1:19 which shall be hereafter. This key verse succinctly outlines the revelations to be given in the book. “The things thou hast seen” comprise the events of the apostolic age, in which John had been a leading participant, and which he had written about in his gospel and three epistles. The “things which are” include the events of the church age, as outlined and foreseen in Revelation 2 and 3. Then, “the things which shall be hereafter” (identified by the same phrase in Revelation 4:1) refer to the great future events associated with Christ’s second coming, as described in Revelation 4–22.