Imagine this scene. Picture a Wallaby jumping up and down on a rooster. Now some of you will know what that means. If you follow Rugby you'll know it symbolises Australia beating the French in the World Cup. They are symbols, but they are symbols of a real event.
Revelation is just like that.
It uses numbers, colours, characters, fabulous beasts, cities, trees, rivers, events, and times, in a symbolic way. So when we get to chapter 20 for example, and read about a period of 1000 years, we shouldn't assume that it means 1000 literal years. I've listed on the handout you received some of the numbers and colours that Revelation uses symbolically, and as we look at other chapters, we'll see some of the other symbols it employs. But the main thing we need to realise is that we must interpret it on the basis of its own symbolism, not by reading our ingenious interpretations into it. The real key is the Old Testament, not modern politics.