Actually, we are told something like that ---- in the very first sentence:Providential wrote:Nowhere in Revelation are we told "Now now boys and girls, this book is a different genre..."
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants––things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Rev 1:1,2 NKJV
That little Greek word "sāmainō", translated as "signified", means "made known by signs".
God revealed to Jesus the things that were to take place, and Jesus made it known by signs through his angel sent to John. Thus all that John saw in his revelation were signs or symbols of the actual events which were to take place.
However, John tells us not only what he saw in his vision (the signs) but also states some things that will take place in a literal sense (not signs).
With a careful reading, we can distinguish the two.