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I don't really pretend to understand all this stuff. I don't have a firmly established view on Revelation. However, it really seems to me that preterists wrongly interpret all of Revelation as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, when in reality the destruction of Jerusalem seems to be completed by the end of chapter 6 (i.e., the sixth seal).
Matthew 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of those days [i.e., the Roman siege?] shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 6:12-17
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake [political upheaval?]; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood [a lunar eclipse, i.e., darkened]; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Right after the sixth seal, the angels go out to gather the elect. I assume that this is referring to the explosive spreading of the gospel in the early Roman Empire, or something like that.
Matthew 24:31
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Revelation 7:1-4
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Hence, according to the chronology of Matthew 24, the events of Revelation 7 take place after the "tribulation," which everyone seems to interpret as the Roman-Jewish War (and/or the persecution of Christians by Jews, leading up to the war). All the events of Revelation 8-11, namely the seventh seal and then all the trumpets, clearly take place after Revelation 7. If Jerusalem already got destroyed in Revelation 6, I postulate that Revelation 8-11 cannot also be talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. The remainder of the book must be talking about something else.
Specifically, the latter parts of the book are probably referring exclusively, or primarily, to judgments upon the unbelieving gentiles (the ones who don't take the seal of the living God).
Matthew 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of those days [i.e., the Roman siege?] shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Revelation 6:12-17
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake [political upheaval?]; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood [a lunar eclipse, i.e., darkened]; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Right after the sixth seal, the angels go out to gather the elect. I assume that this is referring to the explosive spreading of the gospel in the early Roman Empire, or something like that.
Matthew 24:31
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Revelation 7:1-4
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Hence, according to the chronology of Matthew 24, the events of Revelation 7 take place after the "tribulation," which everyone seems to interpret as the Roman-Jewish War (and/or the persecution of Christians by Jews, leading up to the war). All the events of Revelation 8-11, namely the seventh seal and then all the trumpets, clearly take place after Revelation 7. If Jerusalem already got destroyed in Revelation 6, I postulate that Revelation 8-11 cannot also be talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. The remainder of the book must be talking about something else.
Specifically, the latter parts of the book are probably referring exclusively, or primarily, to judgments upon the unbelieving gentiles (the ones who don't take the seal of the living God).
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