Daily Devotional For September 7, 2025
And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast or his image, and receives a mark upon his forehead or his hand, he will be tormented with fire and sulphur before the holy angels and before the Lamb. The smoke of their torment rises up forever and ever and no one has any rest, day or night, if they worship the beast or his image or receive the mark of his name. Rev 14:9-11.
There are many images of violence in the book of Revelation. There is violence against Jesus (Rev 1:5, 7; 5:6; 12:11). There is violence against the followers of Jesus (Rev 2:10, 13; 6:9-10). There is violence acted out by the enemies of the Lamb (13:7; 16:6; 17:16; 18:7, 20, 24). But what bothers some people the most is the divine violence in the book, of which Rev 14:9-11 is the most graphic. How can the Lamb be, on the one hand, the victim of violence and on the other hand the one who torments and destroys?
What people often overlook is that any truly good government must at some point exercise violence in order to restrain evil. Governmental violence is not always graphic and bloody, of course. It may simply involve the kind of restraint that occurs when a policeman pulls you over at a speed trap or the IRS sends an agent to audit your taxes. You don’t consider that violence? Well, let me ask you some questions. How fast would you drive if there were no police? How much taxes would you pay if they were voluntary? How eager are most convicts to stay in jail? Good governments provide a necessary restraint so we can all live together in peace. Not every citizen considers what is good for others or for the whole when they act.
Most people are used to this level of governmental violence. When dealing with an Adolph Hitler or a Saddam Hussein, however, just violence becomes necessarily more brutal. Oppression demands justice (Rev 6:9-11; 16:6; 18:7-8), but evil never gives way voluntarily. And the greater the power and brutality of evil, the greater the force needed to undo that evil.
The images of Revelation are not pretty, but they assure us that God will do whatever it takes to end violence and oppression. The fact that divine violence is said to occur in the presence of the Lamb does not mean He enjoys horrific images. To me it means that One who has suffered much has been placed in charge of the process. While God’s violence is necessary, it is overseen and limited by the Lamb. Why the Lamb? Only the Lamb fully understands the cost of suffering. The Lamb can be trusted to be merciful in the exercise of divine justice. The Lamb that was slain will undo evil without overkill. There will be suffering from divine justice, but not one iota more than necessary.
Lord, the mysteries of Your wisdom in the governing of this universe are beyond my understanding. Help me to trust completely in the Lamb that was slain.