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!

5079. 'Against their lord the king of Egypt' means that these - the external or bodily senses, meant by 'the cupbearer and the baker' - were contrary to the new state in the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as factual knowledge in general, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966; for, the king being the head of the nation, 'the king of Egypt' is similar in meaning to 'Egypt', the same as in other places where the king of any nation is referred to or named, 4789. Since factual knowledge in general is meant by 'the king of Egypt', so also is the natural man meant by him; for all factual knowledge is truth as it exists in the natural man, 4967. While the actual good there is meant by 'the lord', 4973. The reason a new state in the natural man is meant is that the previous chapter dealt with the interior aspects of the natural, which were made new, or - in the highest sense, in which the Lord is the subject - were glorified, whereas the present chapter deals with the exterior aspects of the natural which are to be brought into accord or agreement with those interior ones. These interior aspects of the natural which have been made new - or, what amounts to the same, a new state in the natural man - are what are meant by 'the lord the king of Egypt', while the exterior aspects which have not been brought into a state of order and are consequently contrary to it are meant by 'the cupbearer and the baker'.

[2] There are interior aspects of the natural and there are exterior ones. The interior aspects of the natural are known facts and the affections for them, but the exterior aspects are both kinds of sensory perception spoken of above in 5077. When a person dies he leaves behind those exterior aspects of the natural; but the interior aspects of the natural he takes with him into the next life where they serve as the foundation on which spiritual and celestial things can be based; for when a person dies he loses nothing apart from his flesh and bones. He keeps his memory in which everything he has done, spoken, or thought is recorded, and he keeps every natural affection and desire, and so every interior aspect of the natural. He does not need its exterior aspects, for he does not see anything that is in the world, or hear anything that is in the world, or smell, taste, or touch anything that is in the world, only what is in the next life. Things in the next life, it is true, seem for the most part to be like those in the world, but they are not, for they hold what is living within them, such as things proper to the natural world do not hold within them. For every single thing in the next life owes the beginning and the continuance of its existence to the Sun there, which is the Lord, as a consequence of which it has that which is living within it. But every single thing in the natural world owes the beginning and the continuance of its existence to the sun there, which is material fire, as a consequence of which it does not have that which is living within it. What gives it the appearance of having life within it is that its origin lies solely in the spiritual world, that is, in the Lord through the spiritual world.