Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God doesn't come with observation." (Luke 17:20, World English Bible translation) "nor will they say, `Look, here it is!' or, `There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." And He said to the disciples, "The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, `Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them." (Luke 17:21-23 NASB translation)

Then Jesus states, as recorded in Matthew 24:27:

"For just as the lightning (Greek, astrape: light, bright shining) comes from the east and flashes [Greek, phaino: shines] even to the west, so will the coming [Greek, Parousia: presence] of the Son of Man be. (NAS)

His words in Luke 17:24 read as:

"For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day."

Jesus, in answering the Pharisees, first lets them know that when the kingdom come it will not with observation, something that will be observed as such. No one will be able to legitimately say that the kingdom is ruling here, or it is ruling there, as though it will be actually seen, but that it is to be in their midst. He then explains to his disciples -- not the Pharisees -- that there will be those however, that will claim that God's kingdom is ruling and and can be seen, and warns not to follow these. Such claims have been made by Rome and many other church-state systems. These proclamations of God's kingdom, being seen amongst men, Jesus said, are not the real kingdom, and he tells his followers not recognize them as such.

Then Jesus tells how God's kingdom will come upon the world, by describing a light, that progresses from east to west in the sky. Many translations present this light as lightning and use the word "flash" rather simply shines, but we believe that this leaves one with the wrong idea, as we will present below.

Lightning does not generally come from the east and shine even to the west, but the sun does. The word "lightning" is a poor translation of the Greek word "astrape," which signifies "bright shining" (as given in Luke 11:36 in the KJV), and really refers here, as the context indicates, to the sunlight which shines always from the east even to the west, while on the other hand, lightning flashes in a variety of directions, wherever the electrical forces producing it may be discharged. A flash of lightning would only luminate the sky for a split second, which is not a good illustration of Jesus' return. When the word "presence" is substituted for "coming," the statement is seen to declare that the presence of Christ will be like the sunlight, gradually illuminating the world. It is not a split second of time, in which all the world sees and recognizes Jesus it the instant that he returns, as some have assumed.

Those who are awake and watching, the children of the light, are the first to discern and rejoice in His presence. The children of the night and of the darkness will awake when the Sun of Righteousness will arise in His full glory, and all the sin-sick will rejoice in the healing to be gained through the influence of His rays. Therefore, Jesus uses here the illustration of how the sun brings light as it comes up the east and goes to the west. This well depicts the sun of righteousness who arises with healing in his wings. (Malachi 4:2) The shining is not confined to any one place, but its effect is different in different places. The bright shining (verse 27) means truths and knowledge greatly increases, especially during the time that Christ is returns and is present. That this shining is visible from the east to the west, refers to the fact that our Lord's presence reveals truth that not only is seen now, but even unto the west, the end of the Millennium, even as the sun gradually moves across the sky from east to west. (Revelation 21:23-24). When the sun first rises in the east, it is not especially bright, but the rays of light can be seen gleaming through the sky. As it continues its journey, the shining gets brighter and brighter.

The sun shine of this new day, however, is different from a normal day, for the prophecy says that the bright shining is darkened by the clouds. (Isaiah 5:30; Joel 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15) The clouds we understand to mean obscurity -- darkness and trouble on earth. (Isaiah 8:22) It is a unique day, different from what we have known before, for we are told that at evening time, rather than darkness coming, there will be light. (Zechariah 14:7) Thus seen, we can see that this day endures on into the millennial rule, when the world will be instructed in the ways of Yahweh, and the knowledge of Yahweh will fill the earth. -- Isaiah 2:2-4; 6:11.

At first, only those who are spiritually awake recognize this presence, (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6) but after Satan is abyssed, all men will become aware of his presence. (Revelation 20:3; Isaiah 25:7; Revelation 1:7) To the watchers in Zion, this light is now seen in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies, as well as a flood of knowledge that causes understanding of many spiritual truths that were hidden in the darkness of the wilderness for over a thousand years. Thus to them it has a special meaning. But to the world the light first brings a time of trouble, as never seen before in history, for poor humanity, still being out of harmony with God and truth, cannot properly control the increase of knowledge that has so gradually filled the world since 1799. (Daniel 12:1,4) Yet they are ever learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7) God's kingdom is in their midst, but they do not recognize it. -- Luke 17:21

Thus seen, in agreement with other scriptures, Christ's parousia, covers a period of time, in which many things occur. Yes, Jesus does arrive at the beginning of his parousia, his presense as King, and thus remains present. The Greek word parousia means more than just his arrival, but it also includes the things prophesied concerning his coming.

W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words: Parousia, literally, a presence, para, with, and ousia, being…denotes both n arrival and a consequent presence with. Robert Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible: Parousia, a being alongside, presence.

Moulton and Milligan's Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Foreword: "Parousia, as applied to the return of the Lord, is simply the anglicizing of the Greek word which literally means 'presence.'

One way of showing that the parousia is a period of time can be seen by comparing two scritpures:

Matthew 24:37-39 - As the days of Noah, so will be the coming [parousia -- kingly presence] of the Son of Man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they didn't know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming [parousia - Kingly presence] of the Son of Man

Luke 17:26 - As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days [parallels with "parousia" of Matthew 24:37] of the Son of Man.

