Coming as a Thief (the Watchman)

The watchman is set on the wall to warn: "if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet... his blood will I require at the watchman's hand" (Ezek 33:6). Isaiah's watchmen "shall never hold their peace day nor night" (Isa 62:6). The thief comes unannounced, "they shall enter in at the windows like a thief" (Joel 2:9; Obad 5). The book reads the thief's coming as sudden, unannounced corrective action tied to the watchman's duty to stay alert. The warning is for Yahuah's own people, who are present when He comes. That answers the secret-rapture use of the thief: if an automatic escape were guaranteed, the warning "Blessed is he that watcheth" would have no meaning.