The Significance of 666
In a recent article, we identified the “beast” in Revelation as a symbol of the Roman Emperor Domitian, who persecuted the church for refusing to worship him. Now let’s think about the “number of the beast.” The Bible says: “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” (Rev. 13:18 ESV). Notice what Dan Winkler noted:“Concerning the number 666, three things should be noticed. First, it was the number ‘of a man’; and, in this context, it had to be a reference to Domitian. Second, in the Greek New Testament, ‘man’ is not preceded by a definite article, which would signify a general reference to ‘mankind.’ Hence, the number 666 was designed to implicitly prove that Domitian was a mere man; not a god to be worshipped. Third, with seven symbolizing something complete (cf. Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6), six would have represented something incomplete. So, once more, the ultimate failure and fall of Domitian was encouragingly predicted. His persecutions were to fall far short of their design.”Dan Winkler goes on to point out, “There are two basic ways of interpreting the mystical 666 of this verse:“Negatively speaking, some focus on the word ‘calculate’; and, suggest that the encryption of 666 rests in a Jewish mechanism called ‘ghematria’ wherein a numeric value was attached to letters of the Jewish alphabet. Accordingly, they played with various letter combinations in an effort to identify who the 666 alludes to. The most popular equation takes the name ‘Nero,’ adds the title ‘Caesar,’ transliterates this into Hebrew NERON KAISER and ‘calculates’ the number value of these letters. In doing do, they come with the following equation: N [50], E [0], R [200], O [6], N [50], K [100], A [0], I [0], S [60], E [0], and R [200]. Their calculation would result in: 50 + 0 + 200 + 6 + 50 + 100 + 0 + 0 + 60 + 0 + 200 = 666. But, if such is the correct way of interpreting 666, this is the only time in Revelation a number is to be given a literal interpretation…. [cf. the numbers in Rev. 5:11; 7:4; 9:16]
“Positively speaking, three times in Revelation we have a ‘trinity of thought’ used to emphatically symbolize a point being made. First, the greatness of God was emphasized with the doxology: ‘Holy, holy, holy’ (Rev. 4:8). Second, the doom of the Roman Empire was emphasized with the warning: ‘Woe, woe, woe’ (Rev. 8:13). And, then, the ultimate failure of Domitian was emphasized with a repeated use of the number that signified incompleteness: ‘Six, six, six.’ We, thus, view ‘The significance of 666’ as an implicit and emphatic reference to the doomed future of Domitian.” |
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