In about 95 AD the Apostle John, exiled on the island of Patmos, received the prophetic vision of the future recorded in the book of Revelation.
The author clarifies what the symbols would have meant to John at that time and sets out a time line for the future and who the principal players will be.
Rather than speculating on which specific nations are involved, and looking at Revelation from today’s perspective in history, he explains the meaning of the Greek words and the symbolic meaning of numbers, colors, and creatures that would have been known at the time John was writing.
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” — Revelation 1:3