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.