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!

274. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God, signifies Divine truth itself united to Divine good, proceeding from the Lord's Divine love. This is evident from the signification of "seven" as being all things in the complex; also from the signification of "lamps burning with fire before the throne," as being Divine truth united to Divine good proceeding from the Lord's Divine love; for "lamps" signify truths; therefore "seven lamps" signify all truth in the complex, which is the Divine truth; and "fire" signifies the good of love; and since the lamps were seen "burning before the throne" upon which the Lord was, it is signified that truth is from the Lord. As "the seven spirits of God" signify all truths of heaven and the church from the Lord (See Apocalypse Explained above, n. 183, therefore it is said, "which are the seven spirits of God."

(That "seven" signifies all, see above, n. 256 that "fire" signifies the good of love, see Arcana Coelestia 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 10055)

[2] That "lamps" signify truths, which are called the truths of faith, can be seen from the following passages in the Word.

In David:

Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path (Psalms 119:105).

The Word is called a "lamp" because it is Divine truth. In the same:

Thou makest my lamp to shine; Jehovah God maketh bright my darkness (Psalms 18:28).

"To make a lamp to shine" signifies to enlighten the understanding by Divine truth; and "to make bright the darkness" signifies to disperse the falsities of ignorance by the light of truth.

In Luke:

Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps shining (Luke 12:35).

The "loins" to be girded signify the good of love (See Arcana Coelestia 3021[1-8], 4280, 4462, 5050-5052, 9961); and "lamps shining" signify the truths of faith from the good of love.

[3] In Matthew:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be good the whole body is light, if the eye be evil the whole body is darkness. If, therefore, the light be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matthew 6:22-23).

The eye is here called "lucerna," that is, a lighted lamp, because the "eye" signifies the understanding of truth, and therefore the truth of faith; and as the understanding derives its all from the will (for such as the will is, such is the understanding), so the truth of faith derives its all from the good of love; consequently when the understanding of truth is from the good of the will the whole man is spiritual, which is signified by the words, "if the eye be good the whole body is light;" but the contrary is true when the understanding is formed out of the evil of the will; that it is then in mere falsities is signified by the words, "If thine eye be evil the whole body is darkened. If, therefore, the light be darkness, how great is the darkness."

(That "the eye" signifies the understanding, see above, n. 152; and that "darkness" signifies falsities, Arcana Coelestia 1839, 1860, 3340, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711, 7712.) He who does not know that "eye" signifies the understanding does not apprehend at all the meaning of those words.

[4] In Jeremiah:

I will take away from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp (Jeremiah 25:10).

"To take away the voice of joy and the voice of gladness" signifies to take away the interior felicity that is from the good of love and the truths of faith; "to take away the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" signifies to take away all conjunction of good and truth, which makes heaven and the church with man; "to take away the voice of the millstones and the light of the lamp" signifies to take away the doctrine of charity and faith. (What is signified by "millstone" and "grinding," see Arcana Coelestia 4335, 7780, 9995, 10303.)

Likewise in Revelation:

And the light of a lamp shall shine no more in Babylon; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more there (Revelation 18:23).

In Isaiah:

Her ² salvation as a lamp that burneth (Isaiah 62:1); signifying that the truth of faith should be from the good of love.

In Matthew:

The kingdom of heaven is like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. The five foolish took their lamps, but no oil; but the five prudent took oil also. When, therefore, the bridegroom came, the prudent went in to the wedding, but the foolish were not admitted (Matthew 25:1-12).

"Lamps" here signify the truths of faith, and "oil" the good of love. What the rest of this parable signifies may be seen above n. 252, where the particulars are explained.