For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
"Were either the rapture or the day of the Lord to precede the other, one or the other would cease to be an imminent prospect to which the ’thief in the night’ and related expressions (1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 4:17) are inappropriate. That both are any-moment possibilities is why Paul can talk about these two in successive paragraphs. This is how the Lord’s personal coming as well as the ’day’s’ coming can be compared to a thief ([Matthew 24:36-43; Luke 12:35-40;] 2 Peter 3:4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; Revelation 3:11; Revelation 16:15)." [Note: Thomas, p. 281. Cf. Walvoord, The Thessalonian . . ., p. 54.] 