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!

2796. As regards the Lord's assumption of the various states which are the subject here, these are inevitably unknown to man since he never stops to reflect on his changes of state. Yet these are taking place all the time both as regards matters of the understanding, or thoughts, and as regards those of the will, or affections. The reason he does not stop to reflect on them is his belief that all things in him follow in natural order, and that nothing higher exists which directs them. But in actual fact every single thing is regulated by means of the spirits and angels residing with him, and all states and changes of state are brought about from this and so are being directed by the Lord for ever towards ends which the Lord alone foresees. The truth of this has been made fully known to me through experience that has now lasted for many years. I have also been given to know and to notice which spirits and angels were with me, and which states they were bringing about. This I can positively declare, that they are the source of all states, even to the least detail, and that they are directed by the Lord in the manner described. I have also been given to know and to notice how each state includes many other states which do not show themselves, and which, all of them together, are seen as one general state, and that those states have been arranged into states which follow in order within their own sequence. With man all this is effected by the Lord, but with the Lord Himself when He lived in the world, He effected it by Himself since He was Divine, and the very Being (Esse) of His life was Jehovah.

[2] Knowledge regarding the changes of state in matters of the understanding and in those of the will with man, regarding the order in which they follow, and also regarding the sequence through which they pass, and regarding the way in which they are bent by the Lord as far as possible towards what is good, exists with angels. For the wisdom of angels is such that they perceive such matters to the last detail. Consequently these matters which have been revealed in the internal sense concerning changes of state with the Lord are perceptible clearly and distinctly to angels because they dwell in the light of heaven flowing from the Lord. They are also intelligible to some extent to man if he leads a life of simple good. But they are obscure and as nothing to those steeped in evil and also to those whose wisdom consists of demented ideas, for these ideas darken and extinguish their natural and rational light by means of many things which bring darkness, however much those people themselves imagine they have greater light than any others.