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Undecided.

I have read interpretations of Revelation that suggest it all references events that happened already. Seems very possible to me. Indeed, it opens with a statement that the time is near, after all.

I have read other interpretations that consistently kick the ball down field, suggesting that it discusses events that are yet to come. That's fine, but the advocates are always changing interpretations and events to fit whatever is going on at the current time.

I think there are a lot of hucksters out there who exploit people's faiths and fears. When one prediction doesn't pan out, they make some more. You have to be pretty gullible to fall for that.

I am also personally turned off by extrapolations from text that support theories like The Rapture, which at best has a loose metaphorical basis in biblical text. I find advocates of that point of view creepy and self serving (it will be hell on earth but of course they will be spared). That smacks of a strange ego and indeed a form of mental illness. Buttressed by the giddiness of some of the advocates of that point of view (they seem genuinely thrilled that they will be spared and everyone who doesn't agree with them get to live through hell on earth), I find adherents of that view creepy, off putting, strange, and immature.

I am a practicing Roman Catholic and am open to the idea that Revelation discusses future events, maybe even some within my lifetime. Personally, I don't care much. I get judged on my judgment day whether I go alone or whether 1/3 of the population of the globe goes with me. My mission in life is the same, and my final chapter is the same.

So my answer is I don't know whether it describes events that have already happened or events to come. I do know that I have to live my life the same way in either case. A fixation on 'the end' just around the corner strikes me as an odd and unproductive distraction.

"I am also personally turned off by extrapolations from text that support theories like The Rapture, which at best has a loose metaphorical basis in biblical text. I find advocates of that point of view creepy and self serving (it will be hell on earth but of course they will be spared). That smacks of a strange ego and indeed a form of mental illness. Buttressed by the giddiness of some of the advocates of that point of view (they seem genuinely thrilled that they will be spared and everyone who doesn't agree with them get to live through hell on earth), I find adherents of that view creepy, off putting, strange, and immature."

You're describing a rapture that happens before the tribulation. While that is maybe the majority view, I do not share it. I believe in a rapture (a removal of the believers) afterwards, when believers will be dealing with the ultimate Hitler for a few years, just like everyone else.