For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
"By using ’day of the Lord’ terminology to describe the great tribulation, Christ included the tribulation within the day of the Lord (cf. Matthew 24:21 with Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Joel 2:2). This time of trial at the outset of the earthly day of the Lord will thus not be brief, but comparable to a woman’s labor before giving birth to a child (Isaiah 13:8; Isaiah 26:17-19; Isaiah 66:7 ff.; Jeremiah 30:7-8; Micah 4:9-10; Matthew 24:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:3)." [Note: Thomas, p. 281. Cf. J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, p. 230; and Alva J. McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom, pp. 186-91.] 