Matthew 24:27

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 24:27. Ἀστραπὴ, lightning) It is not all lightning that is meant, but that which sometimes suddenly fills the whole horizon without previous warning.—ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, 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 Christ’s Advent will take place from the east. The interval which is to elapse between the appearance of the Lord’s Advent (see Gnomon on 2Th 2:8) and the Advent itself, enables the actual Advent to be sudden.—τοῦ Υἱοῦʼ Ανθρώπον, 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.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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; οὕτως ἔσται ἡ παρουσία ἐκείνη, ὁμοῦ πανταχοῦ φαινομένη διὰ τὴν ἔκλαμψιν τῆς δόξης, 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.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 24:27 . ὥσπερ γὰρ , 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.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 world’s great drama, the advent would be sudden and unlooked-for as the lightning-flash. The crises of the world’s 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.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For wheresoever the carcass is,.... Not Christ, as he is held forth in the Gospel, crucified and slain, through whose death is the savour of life, and by whom salvation is, and to whom sensible sinners flock, encouraged by the ministry of the word; and much less Christ considered as risen, exalted, and coming in great glory to judgment, to whom the word "carcass" will by no means agree, and but very poorly under the former consideration: but the people of the Jews are designed by it, in their fallen, deplorable, miserable, and lifeless state, who were like to the body of a man, or any other creature, struck dead with lightning from heaven; being destroyed by the breath of the mouth, and brightness of the coming of the son of man, like lightning, just as antichrist will be at the last day:

there will the eagles be gathered together: not particular believers here, or all the saints at the day of judgment; though these may be, as they are, compared to eagles for many things; as their swiftness in flying to Christ, their sagacity and the sharpness of their spiritual sight, soaring on high, and renewing their spiritual strength and youth: but here the Roman armies are intended, whose ensigns were eagles; and the eagle still is, to this day, the ensign of the Roman empire: formerly other creatures, with the eagle, were used for ensigns; but C. Marius, in his second consulship, banished them, and appropriated the eagle only to the legions: nor was it a single eagle that was carried before the army, but every legion had an eagle went before it, made of gold or silver, and carried upon the top of a spear (z): and the sense of this passage is this, that wherever the Jews were, whether at Jerusalem, where the body and carcass of them was, in a most forlorn and desperate condition; or in any other parts of the country, the Roman eagles, or legions, would find them out, and make an utter destruction of them. The Persic version, contrary to others, and to all copies, renders it "vultures". Though this creature is of the same nature with the eagle, with respect to feeding on carcasses: hence the proverb,

"cujus vulturis hoe erit cadaver?''

"what vulture shall have this carcass?" It has a very sharp sight, and quick smell, and will, by both, discern carcasses at almost incredible distance: it will diligently watch a man that is near death; and will follow armies going to battle, as historians relate (a): and it is the eagle which is of the vulture kind, as Aristotle (b) observes, that takes up dead bodies, and carries them to its nest. And Pliny (c) says, it is that sort of eagles only which does so; and some have affirmed that eagles will by no means touch dead carcasses: but this is contrary not only to this passage of Scripture, but to others; particularly to Job 39:30 "her young ones also suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is she": an expression much the same with this in the text, and to which it seems to refer; see also Pro 30:17. Though Chrysostom (d) says, both the passage in Job, and this in Matthew, are to be understood of vultures; he doubtless means the eagles that are of the vulture kind, the Gypaeetos, or vulture eagle. There is one kind of eagles, naturalists say (e), will not feed on flesh, which is called the bird of Jupiter; but, in common, the eagle is represented as a very rapacious creature, seizing, and feeding upon the flesh of hares, fawns, geese, &c. and the rather this creature is designed here; since, of all birds, this is the only one that is not hurt with lightning (f), and so can immediately seize carcasses killed thereby; to which there seems to be an allusion here, by comparing it with the preceding verse: however, the Persic version, though it is literally a proper one, yet from the several things observed, it is not to be overlooked and slighted.

