“Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Revelation 1:19-20 CSB).
So Revelation 1:19 provides us with a reference to the past (“what you have seen“), the present (“what is“), and the future (“what will take place after this“), all within a single verse. That being said, how do we know when the future begins in the book of Revelation? How can we separate the present from the future within this book?
Well, as mentioned earlier, Revelation chapters two and three comprise letters to seven churches that appear in verse eleven…
Furthermore, the same words that are used to signify “what will take place after this” in Revelation 1:19 are the very same words that open Revelation chapter four in the original language of each passage. Those words are “meta tauta” or “after this.” So the end of Revelation chapter one aligns with the beginning of Revelation chapter four. In between are Jesus’ letters to the churches as detailed in chapters two and three.
With this in mind, we can zero in on the question that opened this study: how do we know when the future begins in the book of Revelation? If the “past” ends here in Revelation chapter one, but the future doesn’t begin until Revelation chapter four, where does that leave us in the present? The answer is that it leaves us with Jesus’ letters to the seven churches, as we’ll see in the following chapters.
Those letters identify and evaluate the positive and negative qualities exhibited by individuals and church congregations then and now. Therefore, we would do well to pay close attention when Jesus speaks to these churches. While those messages applied to them, they also apply to us as well.
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