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!

5120. 'And put the cup onto Pharaoh's palm' means that the interior natural made these its own. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting the cup' to drink (and so the wine in the cup) as making one's own, for 'drinking' means making truth one's own, see 3168; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the interior natural, dealt with in 5080, 5095, 5118. As is evident from what has gone before, the subject here is the regeneration of the sensory power meant by 'the cupbearer' which is subject to the understanding part of the interior man; consequently the subject is also the influx of truth and good and their reception in the exterior natural. But since these matters are quite beyond the understanding of those who do not have any distinct idea about the rational and about the natural, or any about influx, all further explanation is therefore abandoned.

[2] But there is more to be said about 'a cup' mentioned very many times in the Word - about how in the genuine sense it has the same meaning as wine, namely spiritual truth or the truth of faith which is derived from the good of charity, and about how in the contrary sense it means falsity which produces evil, and also falsity which is a product of evil. The reason 'a cup' has the same meaning as 'wine' is that the cup is the container and the wine the content and therefore the two constitute a single entity, with the result that one is used to mean the other. This meaning of 'a cup' in the Word is evident from the following places:

[3] In David,

O Jehovah, You will spread a table before me in the presence of enemies and will make my head fat with oil; my cup will overflow. Psalms 23:5.

'Spreading a table' and 'making the head fat with oil' stand for being endowed with the good of charity and love. 'My cup will overflow' stands for the fact that the natural will thereby be filled with spiritual truth and good. In the same author,

What shall I render to Jehovah? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of Jehovah. Psalms 116:11, 17.

'Taking the cup of salvation' stands for making the goods of faith one's own.

[4] In Mark,

Whoever gives you drink from a cup of water in My name, because you are Christ's, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward. Mark 9:41.

'Giving drink from a cup of water in My name' stands for imparting the truths of faith from a small measure of charity.

[5] In Matthew,

Then taking a cup, and giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink from this, all of you; for this is My blood - that of the New Testament. Matthew 26:17, 28; Mark 14:27, 24; Luke 22:20.

The word 'cup' is used, not wine, because 'wine' has reference to the spiritual Church but 'blood' to the celestial Church. Both wine and blood however mean holy truth going forth from the Lord, though in the spiritual Church the holiness of faith springing from charity towards the neighbour is meant, whereas in the celestial Church the holiness of charity springing from love to the Lord is meant. The spiritual Church differs from the celestial in that the spiritual is moved by charity towards the neighbour, whereas the celestial is moved by love to the Lord. Furthermore the Holy Supper was established to represent and be a sign of the Lord's love towards the whole human race and man's reciprocal love towards Him.

[6] Because 'a cup' meant that which served to contain and 'wine' that which was contained, 'the cup' consequently meaning the external aspect of man and 'wine' the internal aspect of him, the Lord therefore said,

Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the exterior of the cup and of the plate but the interiors are full of pillage and lack of restraint. Blind Pharisee! cleanse first the interior of the cup and of the plate and the exterior will be made clean also. Matthew 23:25, 16; Luke 11:39.

Here also 'cup' is used to mean in the internal sense the truth of faith. Cultivating the truth of faith without the good of faith is 'cleansing the exterior of the cup', the more so when the interiors are full of hypocrisy, deceit, hatred, revenge, and cruelty; for in this case the truth of faith exists solely in the external man and not at all in the internal, whereas cultivating and embracing the good of faith causes truths to be joined to good in the interior man. Furthermore when the truth of faith is cultivated without the good of faith, false ideas are accepted as truths; this is meant by 'cleansing first the interior of the cup, and the exterior will be made clean also'.

[7] It is similar with matters recorded in Mark,

There are many other things which the Pharisees and Jews have received carefully, the washing ¹ of cups and of pots, and of bronze vessels, and of beds. Forsaking the commandment of God you keep to human tradition, the washing' of pots and of cups; and many other similar things you do. You reject the commandment of God, so that you may keep to your tradition. Mark 7:4, 8-9.

[8] As regards 'a cup' meaning in the contrary sense falsity which produces evil and also falsity produced by evil, this is clear from the following places: In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me, Take this cup of the wine of anger from My hand, and make all the nations to which I send you drink it, in order that they may drink and stagger, and go mad because of the sword which I am going to send among them. So I took the cup from Jehovah's hand, and made all the nations drink to whom Jehovah sent me. Jeremiah 25:15-17, 28.

