Job 37

³ He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. ⁴ After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice.  When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. (NIV) The underline is mine.

As a cloud is getting ready to discharge lightning it sends out a leader, which is like a path for the electrons to follow. (They are seen with special high-speed cameras.) The leaders actually “step” their way to the ground going several yards at a time.  When the leader touches the ground the electrons are released and we see a bolt of lightning.

From NOAA

As the energy goes through the air it is super-heated to as much as 50,000 degrees, which causes the air to expand very rapidly.  This causes the thunder that we associate with lightning.

In a respect, this is very much like God when He speaks to His people through prophecy.  God sends prophecy a little at a time until the moment arrives and what He has been speaking comes into being.  Jehovah started speaking about Jesus and His coming to redeem man in Genesis 3 and it was talked about or foreshadowed in the next sixty-five books until Jesus came in the Gospels.

∞Father, whether it is a whisper or bolt please speak to us and show us Your energy.

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/temperature.htm

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/science/science-overview.htm