For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. – Matthew 24:27

The physics of a lightning strike involves the ionization (charging) of a stream of air particles from a thunder-cloud in the skies all the way down to the surface of the earth. It is literally heaven touching earth. Psalm 104:3 says this of God: He makes the clouds His chariot. Within the fraction of a second – the visible lightning flickers in the sky penetrating every darkness with its blinding lumens of intensity. And so shall the SON OF MAN’S return be (Matthew 24:30). Not in secret. Not that anyone would miss the event. Not that anyone can have an iota of doubt left anymore about Jesus. And as the lightning makes way for the thunder – which is the air expanding violently sending an audible boom across its range. So shall the great trumpet be heard after. But by the elect alone this time. Matthew 24:31: And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. And the elect would be caught up with Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). In the same way Christ was taken up, He would now return to Judge all.

For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,…“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. – John 5:22, 24

Hearing precedes belief. And faith cannot come without hearing first (Romans 10:17). When Jesus would have spoken this to the Jewish audience – they would have understood this term much better than most of us today. The term hearing in the context of Jewish traditions would have involved both the act of listening and obeying to God’s ordinances. And hearing is also a present participle active verb – meaning it must denote a continuous process in a believer’s life. And the second such accountability to God is that a believer must constantly hear, i.e., be daily reminded and practice meticulously (Hebrews 3:12-13), is concerning our “words.”

But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” – Matthew 12:36-37

Words are a powerful tool in every human’s mouth (Proverbs 18:21). The Words of the immortal God that spoke light and all of creation into existence now resting on our tongues. The language of Almighty God now spoken by a lowly man. The words a child in the womb responds joyfully to. The words which soothes a crying baby outside of the womb. And the words which soon the child itself learns to speak. Giving the little child the chance to now express their heart (emotions) and mind (thoughts). Words likewise are God’s precious gift to all of humanity to express our love and thoughts to our Heavenly Father. To call upon Him, so He can respond. But like the little child who now slowly grows up. Their innocence slowly leaked to this world. The same mouth now humming a different tune. Words that batter headlong or pierce silently. Words that bring a winter’s chill to another’s heart or set aflame a heart in anger. Words that break, that tear down, that is a thief of joy, peace, that wounds, that condemns, that stings. Words like that of Job’s wife – aimed to break someone till they are nothing but dust (Job 2:9). Words which are earthly echo’s of heavenly utterances (Job 2:4). Words like of Shimei – gloating over and kicking a man when he’s down (2 Samuel 16:5-8). Words like of Judas Iscariot – betraying his own (Matthew 26:14-16). Words like of Demetrius, the silversmith – who rallies the crowd and incites them for his own perverted cause (Acts 19:23-41). All are words from an impure, corrupted, wicked, dark, evil heart. The heart of the man is what Jesus also points to, in His teaching in Matthew 12:33-37. Words are like the fruits of a tree. It’s the unmistakable sign and evidence of the health of the tree itself. The tangible diagnosis of the heart.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. – Matthew 12:33-34

In the setting of a court – a stenographer sits before the Judge (usually at the right hand). Their one role – is to capture every word, sentence, conversation, responses, statements, of every person involved in the proceeding in shorthand’s. So in Matthew 12:36 as Jesus says you will give an accounting for every word, it means to give reasoning or motive. And those careless words we give account for are those words spoken lazily, unprofitable, injurious or useless – all recorded with a timestamp. Even in the justice systems of the world – our words carry weight and cannot be considered vainly. Being used to shape a criminal case, to measure one’s actions, to gauge one’s hidden motives. How much so more in God’s courthouse. Not one word we utter, whether under our breath, behind someone’s back, or out loud to ourselves in our secret places – ever has gone unheard. They all return to the Word. Like an accountant reconciling two accounts before tax day. Our words will justify or condemn us on that Day. Take heed – God is always listening !

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. – James 3:6