The way I always read that part of Revelation, though millions survive to see the Second Coming, that still means billions do not over the course of these next however many years.
I guess this pop reduction is another way to come to the same figures.
At least the world wouldn't have to witness wholesale slaughter of all those actually living on the earth.
I want to know the thoughts of God. Everything else is just details.
A Miracle is when God makes His Reality our Experience