Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:27
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
27. as the lightning ] All-pervading, swift, sudden and of dazzling brightness; such shall be the coming of the Son of man.
shineth ] Translate, appeareth. The flash is instantly visible in the remotest quarter.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For as the lightning cometh out of the east … – This is not designed to denote the quarter from which he would come, but the manner. He does not mean to affirm that the Son of man will come from the east, but that he will come in a rapid and unexpected manner, like the lightning. Many would be looking for him in the desert, many in secret places; but he said it would be useless to be looking in that manner; it was useless to look to any particular part of the heavens to know where the lightning would next flash. In a moment it would blaze in an unexpected part of the heavens, and shine at once to the other part. So rapidly, so unexpectedly, in so unlooked-for a quarter, would be his coming. See Luk 10:18; Zec 9:14.
The coming of the Son of man – It has been doubted whether this refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, or to the coming at the day of judgment. For the solution of this doubt let it be remarked:
1.That those two events are the principal scenes in which our Lord said he would come, either in person or in judgment.
2.That the destruction of Jerusalem is described as his coming, his act.
3.That these events – the judgment of Jerusalem and the final judgment in many respects greatly resemble each other.
4.That they will bear, therefore, to be described in the same language; and,
5.Therefore, that the same words often include both events, as properly described by them.
The words had, doubtless, a primary reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, but they had, at the same time, such an amplitude of meaning as also to express his coming to judgment. See the introduction to Isaiah, section 7, (3).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 24:27
For as the lightning.
The last conflagration
I. Christs advent shall be sudden. Unexpected by the masses; like the flash that leaps from the bosom of the black cloud, sweeps through the sky, and completes its journey in an instant.
II. Christs advent will be with intense and vivid splendour. The lightning fills the whole world; leaps from the east, and finds its lair only in the remote and distant west. When the searching lightning of that day shall come it will penetrate the cell of the captive, etc. What an arrest will take place. The world will be going on when Christ comes, as it does this moment. There will be signs, and symptoms, and premonitory warnings of Christs advent.
1. Some will say, on seeing them, The whole thing can be explained on the principles of natural science, etc. It may be so; but certainly these scientific objectors seem to be the successors of a class who are a sign of the times, while they say, Where is the promise of His coming? etc.
2. Others will meet all statements on the subject with Wishes it may not be true, etc.
3. Gods own people will say, Come, Lord Jesus; we have been looking for Thee, etc.
4. The testimony of Gods Word as to the accompaniments of this day.
5. What is the lesson from all this? What manner of persons, etc.
6. Seek to promote things that will survive the last fire.
7. The prospect of a dissolving world is a more practical motive force than the prospect of death. This is the apostolic motive power. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Duty to be done in time of judgment
About sixty years ago, there was in America a universal superstition-not an enlightened belief-that the world was about to close. They believed that the world was about to end, because a total eclipse of the sun took place at noonday. There was all the darkness and the gloom of midnight. It happened that the Congress of the United States was assembled at this hour; half the members of the Congress believed that that dense night, caused by a total eclipse of the sun, was really the darkness that preceded the ushering in the judgment and another state and world. They were in great alarm, and two or three of the most agitated got up at once, and moved that the Congress do adjourn. There was a panic. In the midst of the panic, and while some were proposing an adjournment, an old and venerable Puritan, who had learned noble lessons from the Puritans of England, the salt of the country at that time, rose up and said, Mr. Chairman, we are told that our duties are always imminent, that they are always obligatory. Some in this house are afraid that the last day is come; it may be they are right; I have some suspicion they are so; but as our duties never cease, instead of moving that the house adjourn, as we cannot see in this darkness to do business, I move that the candles be brought in, and that we proceed to the order of the day. That man spoke like a Christian, and he lived like a Christian. And may we be found going on with the orders of the day when the light of the last day shall flash upon this world. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
The coming of the Son of Man
The Rev. Edward Irving was once preaching at Perth. The text was taken from Mat 24:1-51., regarding the coming of the Son of Man. While he was engaged in unfolding his subject, from out of a dark cloud, which obscured the church, there came forth a bright blaze of lightning and a crash of thunder. There was deep stillness in the audience. The preacher paused; and from the stillness and the gloom, his powerful voice, clothed with increased solemnity, pronounced these words: For as the lightning cometh out of the earth, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.
