Lightning

   For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:27)  

     Lightning is truly awesome.   "Most people aren't aware of the incredible energy and power of lightning', says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. It's true that some bolts of lightning are much stronger than others", he explains. "At any given moment, there are about 1,200 thunderstorms occurring all over the Earth, and it's estimated that each second, there are about 100 lightning flashes somewhere over our planet. A typical lightning bolt contains about 15 million volts of electricity and instantly heats up the air around it to over 60,000 degrees, with some reaching more than 100,000 degrees. That's why the total energy of a strong thunderstorm can exceed the energy released during an atomic explosion."  (Citation)

     The Lord Jesus, in describing for his disciples his return to earth after his resurrection and a subsequent earthly history, the length of which is known only to God the Father¹, says that his coming would be like the lightning of a thunderstorm.  But we can imagine, as his Father is none other than the creator of the universe this will be like no other lightning and thunder the world has ever known.  When we think of the energy of just one sun, like our own, which is around 10,000 degrees F at its surface and around 27 million degrees F at its core, and when we think that the universe is made up of billions and billions of suns, then we begin to see that the creator of all of this must be immensely powerful.  Indeed if He has created all of this then His coming will be more explosive and far brighter than billions, if not trillion of stars. (We have not actually found the edge of the universe yet so we really don't know for sure the full number of stars.  The image at left is the Hubble ultra deep field image from NASA.)  It is easy for us to see why in the Book of Revelation John says that "...every eye shall see him."²