Imagine yourself being somehow transported say 1975 years into the future----consider the visual information you will be looking at, perceiving---it's not going to be easy to describe this but you are going to have to try because: a) the message is pretty valuable and b)you are not going to be able to understand what you are seeing, that is, it will be hard for you to interpret or make meaning of what you are looking at. And yet, you are actually looking at something---there is a reality and you are facing it but it's just hard to make out what you are looking at. And yet once more, another reason and this trumps a) and b)-----the Lord has given you a mandate to report what you see...
Well, if you consider the challenge facing the writer of the Book of Revelation, that is John on the island of Patmos, this is the point fact challenge God put in front of the man, or another way to say the same thing, it become strongly evident to this writer that his narrative would have to speak to his readers even though they would be looking back at him after 1975 years or roughly speaking 2015 december 23rd.
Let's imagine what this John was looking at (hence, interpreting)---he is a first century man looking at the streets of Babylon 2000 years out. He sees the cell phone, the helicopter ("angry bird"), describes a time of environmental upheaval and war upon war; there are earthquakes, online pornography---things that would have seemed literally hellish to this patient old man exiles on this island.
Now, if you consider the challenge that John faced as the same challenge that you would necessarily face if the Lord had handed you the same sort of mandate to say 3990 AD if they still reckon time that way (and it is not likely they will).
