The times... They Are a-Changing (Part 5) 666 And All That!

The Great Fire of London, painter unknown.

When old London (the Medieval parts of the city inside the ancient Roman walls) was destroyed by fire in September 1666, the populace was quick to fuel speculation that this event was the beginning of the end of time. A considerable number of Christians (and others) saw this apoplectic event as sure confirmation of Christ's imminent return.

There was nothing new in this speculation... A quick Google search results in more than 137,000,000 hits for "past end of world predictions"… clearly none have come to pass... yet!

 

Almost from the beginning of the Church Age, believers have attempted to identify the mysterious Beast of The Book of Revelation. The Koine Greek that John the Revelator wrote in is alpha-numeric, which means that each Greek letter has a number value. Hebrew also uses this system, e.g. A=1, B=2. Thus, a name has a numeric value. A handy device for concealing information, but a theological nightmare. Anyone that's unfortunate enough to have a name which the numeric value adds up to 666 is a potential candidate Beast of Revelation,  and throughout history many have been falsely identified as such.

I recall a book published in the late 1970's in which the author stated that she was TOTALLY convinced that the then President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, whose numeric value adds up to 666, was "The Antichrist".... what did she base her assertion on (apart from the "fact" that Holy Spirit told her)... Sadat often travelled on an Egyptian Navy Frigate, marked using the international military numbering system, as F666. About 6 months after this book was published, Anwar Sadat was assassinated.... well that little detail did not deter our author/prophetess. She soon followed her first book with another, in which she claimed Holy Spirit had "misspoke" and really meant to say that the Antichrist was Anwar Sadat's son, who eventually disappeared into history without a trace. (as did the author of these two tortured tomes!) 

The Book of Revelation is time specific... John wrote it as a epistle of hope, correction and inspiration to the first century Churches of Asia Minor, and should be read and understood/interpreted in light of that. It's a heavenly revelation of what's going on behind the scenes. The Biblical scholar, N.T. Wright, said this... "The book of Revelation came to the early Christians, who were like an audience waiting in a dark theatre waiting to catch  a glimpse of reality". Why would John, who likely knew, and possibly mentored/discipled many of the Christians in those churches, write a series of letters to Christians thousands of years in the future? 

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants; things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.  Revelation 1:1-3

As can clearly be seen from these opening verses, the book is written for immediate consumption, there is no indication that these events that John is about to outline will NOT occur soon, rather than  200, or 2000 years into the future. The blessing afforded to the reader and to those who listen to the words of Revelation echoes the blessings promised in  Proverbs 8:34, Daniel 12:12-13, and Luke 11:28

It's a cryptic message, dressed as allegorical literature, reminiscent of Old Testament symbolism, particularly as written in Ezekiel. Until the later years of the 19th century, the historical view that the events of Revelation had happened in the first century A.D. was widely accepted. The idea of trying to identify the Beast, and his "mark" had been toyed with, but never really captured the public's imagination. Things changed in the 20th century. Populist literature in the guise of  end times novels began exploring  the theme of one-world government, mass population control, governmental conspiracies, then movies based on these themes became mega hits, think "The Terminator", "Legion", "Rapture"  A 1933 film "Deluge" kicked off movie-makers love of  apocalyptic themes, this movie even opens with a quote from Genesis.  What had been a fringe area of Christian theology took off like a Saturn V rocket.   

Probably the most explored/controversial area of End Times theology is the Mark of The Beast,
mentioned specifically in Revelation, 16:2 and 19:20  and a few other times in Revelation. The Beast is usually identified as the Antichrist. 

The modern visualization of this ancient mark is usually a barcode, RFID or QR code. A Swedish company is (voluntarily) injecting its employees with a grain of rice sized transponder into the webbing between the thumb and index finger. This enables the employee to access various company services. Several end times preachers have boldly claimed that this is it... the final realization of the Beast's Mark. As cool as a personal barcode might be, it's NOT ever going to be the Mark of The Beast. 

 

The term "mark" has no special biblical usage apart from its association with the beast. The Greek term charagma pronounced cavragma, was most commonly used for imprints on documents or coins, like the wax seal used on  important documents in later ages. 

There is a simple, yet profound explanation for one of the most vexing texts in Revelation. 

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,  and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.  Revelation 13:16-18 NKJV

The number of the beast is NOT a world-wide individual personal identifying system as many end times preachers claim it would become in our age, rather it is as the verse says... the number of a very specific person. The verse says that 666 is the number of a man, singular.

The idea of having the mark on hands or foreheads is an echo of the instruction that Jehovah God gave to the ancient Hebrews, regarding the Ten Commandments and  the symbolism of tying His Laws on hands and foreheads clearly implies our work, and our thinking processes...  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Deuteronomy 6:7-8 NIV

Coin with Nero Caesar's image.

The coinage of the Roman Empire was universal, and
like most modern coinage, it carried an image of the current ruler/emperor. When quizzed by the ever querulous Pharisees, Jesus said... Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marvelled. And they left him and went away. Matthew 22:21-22 NIV

 John used the coded language of Revelation to clearly identify "The Beast" in everyday imagery that his readers would instantly understand. 

The numerical value of each of the names of Nero Caesar, Caesar Vespasian and Caesar Titus add up to 666. The Caesars of the first century were hailed as gods, and worshipped as such by the populace. These men, hailed and seen as divine, formed a counterfeit trinity, a beastly mirror of the three-in-one unity of the Godhead of Scripture. 

When people living under Roman rule wanted to partake in any commercial activity, they had to produce a document called a Libellus. This was a notarized government document which certified that the person carrying it had publicly proclaimed Caesar as their Lord, i.e. god, by burning a pinch of incense, and participating in certain other rituals and declaring “Caesar is Lord” in front of a government official. This act was the literal taking of the Mark of the Beast.

In John 19, the Jewish leaders went to Pilate, Caesar’s representative, and asked him to execute Jesus. He said no on multiple occasions. So what did those leaders do? They took the Mark of the Beast to get Pilate to do as they demanded! John 19:15 “We have no King but Ceasar” They even insisted he be crucified, a Roman form of execution, and not stoned, as Hebrews traditionally executed the condemned. Israel had rejected Christ, and instead had accepted Rome as her new Master.

Emperor Nero, the last ruler of this demonically false trinity, and as clear a personage of the Antichrist one could hope to find, issued an edict that the only money that could be used throughout the empire was the coinage (paper money was yet to be invented) that bore his image. Hence, none could buy or sell without bearing the mark of the beast. Some Roman coins were even imprinted with the phrase Divi F... son of  God, referring to the blasphemous claim of the emperor's divine status. 

The Beast of Revelation is Rome, embodied and personified in the Caesars of the first century,who were imbued with god-like status. Inscriptions found in Ephesus label Nero Caesar “Almighty God” and “Saviour” and another inscription found in the seaport of Salamis gave him the title “God and Saviour.” In 64 A.D. Nero put to death multitudes of Christians 

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Revelation 20:4-5 NIV

Those of us who live in western style democracies have little understanding of the power of  an emperor who is worshipped as a god, and has complete control of every aspect of life. Not only that, but had a demonically/psychologically inspired compulsion to persecute anyone who refused to bow down before him... the latest target of his malevolence were those clean living, peaceful, loving Christians.