Why did Jesus say Satan will fall from heaven like lightning when research shows that lightning starts at the ground and goes to the sky?
Luke 10:1 - 42
NKJV - 1 After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2 Then He said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
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Asked June 25 2018
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Leonard & Linda Martin
Supporter
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Tim Maas
Supporter
I would say that the main points that Jesus was wanting to emphasize by comparing Satan's prior (not future) fall from heaven to lightning were its speed and suddenness, which were characteristics that it would have shared with lightning, regardless of the actual point of the lightning's origin. He was seeking to convey a vivid image in terms that his listeners (to whom lightning would have appeared -- as it still does today, and regardless of the actual physics involved -- to originate in the sky instead of from the ground) could understand, rather than to engage in a scientific discussion.
Aurel Gheorghe
Supporter
Jesus' analogy is quite accurate (Luke 10:18). Lightning can travel several ways - it can travel from cloud to cloud, within the same cloud, or between the cloud and ground. Cloud to ground lightning starts from the sky and heads downward - however, what we see with the naked eye is a flash of light going from the ground upward. A cloud to ground lightning starts as a negative charge that travel toward the ground which is positively charged. As the negative charges approach the ground, there is an upward stream of positive charges. When the two streams meet, an initial flash occurs and the electricity flows between the cloud and ground. This occurs very quickly and looks like a single flash. Jesus the Creator of everything (John 1:3) definitely knew what He was talking about when He said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (John 1:3).
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