For just as the lightning comes out of eastern parts and shines over to western parts, so the presence [pa·rou·siʹa] of the Son of man will be.

61, 62. (a) In what way was Christ’s parousia to be like the lightning? (b) What words of Jesus regarding publicity as given to his apostles apply to his disciples today?

⁶¹ His presence or parousia was to resemble the lightning as to its effects. His parousia was to be like the lightning, not in flashing suddenly, unexpectedly and in the fraction of a second. The emphasis here is not on the lightning’s striking instantaneously unannounced, but on its shining over a broad area, from eastern parts to western parts. (Luke 17:24) The lightning’s illuminative power is like that described in Psalm 97:4: “His lightnings lighted up the productive land; the earth saw and came to be in severe pains.” So, too, the inhabitants of the earth were not to be left in darkness respecting the parousia of the Son of man. From horizon to horizon all the people were to be enlightened concerning his regal parousia. It was to be made as public as is a flash of lightning by its illuminative power, its far-extended shining.