Matthew 24:27
Matthew 24:2727For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
is one of the central NT proof-texts the Watchtower appeals to for the doctrine of an invisible parousia. The NWT's rendering "the presence of the Son of man" is read as describing an extended period of invisible presence — Jesus's heavenly enthronement begun in 1914, perceived by Witnesses and culminating in Armageddon — rather than as a future visible coming. The lightning imagery in the verse is reframed as a description of how unmistakable the period of presence will be to those with spiritual discernment.
The lightning imagery is decisive against the invisible reading. Lightning across the entire sky is the most publicly visible natural phenomenon there is — the sky lit up from horizon to horizon, witnessed by everyone at once. Jesus's contrast in vv. 26-27 is "do not believe hidden-room claims, because when the Son of Man comes it will be as universally visible as lightning." The verse rules out invisible or secret presences; it does not establish them. Pair with ("in the same manner as you have seen him going into the sky") and ("every eye will see him, and those who pierced him"). The Watchtower position requires lightning to describe an invisible event — a contradiction the imagery cannot bear.
The NWT renders parousia as "presence" rather than "coming" — a systematic NWT translation choice across the New Testament (compare , 37, 39; ; ) that is load-bearing for the doctrine of an invisible 1914 parousia. Standard English translations render "coming" because parousia in koine usage describes a royal arrival — the visible, public, witnessed arrival of a king or emperor — not a sustained invisible presence. The first-century inscriptional and papyrus evidence consistently uses parousia for highly visible imperial visits. The NWT's "presence" rendering is what allows the Watchtower to read the New Testament's "coming" passages as describing a 1914-onward invisible reign rather than a future visible return.