There’s no way to interpret those prophecies. There are many many many many different interpretations. The mark of the beast could as easily just be a tattoo, or a brand. Doesn’t have to be an RFID or bar code. John referred to the “whole world” however, the only world he had ever seen was the Middle East. Many of the events could take place in just the Middle East, some worldwide. Who really knows? We won’t know until the Tribulation begins. Then Revelation will become clear. But it is arrogant to think we are living in the end times, the Tribulation could start tomorrow. It could start a thousand years from now. Saying definitively that prophecy specifically meant “this event, or this event” doesn’t mean anything. Any certain opinion could be wrong because no one else has experienced John’s vision. Could be anytime.
I won’t be certain we are living in the end times until most people have a “mark” to buy and sell.
If you lived during WWII, you could draw parallels between Hitler and the anti-christ and say “this is it” , but you would have been wrong. 1918 you could have said, this is the plague from revelation. You would have been wrong. It’s a matter of perspective and no one can possibly know that we are even close. That’s what it is arrogant.
You are right though, that there are things that could be interpreted as signs, however it doesn’t mean that it’s the specific prophecy. That is why it is arrogant. “7 years” could have meant something completely different then what we think it does, men compiled the Bible. Every book isn’t even there. Why is that? Because men are fallible.
Many, many Bible scholars are in agreement as to what they mean. As for the mark of the beast, it doesn't matter whether it's a tattoo or a brand---it amounts to the same thing.
Just as Genesis clearly describes Noah's flood as a global event, Revelation lets us know that the prophecies and judgments are worldwide. The language is plain. Otherwise we are stuck with a bizarre hypothesis that God will only judge the Middle East, that Jesus will return only for the the people of that region. What happens to the rest of us---do we go off for an endless breakfast at the Waffle House? It just doesn't make sense.
The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus...from Him to man, to prepare us for what's coming, to let us know, as He said, what we should be watching for. He didn't set out to trick us or mislead us...He wants us to be ready.
Again, your claim that it's arrogant to think these are the end times just makes no sense. I don't even know what you mean by that. Say, for the sake of argument, that these aren't the last days, that they're five thousand years in the future. Would the people who live in those days, and who read the Bible and who watch for the signs as Jesus told them to, be arrogant for doing so? I don't get that.
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to say the world will end tomorrow. It could for all I know. But God's timetable is not ours. Almost all of the signs and prophecies have been fulfilled; I recently read an article about Billy Graham, how he is struggling to show people that fact, to let them know there's not much time left.
Still, the end could be five, ten, twenty, or fifty years ahead. Personally I think fifty years is too long, but that's just me.
You say no one else experienced John's vision. Well, no one else shared any Biblical prophets' experiences. Are they all meaningless? Should we disregard them all? Would you have to witness them all in order to believe?
You say no one can say we're close...yet many are, including Billy Graham, as I mentioned. And that is because they have studied the signs so that they can know what to look for. Jesus instructed us to do this. So how can it be arrogance if He told us to do it? Doesn't matter who was thought to be the AntiChrist in times past. What matters is, have the prophecies been fulfilled? Hitler died in 1945, before Israel became the Jewish homeland again. That was one of the major end time prophecies. Do you realize that the Jews are the only ancient people to have come back together in one country after thousands of years of being scattered to the winds?
Honestly, I don't know if there's any point in going on with you. You say that seven years could mean something else...the Bible was compiled by fallible men, etc. It seems, from what you say, that you don't believe in the inerrancy of Holy Scripture as inspired by God and written by man...seems you think it has little more value than any other book. If you can't even take 7 years to mean what it says, there's no point here.
You don't have to be afraid of the end times, you know...not if you have Jesus.