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!

1089. Which hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth. That this signifies domination over the truths of the church, is evident from the signification of having a kingdom, as denoting domination, and from being predicated of truths or falses; that kingdom denotes the church as to truths or falsities may be seen (n. 48, 684, 685); and from the signification of the kings of the earth, as denoting truths, see n. 31, 625, 1034, 1063, 1073; and from the signification of the earth, as denoting, the church, of which we have frequently spoken above. Hence it is evident, that by having a kingdom over the kings of the earth, is signified domination over the truths of the church.

That it is domination over the truths of the church is because their chief, who is called Pope and Pontiff, makes his own edicts of equal sanctity, and of like inspiration, with the truths of the Word. It is also of their doctrine that it is lawful for him to alter the truths of the Word according to the changes of the state of the church, and thus to change them into such things as are a means of domination, which are falsities. For all the things that look to domination are falsities, or truths falsified. For the end chooses and applies to itself the means; and the means applied to an end, which is domination over the souls of men, over all things of the church, and over heaven, cannot be truths. And if they are truths, still the end falsifies them; but with those [only] who are in [the lust of] dominion.

Continuation concerning the Word:-

[2] The absolute truth is, that no one can understand the Word without doctrine; for he may be led away into errors of every kind, to which he may incline from some love, or to which he may be drawn from some principle, by which his mind becomes vague and uncertain, so that at length it is, as it were, without truth. But he who reads the Word from doctrine sees all the things that confirm it, and also many things which are hidden from the eyes of others. Nor does he allow himself to be drawn into strange [doctrines]. Hence it is that his mind is made up so that he sees definitely.

[3] The reason why the Word may be turned to confirm even heresies, unless it is read from doctrine, is, that its literal sense consists of pure correspondences, and these, for the most part, are appearances of truth, and in part, genuine truths, which can be neither seen nor distinguished unless doctrine be the lamp.

[4] But doctrine cannot be procured except from the Word, and only by those who are enlightened by the Lord. Those who love truths because they are truths, and incorporate them in their life, are enlightened. Moreover, everything of doctrine must be confirmed by the literal sense of the Word, because therein Divine truth is in its fulness and in its power, and by this a man is in conjunction with the Lord, and associated with the angels.

In a word, he who loves truth because it is truth may, as it were, interrogate the Lord in doubtful matters of faith, and receive answers from Him, but nowhere else than in the Word, because the Lord is the Word.

THE END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.