What the New Testament teaches is that there is a night period before the Day of the Lord dawns, just like every day that we live. Only this night isn't part of a 24 hour period; conversely it is seven years of spiritual darkness called the Tribulation. Now the Tribulation, just like the Day of the Lord, begins in somewhat normal times and slowly gets worse, just like the beginning labor of a woman having a child—the pains get closer and closer—so do the happenings of the Tribulation, or Day of the Lord (Matt. 24:8; 1 Thess. 2:2-3).

For the record, the seven-year Tribulation and the Day of the Lord both begin with birth pangs, as found in 1st Thessalonians 5:2-3 and Matthew 24:8. In support of this fact, when Jesus described the beginning of the Tribulation, He referred to it as "the beginning of sorrows," or literally birth pangs in the Greek (Matt. 24:8). Moreover, according to Bible prophecy, the Bride and Bridegroom only come forth within the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:16), not before the Day of the Lord in a pre-trib Rapture (or, before the Night)!

Despite the widespread Rapture and Second Coming Only Teachings, we as Christians are to "hasten" The Day (Greek: earnestly expect). For it is the only Day of God (2 Pet. 3:12), which will, in context, come as a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). Fittingly, then, it is the Day of our Redemption (Eph. 4:30) that we are to earnestly expect! In other words, Christians are still here on Earth when the Day begins, and this, as a total surprise ("thief in the Night" to many). Thus, the possibility of Christ's initial coming is ongoing, beginning at early-trib, which premise is taught by accurate Bible prophecy. In this vein, the seven-year Tribulation is the beginning of the Day of the Lord, a seven-year period of night before the Day dawns (2 Pet. 1:19). Out of sync, multitudes of Christians incorrectly believe that they will be redeemedbefore the Day of our Redemption, or before the Night of the Tribulation (at-once pre-trib Rapture). No wonder, then, that the Day of the Lord will overtake many Christians as a snare (Luke 21: 34), but wise Christians will have the experience of expecting and seeing the Lord's Day (Philip. 1:6, 10; Heb. 10:24-25), and watch in That Night (Rev. 3:3, 16:15), the Night-trib position.