The Mysterious Number 666

We come now to the conclusion of Rev. 13 and "another beast rising out of the earth" rather than out of the sea as had the first beast (Rev. 13:1). What a strange and evil beast this is. All, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave are marked with his number, the number of a man, the number 666. As John says, "This calls for wisdom" and understanding. How many have claimed to have such wisdom and understanding and proclaimed who the number 666 points to. Samples:

• A Jehovah's witness declares, "This beast is a symbol of the worldwide political system, which rules over “every tribe and people and tongue and nation.”

• An"end times" commentator boldly declares that the number stands for President Barack Obama: "The end must be extremely near! God is gracious to reveal to me insights hidden for the last two thousand years so that the 666 riddle of Rev 13:18 is finally solved! All glory goes to Him!

"The thing that stumbles untold number of Bible students and scholars is the notion that the gematria value of the name of the beast must add to 666. Once you get past this mental block and begin to count his name in connection with 666, the riddle cracks open and the mystery dissolves.

The Spitfire Grill

"Paul Black was the first person who stumbled upon one such connection nearly three years ago. At the time, Paul could not have known the identity of the beast -- a then unknown before his meteoric rise. I saw the connection end of last year and have since written article after article exposing the beast.

"Paul's counting is ingeniously simple. He counted all four scriptural references to 666 in the bible and discovered to his astonishment the presence of an amazingly high common factor -- 793 -- which I found to be the English gematria value of 'Barack Hussein Obama'! (see link) As you can imagine, I would not have paid any attention at all had I not remembered Paul's counting. No researcher would have paid any attention to 793 unless he knew about the 666 connection."

• A Roman Catholic commentator writes, "In the biblical world, the number seven stood for wholeness and completeness, so to be called a “666” was an insult implying that you were short of being the real thing. Also, if you take the Greek form of the name of the Emperor Nero, the Roman emperor around the time of Revelation, and write it in Hebrew, the letters, which can also have numeric values, “add up” to—you guessed it—666. 

"For its original audience, the number symbolized the repressive Roman Empire personified in its “beastly” emperor, which, though it claimed divine authority and had seemingly absolute power, would always be a “six,” never a “seven,” and thus would not prevail in the long run."

•  Following up on this a number of commentators point out that the number may well be 616 rather than 666, since this number is found in several of the ancient manuscripts of Revelation. To answer this Tag, writing in July, 2015, declares that "Actually, both numbers are correct. They refer to Nero – 666 from a Greek calculation and 616 from Latin calculation."

So what shall we conclude, especially since this number 666 has taken on such a mysterious meaning in some circles? The profound insight behind the images of the two beasts in chapter 13 is clear. We have seen it repeated again and again in human history. Political rulers who seem to have absolute power become the gods of those who reject the supreme God and Creator of the universe. We see it in our day as millions bow down to a god who commands his followers to kill and murder all who will not bow down to him. This is the power of the beast who "had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon" (Rev. 13:11). This beast demands that all, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, be subject to him. And if they will not, they are slain. 

What a contrast is this beast whose number is ever short of perfection, 666 vs. 777. What a contrast is this beast to the God who operates with the power of the Lamb, the power of accepting suffering and death for the sins of the world. 

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" - Rev 5:12-13 ESV