Thus the world in general is carrying on these affairs in the days of Jesus' parousia, that is, his parousia is not known to them, as testified by the fact that they don't know, or understand. When this present evil world is destroyed, then the sunlight of the kingdom and the righteous will be revealed -- the revealing of the saints. Then will follow the resurrection of the world. It is not until after the world's resurrection, that even those who pierced him will be brought back to life so that they may "see" him, and thus "They also who err in spirit shall come to understanding, and those who murmur shall receive instruction." -- Revelation 1:7; Isaiah 29:24.

Someone has objected that lightning goes from east to west. This may be true in some cases, but this lightning is between clouds and still only lasts for a split second. Cloud-to-cloud lightning is said to occur more often than cloud to ground strikes, but such lightning may or may not be seen from the ground, and is more often seen as light behind the shadows of the clouds. While it is very doubtful that this is what Jesus had in mind when he spoke his words, nevertheless, this could describe the conditions set forth in Isaiah 5:30; Joel 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15.
http://www.2dog.com/cat/pg5.html
http://wvlightning.com/types.html

The National Lightning Saftey Institute states: "Lightning’s behavior is random and unpredictable."
http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/lsvl_plans.html
http://israelstorms.netfirms.com/96-97/m1597.html

Lightning, as seen from earth in the sky in Israel, usually is seen as going downward, not from east to west. This is in agreement with Luke 10:18, in which Jesus may have used astrape to describe lightning as falling from the sky in the land of Israel.
http://israelstorms.netfirms.com/96-97/m1597.html

He said to them, "I saw Satan having fallen like lightning [astrape] from heaven."

True, Jesus is speaking figuratively, but the figure being used is that of natural lightning to depict what happened figuratively.

However, there are some who believe that astrape in Luke 10:18 refers to a falling star, not lightning, which would tend to support the idea that Matthew 24:27 refers, not to lightning, but to the sun traveling from east to west. This view is supported by the fact that astrape is derived from the Greek word *aster* which does mean "star."

Additionally, the Hebrew word *'owr* (Strong's Hebrew #216) is used similarly, sometimes meaning lightning, sometimes meaning sunlight, light of a lamp, etc.
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0216?

Lightning travels in both directions, upward and downward, but that which is usually seen from the earth is the shining which extends downward.
http://thunder.msfc.nasa.gov/primer/primer2.html
http://wvlightning.com/faqw1.html

Someone argues: "The point of Matthew 24:27 is to try to convey a understanding that when Jesus returns 'every eye shall see him,' just as every eye (person) sees the sun as it appears to go from east to west." Yes, "every eye" will see Jesus, but his refers to the later stage of his return, when he comes with all his saints to judge the world, that the world may be delivered (saved) from the bondage of corruption when the saints are revealed. (1 Thessalonians 3:13; Isaiah 2:2-4; Romans 8:19-21) However, he first comes as a thief to harvest the earth, or gather his saints; and afterward he comes openly, with all his saints, and every eye shall see him, after the harvest is ended.

Addendum One:

Quote from Adam Rutherford:

The translation of the Greek word astrape by "lightning" in Matthew 24:27, Luke 17:24 in our English Bibles is misleading and is partly responsible for wrong conclusions regarding the manner of the Second Advent. It is true that astrape means "lightning" but it also has a wider meaning. Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon gives the meaning of astrape in New Testament Greek as "any bright light". Jesus Himself, as recorded in Luke 11:36 speaks of "the bright shining (astrape) of a lamp". The same Greek word is used again in Our Lord's Great Prophecy of Matthew 24, where in verse 27 He speaks of a bright light "coming forth from the east and shining even unto the west". There is only one bright light that does this, namely the sun (moonlight is faint and the starlight is small). So the correct translation of Matthew 24:27 is "For as the sunlight (astrape) cometh forth from the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the presence (parousia) of the Son of man be." Only those who are awake and watching see the first gleams of light and watch the increasing light and dawn, whilst later when the sun rises in the sky and moves over to the west, it is observed by all. So likewise, only those awake to the signs of the times and watching discern the Lord's presence in the early days of the Second Advent, whilst later, when He manifests Himself, "every eye shall see Him", for His parousia, i.e. His presence continues throughout the Millennium. (Pyramidology, Book IV, 1972, page 1487)

December 7, 2003

Related Pages Online
We do not necessarily agree with all statements made.

Signs of Christ's Presence: Bright Shining Sun
http://www.biblestudents.org/presence/signs_sun.htm

As The Lightning Cometh
http://www.heraldmag.org/archives/1956_12.htm#_Toc36375045
Herald of Christ's Kingdom, December 1956.

The Parousia of Jesus Christ
http://www.hisremnant.org/eby/articles/kingdom/looking/look10.htm

The Promise of His Presence
http://www.heraldmag.org/bookstore/booklet_promise.htm
Herald of Christ's Presence (booklet)

Messiah's Kingdom To Be Invisible
http://www.agsconsulting.com/htdbv5/r5455.htm
Zion's Watch Tower, Reprints 5455.

Sign's of Christ's Presence
http://www.beautiesofthetruth.org/Archive/Library/Doctrine/Mags/Bot/90s/BOTFEB92.PDF
Beauties of the Truth, February 1992