In chapter 4 the book of Revelations took a turn in focus as described in verse 1 and 2: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
Revelation 4:1-2 NIV
So John is now "in spirit" - perhaps like a vision - and is now seeing from heaven's perspective and is seeing "what must take place after this" - in other words he is seeing future events.
In chapter 6 he sees Jesus opening up 7 seals on a scroll and with each opened, something happens. It seems that each of these is like a span of time and events that will happen in that time period. In fact this is somewhat of a table of contents about the rest of the book of Revelations. Here we are seeing a summary of upcoming descriptions that will go into greater detail.
Outline of historical time stages:
1) conquest - this happened much from Jesus time up through World War two. There is still some happening but much less. It even ended more before that time.
2) peace gone - certainly peace has been a goal of the world for a limb time but starting with the formation of the United Nations this has been a global goal, though as this describes, it is an elusive goal.
3) famine - we certainly have had famines in places of the world, but this seems to me like a future events on a global scale
4) 1/4 of world dies. I think this is future
5) persecution of believers - certainly now more than in the past. I think more to come in future
6) moon red, calamity with stars, wrath of God that people are hiding from
God knows the future and has described what will happen. It is cause for us to draw neat to God and put our trust in his goodness and love!
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