Christs second coming
Here are two opposite yet ever-present dangers. One is of fancying that our Saviour and our salvation are to be found in some extraordinary out-of-the-way fashion of religious manifestation: Behold he is in the desert. The other danger is that we shall fancy that our Saviour and our salvation are to be found in particular states of our own interior feeling: Behold he is in the secret chambers. The first was superstition; this is fanaticism.
I. Both Christ and his apostles speak repeatedly of a second coming of the Son of Man in such a sense as forbids us to confound the second with the first. The two are put entirely apart in time, though they are internally and morally connected with each other; the one preparing the way for the other, and each being in fact fragmentary and unintelligible without the other.
II. That coming is personal and literal. We may call signal social revolutions, reforms in government, the emancipation of slaves, or great accessions of knowledge or charity, new comings of Christ. The figure is intelligible; but they are not comings of Him. They may be comings of the impersonal power and principles of His religion-partial blessings reminding us of the one great blessing that includes them all; but He is to come. Ye shall see the Son of Man(not His ideas, but Him) coming in power and great glory. Nor will it do to tamper with Holy Scripture by such a theory of interpretation as that His coming means our going. The death or departure of the individual is one thing; the Bible often mentions that, meaning just what it says. The Lords coming is another.
III. This great coming is to be connected with a separation of the good from the bad, the believers from the deniers, the spiritually alive from the spiritually dead.
IV. There is, however, some reference to a kind of coming of Christ which was to take place in the lifetime of the generation that was on the stage while the saviour was speaking.
V. Inspired writers, apostles, signify their expectation that Christs second advent would take place during their own natural life. Were they mistaken, and mistaken teachers of others? A vast amount of ingenious effort has been made to break the force of this objection with out sacrificing the infallibility of the record. For the most part it has failed by taking the purely external or philological method, and without sounding spiritually the depths of the Evangelic purpose. Let us honestly take the language of honest men in its ordinary acceptation. What, then, shall we say? All difficulties are cleared by the following proposition, which is reasonable and reverential: The purpose of revelation, in this matter, was to create in Christians, not a belief that Christ would come at any particular hour in history, but a belief that He is always at hand, and that all Christians should at all times and in all places be ready, as men that stand with their lamps trimmed and burning, to meet Him personally. The date of the event was no part of the Divine communication. In proportion as we rise, in thought, toward the immensity of the life of God, and have the mind of the Spirit, the whole period of history shrinks, great distances dwindle, epochs are pressed together, and a thousand years are as one day. Besides, the highest authority in modern physical science, in astronomy, and geology, and chemistry, harmonizes singularly enough, as to the issue, with the Apostolic language. It concludes that the machinery of the material universe is wasting, its movements are slackening, its balance is slowly loosening, and that a general catastrophe is inevitable. The sneer of the scientific sceptic of the last century is silenced by the science of to-day. We may say that in the Bible predictions generally, borrowing a phrase from the fine arts, what we may call historical perspective is lost sight of. We are not told at what intervals from each other, or always in just what order, these majestic events, by which eternity seems to open down into time, shall follow on. Chronology is not the object. The facts are what we are to know, and receive, and feed upon in our hearts by faith. The moment we begin to try our petty arithmetic on them we miss the mark, and lose our way. We all know that, even with ourselves, the moments of tremendous peril, when awful events are casting their colossal shadows about us, are just the time when the ordinary measure of succession drops out of sight. We look across the great tract and see other great conjunctions, as if they were nigh at hand. Christ Jesus is not enclosed in time, but time is all in Him. (Bishop Huntington)
Christs second coming a revelation
The essential circumstance in this parable or analogy is not so much the suddenness of the splendour that breaks forth from the cloud, as the wide-reaching and supernatural illumination and revelation which come with it. It annihilates all the darkness of the night and of the storm. Each of all the hidden objects stands out clearly manifest. The daylight comes so slowly that we seldom think of its revealing power. Even when we pause to watch its increase, the world has ample time to grow into its old look of naturalness without any shock to us; and, ere the sun has fully risen and disclosed clearly to our sight the familiar objects around us, we have already well-nigh forgotten that the night ever hid them. But it is not so when the lightning comes. That has no twilight. Its dawn is its fullest day. It transfigures the world at once. It divides the light from the darkness somewhat as we imagine God did at the beginning-separating them perfectly, and leaving no neutral ground between them. (E. E. Johnson, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west] It is worthy of remark that our Lord, in the most particular manner, points out the very march of the Roman army: they entered into Judea on the EAST, and carried on their conquest WESTWARD, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, were intended in the comparison of the lightning issuing from the east, and shining to the west.