While I didn't want to get into interpretations and a review of the symbolism found in Revelation, this explanation of the next 10 chapters is very helpful. I found it in Preaching the Word Commentary and I hope it's as helpful to you as it was to me.

The author starts by asking how do Christians persevere when persecuted savagely? He discusses many examples and comes to the conclusion it's the Holy Spirit and the promise God makes to His people. He writes, "God has not only made promises to us, he has disclosed his plan. The disclosure of God’s plan is not the kind of blueprint that you could use to predict definitively what is going to happen, but it is the kind of disclosure that gives us what we need. We need to know that God is trustworthy, that he has a plan to deal with evil and pain, that he will be just, that he will be merciful, and that no matter what happens to us, he will come for us. We need this so that we can be like Dionysia, who was “the mother indeed of many children, who yet did not love them above the Lord” and was “put to death by the sword.”
"God’s disclosure of his plan to judge evil and save his people frees us to trust him no matter what happens to us.
Revelation 6-16 liberates the people of God to trust him, regardless of the cost, because these chapters show that God is going to judge the wicked and save the righteous. These chapters enable bold, radical faithfulness to God because they show how things will turn out in the end.
God’s disclosure of his plan to judge evil and save his people frees us to trust him no matter what happens to us."
"The fact that God has revealed his plan to us in the context of the book of Revelation is meant to assure us so we can stand against temptation and persecution. As we look at the contents and literary structure of these chapters, at the connections between chapter 6 and the words of Jesus, and at the final trumpets and bowls of God’s judgment, let’s pray that what we read here would produce in us a childlike faith, a faith that clings to the promises our Father has made to us no matter what happens."

Join me in preparing for the next 10 chapters and be encouraged!

Just a Guy and His World