Chest Pain

The revelation of Jesus Christ will occur in the future.  Exactly when it will happen is not known.  But it will happen.  He will return to the earth.  He has made known to us what some of the events surrounding His return will be.  Revelation 1:1 says that the revelation - the uncovering - of Jesus Christ is preceded by things that must shortly take place.  This means that the time is near.  According to Revelation 1:7, Jesus is "coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him.  And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. "  The word mourn means "to beat one's breast as a strong expression of grief." The entire planet will finally see this One and it will produce a reaction of extreme pain in the heart.  Interestingly this does not happen in Revelation until chapter 19 - after the seven year period known as the Tribulation.  The Tribulation is a time of intense suffering and judgment unleashed on a world that has refused to turn to God.  A world that has refused to repent.

The judgments coming to the earth are, in part, for man's good.  At first reading it may appear that God is merely an angry being lashing out at people who just didn't know any better.  However, this is not the case.  God has been reaching out to a sinful world that has rejected Him from the very beginning.  He absolutely does not want anyone to perish and has revealed Himself to every person on the planet in some way.  Romans 1 tells us that every person has received some level of awareness of God - whether in their thoughts or through the visible world around them.  These are two great witnesses to all human beings - their conscience and the creation.  

In our study, we find that even during the Tribulation God is hoping for repentance.  God is hoping that people will turn to Him.  However, by the end of it, many will not.  The evidence forced upon their conscience and the judgments on creation will be so obvious that those who do not repent will have no excuse.  They will be judged forever based on their own lives instead of receiving the gracious offer of forgiveness that God has provided for them.  It will be too late to avoid the consequences.  Time's up.  Their fists will bruise their chests.