But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you.
"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.] 