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Luke hath much the same, Luk 17:24,37. The disagreement of interpreters about the coming of the Son of man, here spoken of, makes a variety in their interpretation of these verses. Some think the coming of the Son of man here spoken of was his coming to destroy Jerusalem, which, he saith, will be sudden like the lightning, which though the thunder be taken notice of aforehand, as following the lightning, yet is not taken notice of. These interpreters make the carcass, mentioned Mat 24:28, to be the body of the Jewish nation, designed to be destroyed; and the eagles to be the Roman armies. Job saith of the eagle, Job 39:30, where the slain are, there is she, Hab 1:8, saith the same of the Chaldean armies; They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. Some understand by the coming of Christ here, his coming in his spiritual kingdom. The preaching of the gospel shall be like the lightning; you need not listen after those that say, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he is there, for my gospel shall be preached every where; and where the carcass is, where my death and resurrection shall be preached, all the elect, my sheep that hear my voice and follow me, shall be gathered together. Others understand it of Christs coming to judgment, which is compared to lightning for the suddenness and universality of it. There, saith Christ, I shall be, and all my saints shall be gathered together. Luke seemeth to speak of this, Luk 17:24,37. That phrase, Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together, is a proverbial speech, signifying that it will need no great labour to bring things together which are naturally joined by an innate desire either of them to the other; so that it is applicable in more cases than one. And whether that discourse in Luke were at the same time when this was I cannot say; our Saviours discourse on this argument, Luk 21:1-38; hath not these verses, and is a part of a discourse which is said to have been begun, at least to the Pharisees, Luk 17:20. But I shall further consider what Luke saith when I shall come to that chapter in him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For as the lightning cometh out of the east,…. The eastern part of the horizon,
and shineth even unto the west; to the western part of it, with great clearness; in a moment; in the twinkling of an eye, filling the whole intermediate space;
so shall also the coming of the son of man be; which must be understood not of his last coming to judgment, though that will be sudden, visible, and universal; he will at once come to, and be seen by all, in the clouds of heaven, and not in deserts and secret chambers: nor of his spiritual coming in the more sudden, and clear, and powerful preaching of the Gospel all over the Gentile world; for this was to be done before the destruction of Jerusalem: but of his coming in his wrath and vengeance to destroy that people, their nation, city, and temple: so that after this to look for the Messiah in a desert, or secret chamber, must argue great stupidity and blindness; when his coming was as sudden, visible, powerful, and general, to the destruction of that nation, as the lightning that comes from the east, and, in a moment, shines to the west.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As seen (). Visible in contrast to the invisibility of the false Messiahs. Cf. Re 1:7. Like a flash of lightning.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shineth [] . Rev., better, is seen. The coming of the Lord will be a plain, unmistakable fact, like the lightning which lightens both ends of the heaven at once, and is seen of all. It will not be connected with some particular place, but will manifest itself and be recognized over the whole world. Compare Rev 1:7 : “Every eye shall see him.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
(27) As the lightning cometh out of the east.In this and the three preceding verses we are, as it were, on the dim border-land of the primary and the ultimate fulfilments of the words. The disciples in their questions (Mat. 24:3) had connected the destruction of Jerusalem with the coming of their Lord, and the two are connected even in His own words and thoughts. In whatever way He came, whether in the final destruction of the Temple and polity of Israel, or at the end of the worlds great drama, the advent would be sudden and unlooked-for as the lightning-flash. The crises of the worlds history, which are the springing and germinant accomplishments of such words as these, are always unexpected by the great mass of mankind, even though the few whose eyes are opened can discern the signs of the times, and know that their redemption draweth nigh.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. As the lightning out of east unto the west May we not suppose that the unspeakable splendour of the Son of man (constituting the visible sign, as mentioned in verse thirtieth) will be suspended in the heaven during the entire of one revolution of the earth, so that its flash should extend from east to west, and be visible on all sides of the globe to the alarmed and watching nations? We thus discover in this paragraph one more contrast between the these things of the apostles’ first question, and the end of the world as specified in the second question.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“For as the lightning comes forth from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man.”
And the reason for that is because when the Son of Man does come it will be as swift and as sudden and as glorious as a flash of lightning. It will be a heavenly, not an earthly, coming.
One of Jesus’ temptations had been to put on a spectacular display of power on earth so as to gather a following (Mat 4:5-6), a way that He had rejected. And some of these Messiahs may well seek to do something similar. But He wants His followers to know that He will never act in that way. When He speaks of His glorious appearing here He is rather speaking of the inevitable manifestation of His true and heavenly glory which in the end cannot be hidden.
