Matthew 24:27
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For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. (Mat 25:1-13) Then--at the time referred to at the close of the preceding chapter, the time of the Lord's Second Coming to reward His faithful servants and take vengeance on the faithless. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom--This supplies a key to the parable, whose object is, in the main, the same as that of the last parable--to illustrate the vigilant and expectant attitude of faith, in respect of which believers are described as "they that look for Him" (Heb 9:28), and "love His appearing" (Ti2 4:8). In the last parable it was that of servants waiting for their absent Lord; in this it is that of virgin attendants on a Bride, whose duty it was to go forth at night with lamps, and be ready on the appearance of the Bridegroom to conduct the Bride to his house, and go in with him to the marriage. This entire and beautiful change of figure brings out the lesson of the former parable in quite a new light. But let it be observed that, just as in the parable of the Marriage Supper, so in this--the Bride does not come into view at all in this parable; the Virgins and the Bridegroom holding forth all the intended instruction: nor could believers be represented both as Bride and Bridal Attendants without incongruity.
Open source ↗24:27-28 Lightning may be an allusion to the astrological phenomena attending the Messiah’s coming (see 24:29-31; 1 Thes 4:13-18). It is not the suddenness of lightning that is in view but rather the magnitude of its visibility. Very possibly, Jesus gave these sayings to ward off premature excitement regarding the end (1 Thes 4:13–5:10; 2 Thes 2:1-12).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Then the LORD will appear over them,and His arrow will go forth like lightning.The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s hornand advance in the whirlwinds of the south.
He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole sky and sends it to the ends of the earth.
And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near.
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
“Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.”
Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
And they were oblivious, until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.