'The cup of the wine of anger' stands for falsity that produces evil. The reason falsity producing evil is meant is that as wine can make people drunk and make them of unsound mind, so too can falsity. Spiritual drunkenness is nothing other than unsoundness of mind caused by reasonings regarding matters of belief when a person does not believe anything which he does not apprehend - which unsoundness of mind leads to falsities and to evils that are the product of falsities, 1072. Hence the statement 'in order that they may drink and stagger, and go mad because of the sword which I am going to send'. 'Sword' means falsity at war against truth, 2799, 4499.

[9] In the Book of Lamentations,

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom. dweller in the land of Uz; to you also the cup will pass, you will be made drunk and uncovered. Lamentations 4:21.

'Being made drunk by the cup' stands for being made unsound in mind by falsities. 'Being uncovered', or shamelessly laid bare, stands for resulting evil, 213, 214.

[10] In Ezekiel,

You have walked in the way of your sister, therefore I will give her cup into your hand. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, You will drink your sister's cup, which is deep and wide; you will be laughed at and mocked, as an ample recipient. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of devastation and desolation. You will drink the cup of your sister Samaria, and crush it and crumple the pieces. Ezekiel 27:31-34.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the spiritual aspect of the celestial Church is meant. 'The cup' in this case stands for falsity that is a product of evil; and because such falsity lays waste or destroys the Church, the expression 'the cup of devastation and desolation' is used.

In Isaiah,

Stir, stir, surge up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of His anger; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of consternation. Isaiah 51:17.

In Habakkuk,

Drink, you also - that your foreskin may be revealed. The cup of Jehovah's right hand will come round to you, so that disgusting vomit may be upon your glory. Habakkuk 2:16.

In David,

A cup is in the hand of Jehovah; and He has mixed the wine, filled it with the mixed, and poured out from it. But they will suck out the dregs of it; all the wicked of the earth will drink from it. Psalms 75:8.

[11] In these places 'a cup' also stands for the insanity caused by falsities and resulting evils. It is called 'the cup of Jehovah's anger' and also 'of His right hand' for the reason that the Jewish nation believed, as the common people believe, that evils, and the punishments of evils and falsities, had no other origin than Jehovah, though in fact they originate in man and in the hellish crew who are present with him. From the appearance, and from a belief based on it, such statements occur many times; but the internal sense teaches how one ought to understand them and what to believe. On these matters, see 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 1875, 2335, 2447, 3605, 3607, 3614.

[12] Since 'a cup', like 'wine', in the contrary sense means falsities that produce evils, and also falsities produced by evils, cup, as a consequence also means temptation, for temptation arises when falsity conflicts with truth and therefore evil with good. The word cup is used instead of and in reference to such temptation in Luke,

Jesus prayed, saying, If You are willing, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. Luke 22:42; Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36.

'Cup' here stands for temptation. Similarly in John,

Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword into its sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it? John 18:11.

And also in Mark,

Jesus said to James and John, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said, We are able. But Jesus said to them, The cup indeed that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized. Mark 10:38-39; Matthew 20:21, 13.

From this it is evident that 'cup' means temptation, for temptation comes about when evils use falsities to enter into conflict with goods and truths. 'Baptism' means regeneration which, being effected by means of spiritual conflicts, consequently means temptation also.

[13] In the completely contrary sense 'cup' means falsity that is a product of evil among those who are profaners, that is, with whom inwardly the exact opposites of charity are present but who put on an outward show of holiness. The word is used in this sense in Jeremiah,

Babel was a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, making the whole earth drunken. All nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. Jeremiah 51:7.

'Babel' stands for people with whom there is holiness outwardly but unholiness inwardly, 1182, 1326. The falsity which they veil with holiness is meant by 'a golden cup'. 'Making the whole earth drunken' stands for the fact that they lead those who belong to the Church, meant by 'the earth', into erroneous and insane ways. The profanities which they conceal beneath outward holiness involve nothing else than this - their intention to become the greatest and the wealthiest of all, to be worshipped as gods, the possessors of heaven and earth, and so to have dominion over people's souls as well as their bodies. And the means Used by them is their outward display of respect for Divine and holy things. Consequently they look, so far as their external man is concerned, like angels; but so far as their internal man is concerned they are devils.

[14] A similar description of Babel exists in John,

The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and covered ² with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup, full of abominations and the uncleanness of her whoredom. Revelation 17:4.

In the same book,

It has fallen, Babylon the great has fallen and become a dwelling-place of demons; for she has given all nations drink from the wine of the fury of her whoredom; and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her. I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Render to her as she has rendered to you; in the cup which she mixed, mix double for her. Revelation 18:2-4, 6.

In the same book,

The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. The remembrance of Babylon the great was established before God, to give her the cup of the fury of the anger of God. Revelation 16:19.

In the same book,

The third angel said with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and his Image, he will drink from the wine of God's anger, poured unmixed as it is in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone. Revelation 14:9-10.

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