That the expression ‘Son of Man’ found here and in the following verses refers to Jesus seen as a heavenly figure, but as also closely related to previous uses of the expression with regard to His life as a human being on earth, is confirmed by the fact that here He is represented as the true Messiah as against false Messiahs , and the true Prophet as against false prophets, for there has been constant emphasis on the fact that Jesus is the outstanding and unique Prophet (Mat 12:41) and the true Messiah (Mat 16:16). It is also required by the constant previous references to Jesus as the Son of Man under all conditions.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 24:27. As the lightningshall also the coming of the Son of man be His coming will not be in this or that particular place, but, like the lightning, sudden and universal. The appearance of the true Christ will be as distinguishable fromthat of the false Christ, as lightning, which shineth all round the hemisphere, is from a blaze of straw: it is very remarkable, “That the Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward; as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army should take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east and shining even unto the west.” See Pearce’s Dissert. on the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Bishop Newton.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 24:27 . Reason why they were not to listen to such assertions. The advent of the Messiah will not be of such a nature that you will require to be directed to look here or look there in order to see him; but it will be as the lightning, which, as soon as it appears, suddenly announces its presence everywhere; , , Chrysostom. Not as though the advent were not to be connected with some locality or other upon earth, or were to be invisible altogether (R. Hofmann); but what is meant is, that when it takes place, it will all of a sudden openly display itself in a glorious fashion over the whole world . Ebrard (comp. Schott) is wrong in supposing that the point of comparison lies only in the circumstance that the event comes suddenly and without any premonition . For certainly this would not tend to show, as Jesus means to do, that the assertion: he is in the wilderness, etc., is an unwarrantable pretence.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Ver. 27. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be ] Clear and conspicuous, as the lightning cannot be hidden or hindered from being seen all the whole heaven over. Then shall all secret sins be made visible, as things written with the juice of lemons are legible when held to the fire; as visible shall they be, and legible too, as if written with the brightest lightning upon a wall of crystal.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27, 28. ] The coming of the Lord in the end, even as that in the type was, shall be a plain unmistakable fact , understood of all; and like that also, sudden and all-pervading . But here again the full meaning of the words is only to be found in the final fulfilment of them. The lightning, lighting both ends of heaven at once, seen of all beneath it, can only find its full similitude in [166] IS Personal coming, Whom every eye shall see , Rev 1:7 .
[166] The Codex Wolfii B, now in the Public Library at Hamburg. Its history is the same as that of the last MS. Its contents, the Gospels, with many lacun: its assigned date, about the end of the ninth century . It was collated by Wolf, Tregelles, and Tischendorf.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 24:27 . , etc.: the coming of the true Messiah, identified with the Son of Man, compared to the lightning, to suggest a contrast between Him and the false Christs as to visibility , and enforce the counsel to pay no heed to those who say: He is here, or He is there.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
as = just as.
out of = frorn. Greek. apo.
also. All the texts omit “also”.
the coming = the parousia, or presence. See note on Mat 24:3.
the Son of man. See App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27, 28.] The coming of the Lord in the end, even as that in the type was, shall be a plain unmistakable fact, understood of all;-and like that also, sudden and all-pervading. But here again the full meaning of the words is only to be found in the final fulfilment of them. The lightning, lighting both ends of heaven at once, seen of all beneath it, can only find its full similitude in [166] IS Personal coming, Whom every eye shall see, Rev 1:7.
