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!

1218. Let us rejoice and exult and give glory to Him.- That this signifies manifestation of the joy which comes from the affection for truth and from the affection for good, is evident from the signification of rejoicing, as here denoting joy from the affection for truth; and from the signification of exulting, as denoting joy from the affection for good, for to exult is of the heart, thus of the good of love; and from the signification of giving glory, as denoting to acknowledge, confess, and worship the Lord (concerning which see above, n. 678); these things are also meant by glorification.

The reason why joy from the affection for truth and from the affection for good is what is signified by rejoicing and exulting, is, that all joy is from affection, for man desires joy only from those things which affect him, or which he loves. There are two universal origins of all spiritual joys, one is from the affection for or love of truth, the other is from the affection for or love of good. Joy from the affection for good belongs properly to the will, and its deeds and joy from the affection for truth properly belongs to the understanding and its speech. Since in the preceding verse the subject treated of is concerning those who are in truths, and those who are in goods, and also concerning the glorification of the Lord by them, therefore the joy of them all, and the glorification therefrom, is clear from these words, "Let us rejoice and exult, and give glory to Him."

[2] Continuation [concerning Omnipresence and Omnipotence].- 1. There are in the natural world spaces and times, but in the spiritual world they are appearances.

The reason of this is, that all things that appear in the spiritual world exist immediately from the sun of heaven, which is the Divine Love of the Lord; whereas all things that appear in the natural world exist from the same source, but by means of the sun of this world, which is pure fire. Pure love, from which all things exist immediately from the Lord, is immaterial; but pure fire, through which all things exist mediately in the natural world, is material. It is for this reason that all things which exist in the spiritual world are, from their origin, spiritual; and that all things which exist in the natural world, are, from their secondary origin, material. Material things are also in themselves fixed, stated, and measurable. They are fixed, because, however the states of men change, they continue permanent, as lands, mountains, and seas. They are stated, because they constantly recur in their turns, as times, generations, and germinations. They are measurable, because every thing can be estimated; as spaces, by miles and furlongs, and these by means of paces and yards; times again, by means of days, weeks, months, and years. But in the spiritual world all things are as it were fixed, stated, and measurable, but still they are not so in reality; for they exist and continue according to the states of the angels, so that they make one with these very states; they therefore vary also, as these states vary. This however occurs chiefly in the world of spirits, into which every man first comes after death; it is not the case in heaven or in hell. The reason that it occurs there is, that every man there undergoes changes of state, and is prepared for heaven or for hell.

[3] Spirits do not however reflect upon these changes and variations, because they are spiritual, and consequently have spiritual ideas, with which all the collective and several objects perceived by their senses make one; because also they are separated from nature, but still see in the world of spirits objects altogether similar to those which they saw in the natural world, as lands, mountains and valleys, waters, gardens, and forests, plants, palaces, and houses, garments also with which they are clothed, and food by which they are nourished, and besides these, animals, and also themselves as men. They see all these objects in a clearer light than they saw similar things in the world, and they perceive them also by a more exquisite sense of touch. Hence it is that man after death is not at all aware that he has put off his material covering, and passed from the world of his body into that of his spirit. I have heard many men say that they were not dead, and that they could not conceive how any portion of their body could have been cast into the grave; and for the reason, that all the objects in the spiritual world are similar [to those in the natural.] They were not aware that the things which are seen and felt there are not material, but substantial from a spiritual origin, and that they are notwithstanding still real, because they exist from the same origin as all the things in the natural world. The only difference is that an additional covering, an over-garment, so to speak, from the sun of the world, has been given to the things which exist in the natural world, and from this they have become material, fixed, stated, and measurable. I can positively affirm that the things which exist in the spiritual are even more real than those in the natural world; for that which in nature is added to the spiritual is dead, and does not produce reality, but diminishes it. That there is this diminution is plainly evident from the state of the angels of heaven compared with that of men on earth, and from all the things existing in heaven compared with all those existing in the world.