NOTES for Rev 7:13-8:6

In speaking about the end of the world, the apostle John uses the same words as the great prophets and teachers of the Old Testament. The seven angels described in the book of Tobit stand before the throne of God and serve the One; the seven plagues make us remember the plagues of Egypt.

But in the midst of horror and catastrophes, the prayers of the saints rise like incense, and as a refrain to the book of the prophet Isaiah the apostle speaks about what the world looks like when it has been freed from the power of death and sin. No evil can any longer touch those who come to the Lamb. No suffering will have power over them, no darkness will be able to swallow them, because the One who has conquered death will be near, and the One who is Light, in whom there is no darkness at all.

These words are usually interpreted as an indication of the martyr's death of the people mentioned in the book. But the apostle's words can also be understood more broadly: all Christians in general can be called those washed in the blood of Christ, if only they have walked their path to the end and finally been freed from the power of evil and sin weighing over the fallen world. The white robes of these people clearly recall the white robes of the Savior Himself, in which He appears both to John in the vision and earlier to the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration. People in white robes are people who have become like Christ, who have become as He is, living the same fullness of the life of the Kingdom that He bears, each in his own measure, of course.

Now at last they will see what they desired all their lives: the triumph of the Kingdom in all its fullness, the final transfiguration of the world and its deliverance from every power of evil. Strictly speaking, the opening of the seventh seal marks the beginning of this final transfiguration of creation. For the world, transfiguration is inseparable from shocks and cataclysms on a universal scale, not because God wants seriously and finally to punish His creation, but because the evil in which the fallen world lies will not simply let it go.

The connection between the transfiguration of the world and the coming cataclysms is shown to the apostle with complete clarity. He sees that the prayers of the saints, rising before the Throne of glory as fragrant incense, turn for the world into sacrificial fire that brings catastrophes and disasters. What is sanctification for God and for God's people is death and destruction for the world lying in evil. Of course, there is no fault of God here: the issue is only the incompatibility of evil and God's presence, of sin and sanctification, which was well known even before the coming of Christ. Already in those times believing Yahwists knew: such a combination can lead only to defilement, and defilement to destruction and death.

Something similar now happens on a universal scale: the Kingdom at last opens to the world in all fullness, sanctifying it, while the world, not fully cleansed from the sin in which it remains, defiles the holy thing that is the Kingdom and is destroyed, perishing in its former quality. Of course, God did not plan or desire this destruction; He wants the world to be transfigured without any catastrophes or cataclysms. But for the world such calm and organic transfiguration proves impossible because by the moment history ends it has not been completely cleansed.

And judging by the fact that God puts the final point before its complete cleansing, one has to think that, sadly, complete cleansing is impossible for the fallen world at all; otherwise God would have done everything for that possibility to be realized. He does not want the sinful world to perish; He wants the world to be saved and become His Kingdom. But the freedom given by God to the human being, and therefore in part to the world, has another side, which leads to the tragedy of the end of history so vividly described by John.

Speaking of those who came "out of the great tribulation," the elder addressing the apostle confirms that everyone who has partaken of the Kingdom, even directly on the day of Judgment, receives it in the same fullness as anyone else. They are given the same life, they see the same Throne, and they serve together with those who found themselves in the Kingdom much earlier than they did (Rev. 7:15-17). Only now, when the Church has finally reached its fullness, does the Judgment begin. But when viewed from the Kingdom, the Judgment is no longer simply a natural cataclysm putting an end to the former order of things; it turns out to be what it truly is, a spiritual act, a determination of God concerning all humanity as a whole and each person individually. It is not accidental that heaven and earth fall silent: they too await this determination, which will change their nature and their fate (Rev. 8:1). Meanwhile, for the world the Kingdom itself becomes judgment, its breath, which at the Throne merges into one with the prayers of its inhabitants belonging to the heavenly Church, who here, as in other books of the New Testament, are called "saints." It is not accidental that the censer with aromatic herbs, "incense," like the one used for censing in the Tabernacle and the Temple, is filled with the fire that falls upon the earth (Rev. 8:3-5): already in antiquity it was believed that aromatic smoke rising to heaven from the censer carries with it the prayers of those standing at the altar and those performing the sacrifice, not only the priests but all who take part in the sacred action.

The sacred space surrounding the altar became a prototype of the Kingdom, and now it was opened to John that this idea, despite its naivete in some cases, was deeply true at its foundation. But what for the residents of the Kingdom is the breath of life, without which not only prayer but existence itself is unthinkable here, becomes for the world, still not freed from the power of sin, a fire whose burning touch becomes judgment for those who oppose Christ and the Kingdom.

Today we commemorate not one saint, not two, not even twenty: we commemorate all the saints. The number one hundred and forty-four thousand given by John does not signify a specific quantity, but fullness. Who are they, the saints? Where do they come from, and how do they attain holiness? Today’s reading answers this question. First, they “have come out of the great tribulation.” This is important for us when we say that keeping the commandments is very difficult. It was not easy for the saints. Their path was by no means strewn with roses. They passed through the path of tribulation, but attained the light of Christ. The second very important point is the source of holiness. With what did they wash their robes? With a virtuous life? No. With repentance? Not that either. With the blood of the Lamb. Repentance by itself and virtue by itself would have no power were it not for the Blood of Christ. The source of all holiness is He, and He alone.