666?

P.S: The article has 666 words besides the direct quotation and references. You may feel it’s Satanic and not choose to read it further.

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)

Often classified as “Apocalyptic literature”, the book of Revelation is unique having elements like angels, trumpets, earthquakes, beasts, dragons, and bottomless pits which are foreign for modern eyes. It’s difficult to even imagine Jesus having seven swords coming out of his mouth(What is with that big mouth?). It doesn’t quote a single verse of OT but alludes more to the Old Testament. It opens with a general greeting(1:3) unfolds its chapter with the epistles (2-3), and the vision of the throne room of God(4-5) followed by the drama of judgment, and ends with the most beautiful climax(God dwelling in midst of people). Thus, it’s mandatory to understand the styles of literature and how the original author would have understood this. Literal and direct analysis of text should be avoided at any cost.

It seems necessary to say at the outset that no one should approach the Revelation without a proper degree of humility!

How to Read Bible for all it’s worth.(Pg 255)

The mark of the beast and 666 is the most cliche topic we hear about these days. There’re tons of youtube clickbait with the title “mark of the beast is here.” In 1998, Christians began preaching that it’s the end of the world (666+666+666=1998). But we know it didn’t happen. Back in 2014, Christian accused Obama of being the beast and at the present, the title is shifted to Trump. With the rise of Covid-19, people have been saying that the new vaccines will be the “mark and chips.” Somehow UN is planning one world religion and America is planning some conspiracy. Christian still says www is equal to 666 and so on. Honestly, I don’t claim to know the mystery behind the beast but I know what it isn’t.

So, what is the book Revelation describing? Remember that apocalyptic writing always deals with the suffering of the church and the sovereign rule of God in the light of the suffering. The book is written in about 90-110 AD and the church was brutally persecuted by the Romans and Jews. Although, there’s still a debate on whether the events are futuristic or historical I’ll focus on the “false analysis of 666 and not with the analysis of the whole book.

  • First, it should be read as six hundred sixty-six and not 666. Few manuscripts read it as six hundred sixteen(616).
  • Revelation 13:18 is written in the Greek language. 666 is an English translation and not the original “Greek word”. It seems the conspiracy first was born in the mind of an “English reader”.
  • The idea of having a mark or name is a very repetitive theme in the book of Revelation. The people of God were sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads(9:4),14400 elected have “Father’s name” in their forehead(14:1), and a mark of the beast(13:17). When God will dwell in our midst in eternity, we shall have the name of God on our forehead.(22:5). So, are we to conclude that there’ll be an actual mark? The genre of Revelation avoids us to take it literally. Remember those who were sealed with the name of God are Christians(9:4), but where is the literal mark of God in our forehead?

Before jumping to any conclusion, one should notice that John encourages those who have the understanding to break the code of 666(13:18a) and “calculate” the number of the beast since the number of the beast is the name of the beast. The number isn’t just plain reading but a code to be solved. Greek and Hebrew have no number like that of English and Nepali, so they denote numbers with the alphabet. (Roman numbering is similar: I=1, IV=5-1=4 C=100, and so on.). 666 isn’t any handsign or weird Illuminati symbols but the name of the Antichrist. But what is the mystery behind 666? God knows. There is no doubt that original readers knew the meaning of the mystery but there’s no way they would have concluded it’s the literal English number 666.

To God be the glory.

References

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