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!

9383. 'All Jehovah's words and all the judgements' means things in the Word which are rules of life in the spiritual state and in the natural state. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah's words' as things in the Word which are rules of life in the spiritual state, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the judgements' as things in the Word which are rules of life in the natural state. The terms 'in the spiritual state' and 'in the natural state' are used because in general every person has two states. The first is peculiar and proper to the internal man and is called the spiritual state, the second is peculiar and proper to the external man and is called the natural state. The internal man's state is called spiritual because it is conditioned by truths belonging to the light of heaven, and by good belonging to the heat of that light, which is love. That light is called spiritual light because it enlightens the understanding part of the mind, and that heat is called spiritual heat, which is love and warms the will part. This is the reason why the internal man's state is called spiritual. But the external man's state is called natural because it is conditioned by truths belonging to the light of the world and by good belonging to the heat of this light, which too is love, but love for such things as exist in the world, for all heat of life is love. This is the reason why the external man's state is called natural. Rules of life in the natural state are meant by 'the judgements', while rules of life in the spiritual state are meant by 'Jehovah's words'.

[2] Both of these are derived from the Word because all the rules of life are there. They hold Life itself within them, for in the Word resides Divine Truth which has emanated and continues to emanate from the Lord, who is Life itself. From this it follows that all things in the Word are rules of life, and also that all things there have reference to life, as may be seen from those two commandments on which all things in the Word are founded, and about which the following is recorded in Matthew,

Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments the Law and the Prophets depend. Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31.

'Loving God and the neighbour' is a rule of life because the all of life belongs to love, so much so that without love life is not life, and the character of the love determines that of the life. The Law and the Prophets are the whole Word.