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!

8146. 'And he harnessed his chariot' means doctrine championing falsity that belongs to separated faith in general. This is clear from the meaning of 'chariot' as doctrine, dealt with in 2760, 5321, 5945, in this case doctrine championing falsity that belongs to separated faith, since the chariot is Pharaoh's and 'Pharaoh' represents the falsities that belong to separated faith. For those who subscribe to faith separated from charity and at the same time lead a life of evil are inevitably steeped in falsities, 8094.

[2] The descriptions that follow on from here refer to the gathering together of all the falsities arising from evil that existed with people who subscribed to faith separated from charity and led a life of evil. Descriptions prior to this have dealt with the vastation of the truths of faith that exist with those people, and with the eventual reduction of those people to a condition which is such that they are steeped in utter falsities arising from evil, and so are lost in damnation. The present chapter now deals with their being cast down into hell, for being cast down into hell follows damnation. What happens in this state - a state in which people are cast down into hell - is as follows: When they are going to be cast down all the falsities that exist with them are first gathered together (which is accomplished by the opening up of all the hells with which they have had contact) and then are poured into them. As a result those people have around them dense masses of falsities arising from evil, which appear as waters to those looking on from outside, 8137, 8138; they are vapours emanating from their life. When they are engulfed by those dense masses they are in hell. When the falsities arising from evil are gathered into one and poured into them the purpose is that those people may become surrounded by the kinds of things that have come to be part of their life, and after that may be confined within them. The type of evil, together with the falsity arising from it, then mark them and their hell off from other hells.

[3] Because of the subject here - the gathering together of all the falsities arising from evil that existed with those people - references are made so many times in this chapter to Pharaoh's chariot, his horses, horsemen, army, and people; for these mean all the powers of falsity that reside with those people. Such references are,

He harnessed his chariot, and took his people with him. Verse 6.

He took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt. Verse 7.

And the Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's chariot-horses, and his horsemen, and his army. Verse 9.

I will be glorified in Pharaoh, and in all his army, in his chariots, and in his horsemen. Verse 17, and similarly verse 18.

And the Egyptians pursued, and came after them, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Verse 23.

Jehovah took off the wheels of their chariots. Verse 25.

Let the waters return onto the Egyptians, onto their chariots, and onto their horsemen. Verse 26.

The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh's army. Verse 28.

These references to them occur so many times because falsities arising from evil - their being gathered together and poured into those people - are the subject. The things referred to so many times mean all the powers of falsity arising from evil. 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' are the people themselves who are steeped in falsities arising from evil; 'the chariots' are doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity; 'the horses' are false factual knowledge belonging to a perverted understanding; 'the horsemen' are reasonings resting on that knowledge; and 'the army' and 'the people' are the falsities themselves.