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!

4639. Genesis 36

1. And these are the generations of Esau, he being Edom.

2. Esau took his wives (femina) from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;

3. And Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.

4. And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau; and Basemath bore Reuel;

5. And Oholibamah bore Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

6. And Esau took his wives (femina), and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his purchase which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to a land away from Jacob his brother.

7. For their acquirements were too many for them to dwell together, and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle.

8. And Esau dwelt on Mount Seir, Esau himself being Edom.

9. And these are the generations of Esau the father of Edom on Mount Seir.

10. These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau; Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.

11. And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

12. And Timna was a concubine belonging to Eliphaz the son of Esau; and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.

13. And these were the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.

14. And these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon; and to Esau she bore Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.

15. These were the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz,

16. Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, Chief Amalek; these were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, these were the sons of Adah.

17. And these were the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, Chief Mizzah; these were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom, these were the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.

18. And these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, Chief Korah; these were the chiefs of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.

19. These were the sons of Esau, and these were their chiefs - he being Edom.

20. These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,

21. And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan; these were the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

22. And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and the sister of Lotan was Timna.

23. And these were the sons of Shobal: Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

24. And these were the sons of Zibeon: Both Aiah and Anah, this being the Anah who found the mules in the desert while he was feeding the asses for Zibeon his father.

25. And these were the children of Anah: Dishan, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.

26. And these were the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

27. These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.

28. These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

29. These were the chiefs of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah,

30. Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

31. And these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before a king reigned over the children of Israel.

32. And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

33. And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in place of him.

34. And Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in place of him.

35. And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in place of him; and the name of his city was Avith.

36. And Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in place of him.

37. And Samlah died, and Saul from Rehoboth on the river reigned in place of him.

38. And Saul died, and Baal Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in place of him.

39. And Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in place of him; and the name of his city was Pau. And his wife's name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mezahab.

40. And these were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth,

41. Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon,

42. Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar,

43. Chief Magdiel, Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom according to their habitations, in the land of their possession, Esau himself being the father of Edom.

CONTENTS

The subject now in the internal sense is the Lord's Divine Natural Good. The entire order which that Good possesses is described by the names that are given, the Lord's Divine Natural Good being meant by 'Esau'.