What Is 666?

from an exposition of Revelation 13:11-14:20

The false prophet, “causes all, both small and great – peasants and aristocrats --, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked – or stamped – on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell – can’t do business -- unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Revelation 13:16-17).

Some think this is a bar-code or a chip without which you won’t be able to do business. But, in Revelation 7, believers were “sealed” on their foreheads, marking them as belonging to God. Paul tells us that we’ve been sealed with the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1. The Holy Spirit in us, making us cry out to the Father, “Abba, Father,” is the supernatural sign on us that we belong to the Father. Here, God’s seal and the beast’s mark compete for the same space, your head. This shows the choice you must make: which master to have, which mark to bear. Do you have the Holy Spirit in you, or do you belong to the beast so you can do business with the world, buy and sell, make mone,y and prosper? They try to rig society so that it is difficult to get by without giving your allegiance to the beast: name your pronouns, virtue signal, prove that you’re on the beast’s side.

The people of the world are marked with the sign of the beast, on their heads, showing who they belong to, like slaves were sometimes branded on their foreheads, and on their hands, with which they work. If you don’t have the mark showing you belong to the beast, then you won’t prosper in the beast’s world. You must have his name or his number. And, “This calls for wisdom” (Rev. 13:18). It’s a matter of discernment, not an objective, specific number, that if he says that’s his number, you know, ‘He’s the beast!’. No. “Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast.” In other words, it’s not a literal number that it’s going to require everyone to have tattooed on their foreheads or right hands, and the false prophet is going to be giving bogus religious reasons why you should.

The “number” is symbolic according to the principles of this book. You have to “calculate” it, so to speak, with wisdom. It’s not a name, turning the letters into numbers, that you add up to 666, and if you can’t get it to work in Greek or by normal spelling, change the spelling and change the language until you get a match. No. It’s like the number of God’s people is 144,000, 12 from each tribe for the full, true Israel, multiplied by 1,000 for a vast multitude. Or 24 elders, 12 patriarchs and 12 apostles combined, making up the whole church. The seven “spirits of God” for the perfect Holy Spirit.

In Revelation, since seven signifies perfection, completeness, or holiness, then one less than that – six – represents human imperfection, incompleteness, unholiness. When repeated three times (666), it signifies the ultimate manifestation of this human imperfection and rebellion, trying to be in the place of the Triune God. “It is the number of a man,” or (since there is no indefinite article — “a” — in Greek), “the number of man” (apart from God); it could be translated, “It’s a human number” (13:18). It symbolizes humanity’s attempt to be like God, but always falling short, resulting in a triple failure. And that is stamped on the heads or hands of all people who follow the beast instead of Jesus.

The number 666 symbolizes ultimate human fallibility while grasping to be God. The mark of the beast is a way of worldly people to declare who they belong to: man, man, man. It’s a way to “virtue signal,” like pronoun-naming is for some — “my pronouns are he/him” as a way of indicating support for transsexuality. The mark
666” shows the corrupting power of worldly systems.

In Revelation 13, a second beast, later called “the false prophet,” harnesses religion to support the first beast: the totalitarian state. It calls for people to take a “mark” to signal their allegiance to the beast. So, the number — which is really symbolic of an attitude or philosophy — stands for submission to false worship and the oppressive regimes that demand loyalty above God. The warning not to take the mark tells believers to resist idolatry, including political idolatry (thinking the government is the answer or some great leader is to be followed above all). Remain faithful to Christ. The (symbolic) number — 666 — reminds us to discern spiritual deception, and stand firm against social pressures to compromise our faith.

In the end, you are either one of those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, or you are one of those crushed in the winepress of God’s wrath because you went along with the beast. The good news is that there is good news. There is a gospel. There doesn’t have to be. Everything and everyone could, indeed, be going to hell. But God sent His Lamb to redeem a people. The Holy Spirit will seal them, thereby keeping them from the mark of the beast.

For the full exposition of Revelation 13:11-14:20:

Covenant Reformed Baptist Church is Danville’s/Caswell County’s Reformed church.