[166] The Codex Wolfii B, now in the Public Library at Hamburg. Its history is the same as that of the last MS. Its contents, the Gospels,-with many lacun: its assigned date, about the end of the ninth century. It was collated by Wolf, Tregelles, and Tischendorf.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 24:27. , lightning) It is not all lightning that is meant, but that which sometimes suddenly fills the whole horizon without previous warning.- , from the east) The lightning comes also from the other quarters; but in this passage it is said to come from the east. It may be supposed that Christs Advent will take place from the east. The interval which is to elapse between the appearance of the Lords Advent (see Gnomon on 2Th 2:8) and the Advent itself, enables the actual Advent to be sudden.- , of the Son of Man) From this place to Mat 24:44, especially, He is frequently called The Son of Man; cf. ch. Mat 25:31.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Son of man
Also Mat 24:37; Mat 24:39; Mat 24:44. (See Scofield “Mat 8:20”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
as: Job 37:3, Job 38:35, Isa 30:30, Zec 9:14, Luk 17:24-37
the coming: Mat 16:28, Mal 3:2, Mal 4:5, Jam 5:8, 2Pe 3:4
Reciprocal: Job 38:24 – General Lam 4:19 – persecutors Eze 1:14 – General Zec 14:5 – the Lord Mal 4:6 – lest Mat 10:23 – till Luk 17:30 – General Joh 21:22 – If Jam 5:7 – unto 2Pe 1:16 – coming
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:27
Having warned against letting false prophets take advantage of the disturbed conditions at the time of the Jewish wars to announce the second coming, Jesus then goes over to that event to explain how it will be then. That is why this verse was listed in the comments at verse 3 as the “second coming of Christ.” The universal and simultaneous appearance of Jesus at his second coming is compared to that of a flash of lightning. It does not appear in spots only and require that one’s attention be called to it before it is observed. When Jesus comes he will be seen by all classes at the same time (Rev 1:7). There are false prophets in the world today who have been predicting the second coming of Christ, even setting the very date when it was to occur. But the dates all proved to be wrong, so in order to “save face” they have changed their story and now declare that he did actually come but was seen only by his “witnesses.” The prophecy of Jesus and John contradicts the theory and shows that all of these so-called “witnesses” are frauds.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[For as the lightning, etc.] to discover clearly the sense of this and the following clauses, those two things must be observed which we have formerly given notice of: —
1. That the destruction of Jerusalem is very frequently expressed in Scripture as if it were the destruction of the whole world, Deu 32:22; “A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell” (the discourse there is about the wrath of God consuming that people; Deu 32:20-21), “and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” Jer 4:23; “I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light,” etc. The discourse there also is concerning the destruction of that nation, Isa 65:17; “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered,” etc. And more passages of this sort among the prophets. According to this sense, Christ speaks in this place; and Peter speaks in his Second Epistle, third chapter; and John, in the sixth of the Revelation; and Paul, 2Co 5:17; etc.
2. That Christ’s taking vengeance of that exceeding wicked nation is called Christ’s “coming in glory,” and his “coming in the clouds,” Daniel_7. It is also called, “the day of the Lord.” See Psa 1:4; Mal 3:1-2; etc.; Joe 2:31; Mat 16:28; Rev 1:7; etc. See what we have said on Mat 12:20; Mat 19:28.
The meaning, therefore, of the words before us is this: “While they shall falsely say, that Christ is to be seen here or there: ‘Behold, he is in the desert,’ one shall say; another, ‘Behold, he is in the secret chambers’: he himself shall come, like lightning, with sudden and altogether unexpected vengeance: they shall meet him whom they could not find; they shall find him whom they sought, but quite another than what they looked for.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 24:27. For as the lightning, etc. At this point we must accept a direct reference to the end of the world. The destruction of Jerusalem was sudden, but here the ulterior sense, which was never absent, becomes the prominent one.
From the east. A literal explanation of this phrase is forbidden by the nature of the case. The sense is Christs coming will be sudden and all-pervading, unmistakable and fearful; visible too, we infer; glorious and purifying also, like the lightning. Only a Personal coming will fulfil this prediction.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
There is a threefold coming of Christ spoken of in the New Testament.
1. His coming in his spiritual kingdom by the preaching of the gospel among the Gentiles.
2. His coming to destroy Jerusalem forty years after his ascension.
3. His final coming to judgment at the great day.
All these comings of the Son of man, for their suddenness and unexpectedness, are compared unto lightning, which in a moment breaketh out of the east, and shineth unto the west.
Learn hence, That the coming and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the judging of the wicked and impenitent sinners, will be a very certain, sudden, and unexpected appearance.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 24:27-28. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, &c. The coming of the Son of man shall be in a very different manner, and for very different ends from what you are imagining. It shall be like lightning, swift, unexpected, and destructive. His appearance will be as distinguishable from that of every false Christ, as lightning, which shines all round the hemisphere, is from a blaze of straw. What Bishop Pearce observes from Josephus is very memorable, that the Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining even unto the west. For wheresoever the carcass is, &c. For though the coming of the Son of man shall be like lightning, swift, spreading, and destructive, yet he will not come personally; his servants only shall come, the Roman armies, who by his command shall destroy this nation as eagles devour their prey. Thus our Lord, after his usual manner, applies a proverbial expression with a particular meaning; and the Romans are very properly compared to eagles, both because eagles are the fiercest birds of prey, and because the Roman ensign was an eagle, to which probably our Lord alluded in this passage.