.

14. For this time I am sending all My plagues onto your heart, and onto your servants, and onto your people, in order that you may know that there is none like Me in the whole earth.

15. For now I could stretch out ³ My hand, and strike you and your people with pestilence, and you would be cut off from the earth.

16. But yet for this reason have I caused you to stand ⁴ - for you to see My power, and in order that My name may be declared in the whole earth.

17. You go on exalting yourself against My people by not sending them away.

18. Behold, about this time tomorrow I am causing it to rain an extremely heavy hail, of which there has not been the like in Egypt from the day it was founded even until now.

19. And now send, assemble your livestock and all that you have in the field; every man and beast that will be found in the field and will not be gathered home, ⁵ the hail will come down on them and they will die.

20. And he that feared the word of Jehovah among the servants of Pharaoh caused his servants and his livestock to flee to the houses.

21. And he that did not take the word of Jehovah to heart left his servants and his livestock in the field.

22. And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and there will be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast, and on every plant of the field in the land of Egypt.

23. And Moses stretched out his rod towards heaven, and Jehovah gave forth voices ⁶ and hail, and fire ran down to the earth; and Jehovah caused hail to rain onto the land of Egypt.

24. And there was hail, and at the same time fire running down ⁷ in the midst of the hail, extremely heavy, of which there had not been the like in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

25. And the hail struck in all the land of Egypt everything that was in the field, from man and even to beast; and the hail struck every plant of the field, and broke every tree of the field.

26. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

27. And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time; Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.

28. Plead with Jehovah, there have been enough of God's voices' and of hail; and I will send you away, and you will not continue to remain.

29. And Moses said to him, As I am going out of the city I will spread out my palms towards Jehovah; the voices' will cease, and there will be no more hail, in order that you may know that the earth is Jehovah's.

30. And [as for] you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the face of Jehovah God.

31. And the flax and the barley were struck; for the barley was a ripening ear, and the flax a stem. ⁸

32. And the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they were hidden. ⁹

33. And Moses went out from Pharaoh, from the city, and spread out his palms towards Jehovah; and the voices' and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.

34. And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the voices ⁶ had ceased; and he continued to sin, and made his heart stubborn, he and his servants.

35. And Pharaoh's heart was made unyielding, and he did not send the children of Israel away, as Jehovah had spoken through the hand of Moses.

CONTENTS

This chapter continues to deal with the vastation of those who molest members of the spiritual Church. In the internal sense the chapter deals with the sixth, seventh, and eighth states or stages of their vastation, which the pestilence, the sores breaking out into pustules, and the rain in the form of hail describe. By these plagues is meant the laying waste of things of the Church present with them.

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