Moses Stuart wrote in the early 19th century that you need a key to understand Revelation and the key is found in Revelation 1:1 — “... to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass...”
or, in verse three — “... for the time is at hand.”
Now, it is taught that “must shortly come to pass” means times meandering through the millennia, or the “time is at hand” means you must wait thousands of years.
Did he forget about verse 19, Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter."? The reason I ask is that there are a bunch of things prophesied in Revelation that have NOT happened yet. So, yeah, it has been thousands of years since Jesus spoke through the Apostle John telling him of those things that would come to pass. Things are yet to happen.