Today’s reading is Revelation 13.
This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666 (Revelation 13:18, ESV).
Let the speculation begin.
A Warning
When Paul left Timothy behind in Ephesus, he warned:
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:3-5, ESV).
How easily we run where angels fear to tread, speculating where God has not clearly revealed. Then we argue and discuss and try to display our mental prowess on matters that matter little. Revelation is chock-full of opportunities for this. And the seal on the head of the beast followers is ripe for the picking.
The Parody Continues
Because of the popularity of “antichrist” movies and premillennial books, 666 has become a popular number. Folks have fixated on this seal. Most people, however, do not realize this is not the first marking and sealing we find in Revelation.
You, of course, have been reading along with us for weeks. You know. In Revelation 7 God sealed His people who were not to be harmed by the trumpets and bowls. It’s sad most people don’t know that, because if they actually read the Bible instead of popular renderings of end times hoopla, they could read into Revelation 14 and be reminded of the “144,000 who had [the Lamb’s] name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads” (ESV).
The mark on the followers of the beast is nothing more than a parody of God’s seal on His people. God’s seal on His people demonstrated real protection. They were those measured in the temple walls. God was/is a wall of fire about them and the glory in their midst. When the judgments come, He really protects His people. The beast’s mark and seal may be a means by which persecution can be rendered against God’s people, but it does nothing to protect the beast’s people from the trumpets, the bowls of wrath, and the coming war when the Rider on the White Horse brings His judgment.
The Identifying Mark
God sealed His people with His name and the name of the Lamb. The beast marks the people with the name of the beast or the number of his name: 666. I admit, I wish John had just told us the beast’s name. How much easier that would make things.
But now we have to listen to all the arguments. At this point, we usually are told by the commentators about the ancient practice of gematria. The ancients didn’t have the Arabic numerals as we do. Rather, they used their alphabet letters to represent numbers. Think of the Roman numerals you learned back in grade school. You know, M=1000, C=100, L=50, X=10, V=5, I=1. If someone’s name was Maximus, you could take each letter that represented a numeral, add it up and declare the number of his name is 2011.
The practice similar to this among the Hebrews was called gematria. Apparently, in other ancient Hebrew writings, even other apocalyptic writings, this number calculating for names did take place. Cue up the authors to start figuring out names whose numbers through one means or another can render 666. Perhaps the most common one we will hear is Nero Caesar. It seems if we transliterate Nero’s name into Hebrew letters and then count up the value of the letters, we get 666. Add to that the fact that some ancient manuscripts say 616 instead of 666 and then be told that if you use an alternate spelling of Nero Caesar, it will instead equal 616, and some people believe the riddle is solved.
I’m not at all convinced. Why would John’s readers in mostly Gentile churches in Asia think to transliterate names into Hebrew and then start calculating?
Of course, if the beast actually represents a kingdom, whether Israel for those who think John is explaining why Jerusalem will be destroyed or Rome for those who see a polemic against the empire, why are we actually looking for an individual’s name anyway? What if the reason why God reveals a “number” of the beast’s name is because the beast isn’t an individual and doesn’t actually have a name? What if the number is to signify something entirely different?
A Suggestion
With the warning about speculation I shared earlier held firmly in one hand, I will hold this potential explanation of 666 loosely in the other. I’d be happy to hear other perspectives. But this is what makes most sense to me right now.
Despite the beast mimicking God and pretending to be God, he isn’t God. Thus, the number of his name is the number of a man. Not that the beast is an individual man, but that the beast for all its signs and wonders is simply not God. His strength simply doesn’t compare with God’s.
In like manner, though our Bibles usually present this mark as the three numerals “666,” most of the manuscripts actually contain the words written out so that it reads “six hundred sixty six.” That could be represented 666 or perhaps, 600, 60, 6. And aren’t those all odd numbers in a book full of sevens? Seven lampstands, seven stars, seven spirits, seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls. Seven, over and over and over. Seven, Seven, Seven.
Except, not here. When the beast who tries so hard to be like Jesus is given a number, it falls just short of being the number we expect for Jesus. It falls just short of seven. Instead of seven hundred, it is six hundred. Instead of seventy, it is sixty. Instead of seven, it is six. Instead of 777, it is 666. The beast, attempting to mimic Jesus, falls short. He is incomplete. His power is incomplete.
No wonder his number doesn’t protect his people. In Revelation 14:9-11, we see the outcome of receiving the beast’s mark:
If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name (ESV).
The number 666 is not to be feared as if it has power. The whole point is it has no power. It is weak and powerless. So is the beast. At least in comparison to Jesus whom the beast is trying to imitate and defeat.
The End of the Matter
When all is said and done, when all the calculating and speculating is over, even if 666 is supposed to represent a particular individual, we find ourselves again in the place of saying the original readers could likely figure it out, but we simply cannot be certain. We can guess and we can speculate. We simply can’t know.
Even if in the original application John was trying to tell his original readers about a particular individual of whom they needed to be careful or for whom they needed to prepare, our application really gets to the place I’ve suggested above. We aren’t looking for a modern or future man whose name can be calculated as 666. Rather, we need to be leery of falling prey to enemy governments (sea beasts) and false-teaching religions (land beasts) that would lead us away from Jesus. We need to know no matter how strong they seem, no matter what they promise, they fall short of Jesus. We don’t want their mark on our forehead, we want Jesus’s mark on our forehead. He is the complete one. He is the strong one. He is the one who truly died and is resurrected.
Jesus is the Savior and King. Praise the Lord!
Next week’s reading is Revelation 14.
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PATHS:
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