(z) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 4. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 4. c. 2. (a) Aelian. de Animal. Natura, l. 2. c. 46. (b) De Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 32. (c) Hist. Nat l. 10. c. 3. (d) In Matt. Homil. 49. (e) Aelian. de Animal. l. 9. c. 10. (f) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 55.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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 Christ’s 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 Saviour’s 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As the lightning...east...west. That is, shines from one end of heaven to the other. St. Chrysostom"s comment explains the similitude: "How, then, shineth the lightning? It needs not one to talk of it, it needs not a herald, but even to them in chambers it shows itself in an instant of time throughout the whole world. So shall that coming be, showing itself at once everywhere by reason of the shining forth of his glory." We are told, "every eye shall see him." His advent shall be sudden, universal, unmistakable; in a moment he shall be present, visible in all his power and glory. From the language of this verse probably has been derived the orientation of churches, and the mode adopted of depositing the bodies of deceased Christians, so that they may at the resurrection face the Lord when he comes from the east.

Lightning.

Our Lord compares his coming to a great flash of lightning which blazes out in the east and illumines earth and sky as far as the west. This is in contrast to the notion of an obscure and doubtful appearance, or one that is local and limited, or one the coming of which is so gradual that it can scarcely be discerned. In opposition to these erroneous conceptions, the advent of Christ is to be lightning like. Let us consider its characteristics as they are suggested to us by this startling image.

I VISIBILITY. Bursting out of the darkness of the storm, the lightning blinds us with the brilliancy of its illumination. There is no mistaking the fact that it has come. We may not observe the glow worm; we cannot ignore the lightning. The awful "day of God" at the destruction of Jerusalem has made its impress on all history. Other advents of Christ in judgment, as in the sack of Rome by the Goths, the wreck of the Spanish Armada, etc., have startled the world with their terror. The present more peaceful coming of Christ to heathen nations in the spread of his gospel produces most visible effects in the transformation of degraded fetich-worshipping cannibals into civilized, humane Christians. Our Lord"s words lead us to anticipate that there will be no obscurity about his great final advent. Then every eye shall behold him.

II BREADTH. The lightning flashes from east to west; or its flash is so splendid, that while for a moment it plays in the east, the far-off west is illumined by the radiance it spreads in all directions. There is a greatness in the appearance of Christ. Even when he came in humiliation, he was "a Light to lighten the Gentiles." Perhaps he had some thought of his first appearance in the East, and of the spread of his light to Europe, when he spoke of the lightning shining in this direction. But if it is a strain of fancy to assert that any such idea is to be found in this image, the notion of breadth is certainly there. Christ"s life was lived in the open. As St. Paul boldly said, "This thing was not done in a corner". (Act_26:26) Christ is the Light of the world, and his radiance is spreading over the earth. The last advent will be for all the world to see, and it will concern all mankind.

III SUDDENNESS. Nothing is so sudden or so startling as the lightning. In its very silence it gives us a greater shock than the roaring thunder. There is something peculiarly awful in its momentary blaze of splendour, especially as we know that there is death and destruction in its shaft. In a moment the steeple is shattered, the stout oak is blasted and riven to its core, the strong man is scathed and flung down dead. It is not clear that our Lord meant us to attach any idea of destruction to his image of the lightning. We know that there is a terror in the wrath of the Son. (Psa_2:12) In his advent to judgment Christ must smite down his foes. He is not the incarnation of unruffled amiability which modern hymns represent, although he is not the stern Judge of Byzantine art. Part of the terror of his judgment is its suddenness. We know not when he will come. Yet if we are his true people we need not fear. His sudden advent will be our sudden joy. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For as the lightning goeth forth - For the next coming of Christ will be as quick as lightning; so that there will not be time for any such previous warning.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Son of man

Also Mat 24:37; Mat 24:39; Mat 24:44. (See Scofield "Mat 8:20").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. For as the lightning. There will be no doubt about Christ's coming when he does come, no discussion, no need that any one shall tell it. It will be manifest as the flash of lightning across the sky. There can be no mistake. Such language shows how much those err who claim that his coming was at the destruction of Jerusalem.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

27. φαίνεται, ‘appeareth,’ not ‘shineth,’ A.V. The flash is instantly visible in the opposite quarter of the heaven. Like lightning all-pervading, swift, sudden and of dazzling brightness, shall be the coming of the Son of man.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 27. For as the lightning goes forth from the east, and appears to the west; so shall be the presence of the Son of Man.] Lk. has: “For as the lightning, when it flashes from the one part under the heaven shines to the other part under the heaven, so shall be the Son of Man.” The idea apparently is that the presence of the Son of Man will be not local, but everywhere visible. See on Luk 17:24, Luk 17:37.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shineth [φαινεται] . 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."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.