For when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.
as travail upon a woman with child: "Just as the figure of the thief suggests the unexpected character of the catastrophe, so this suggests its inevitableness" (Hogg and Vine 156). The end-time events will occur as certainly as the pain that accompanies childbearing. Just as the time of the onset of birth pains cannot be predicted with certainty, even so the time of the second coming and its accompanying events cannot be known precisely. This uncertainty is all the more reason for being constantly prepared!