Luke 17:24

For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) For as the lightning.—See Note on Matthew 24:27. There is, however, a noticeable variation in the form; the two “parts under heaven” taking the place of the “east” and the “west,” and the “day of the Son of Man” taking the place of the more formal “coming,” or parousia, which, as far as the Gospels are concerned, occurs only in St. Matthew. There is also, perhaps, more pictorial vividness in the two words, “lighteneth,” “shineth,” than in St. Matthew’s “cometh out,” and “appeareth,” which is probably the right rendering of the word there translated “shineth.” In any case, the words in St. Matthew are less vivid in their force.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:20-37 The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they shall say ... - Many false Christs, according to Josephus, appeared about that time, attempting to lead away the people. See the notes at Matthew 24:23-27.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. as lightning … so … the Son of man—that is it will be as manifest. The Lord speaks here of His coming and manifestation in a prophetically indefinite manner, and in these preparatory words blends into one the distinctive epochs [Stier]. When the whole polity of the Jews, civil and ecclesiastical alike, was broken up at once, and its continuance rendered impossible by the destruction of Jerusalem, it became as manifest to all as the lightning of heaven that the kingdom of God had ceased to exist in its old, and had entered on a new and perfectly different form. So it may be again, ere its final and greatest change at the personal coming of Christ, and of which the words in their highest sense are alone true.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 17:24"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven,.... The Syriac version reads, "out of heaven", and the Arabic version, "in heaven"; which is the seat of lightning, and from whence it arises:

and shineth unto the other part under heaven; enlightens the earth, which is under the heaven: though the sense of the words, as they lie in the original text, seems to be, that as the lightning lightens at one end of the heavens, and shines to the other; which is done at once, in a moment, in a twinkling of the eye, and to which agrees the Ethiopic version;

so shall also the son of man be in his day: which is not to be understood of the swift progress of the Gospel, after his resurrection and ascension, and the pouring forth of his Spirit; but of his sudden coming, first to take vengeance on the Jewish nation for their rejection of him, and then at the last day, to judge both quick and dead. By his day, is meant his kingdom and glory, or his appearance with power, and great glory: Thus we read (f) for Solomon, "in his hour", that is, in his glory, in the time of his kingdom, when he was in his greatest magnificence.

(f) Misna Bava Metzia, c. 7. sect. 1. & Jarchi & Bartenora in ib. Vid. Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 15. 4. & 16. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 17:24. ἐκ τῆς, χώρας understood, so also χώραν after εἰς τὴν = from this quarter under heaven to that. Here again Mt.’s version is the more graphic and original = from east to west.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. as the lightning, that lighteneth] bright, swift, sudden, universal, irresistible.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 17:24. Ἡ ἀστράπτουσα, that flasheth) i.e. whilst it is in the act of flashing. It cannot be pointed out.—τῆς ὑπʼ οὐρανὸν) Often the expression, the earth ἡ ὑπʼ οὐρανὸν, which is beneath heaven, occurs in the LXX. Version, in Job and elsewhere.—οὓτως, so) most rapidly, and most widely.—τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, in His day) viz. the last day: Matthew 26:64.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. "Yes," went on the Master, "let not delusive expectations interrupt you or turn you aside out of the narrow way of patient faith, for my' coming will, like the lightning, be sudden, cud will gleam forth on every side. There will be no possibility of mistake then." Luke 17:24

Vincent's Word Studies

Lighteneth (ἀστράπτουσα)

Only here and Luke 24:4.