Readings for today: Revelation 11-13
“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)
Like a lot of the numbers in the book of Revelation (24 elders, 7 seals, 144,000, 7 heads, 10 horns, etc.), the number 666 has been the subject of quite a bit of controversy. Many attempts have been made through the centuries to identify the person associated with this number. Using the ancient system of gematria where numbers are substituted for letters in the alphabet, interpreters have suggested Nero, Kaiser Wilhelm and Hitler as possibilities. More than 100 names were proposed between 1560 and 1830 in Britain. Popes. Emperors. Other despotic rulers. All of them fall short. None of them fits exactly. So maybe the person is yet to be revealed? Those who take a futurist look at Revelation argue as much.
As someone who takes an “Amillennial” perspective on Revelation, I believe the number to be symbolic. It is actually the number of “sinful incompletion.” A parody of the perfect number - “777” - which is often used to refer to the Trinity. Satan is not very creative. At best, he seeks to mimic everything God is or does in our world. But his ways are always corrupt and therefore always fall short. John is pointing this out by identifying Satan’s work in this world with the number 666. 666 falls short in literally every digit of 777 just as Satan falls short in every possibly way of the glory of God.
One of the reasons so many Christians have found the book of Revelation so compelling over the centuries is because of it’s transcultural relevance. Rather than identifying the Beast with one particular person in history, John uses him as an “archetype” to identify the Satanic systems of our world. Governments. Economies. Military powers. Social systems. All of them are corrupted by sin. All of them are influenced by Satan. All of them fall short of the perfection of God’s Kingdom. All of them bear the “mark of the beast” in this respect and must be rejected in favor of holding fast to Christ. John is encouraging these seven churches who are suffering under the “principalities and powers” of this world to place their hope in the world to come. To place their hope in the One who will rescue them from this present darkness when He coms again to make all things new. At that time, all systems marked by the beast will be destroyed and God will inaugurate His reign and rule over all the earth. 666 will give way to 777 as "The kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." (Revelation 11:15)
We still live in a world influenced by Satan. All one has to do is turn on the news to see his corruption on display. Backbreaking poverty. Unjust systems that oppress. Terminal disease. Tragic death. Natural disasters. Violence manifesting itself all over the globe. We live in a scary, sinful world and part of our problem is we don’t take it seriously enough. Thankfully, God does. And there will come a day when every tear will be wiped away. Grief and pain will be no more. The former things of this “666” world will pass away as the “777” world comes.