Who is
666? (R4H)
This calls for wisdom. If anyone
has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number.
His number is 666. Revelation 13:18
This second beast is a man and
Revelation says his number is 666. Who
is it?
In the Hebrew numerology system,
6 is a number of incompleteness, failure, imperfection. God created the world in seven days, so seven
is the number of fullness, completion, perfection; but six is short of
perfection. The number six repeated three times (three is also a mystic number)
therefore could connotate utter failure, lack of completion, hence evil or
wickedness.
Why is 666 "a man's
number"? Well, according to Genesis, man was created on the sixth day so
man’s number could be 6.
The number is actually 666 (six
hundred sixty six), not 6-6-6. Under a
numerology system called Gematria used in the first century, the first 10
letters of the alphabet corresponded to numbers 1-10. 11th letter is 20. 12th letter 30. 20th letter 200. Each letter an additional 100.
Let’s have some fun. This is controversial, but interesting.
Using that same code, 666 is the
sum of the numbers of the name Nero Caesar (NRWN QSR) in Hebrew. Presumably
this would be why you have to be wise or "have understanding" to
reckon the number--you need to know Hebrew Gematria.
Nrwn Qsr: The Greek version of
the name and title transliterates into Hebrew as נרונ קסר , and yields a
numerical value of 666 as shown:
|
Resh (ר)
|
Samekh (ס)
|
Qoph (ק)
|
Nun (נ)
|
Vav (ו)
|
Resh (ר)
|
Nun (נ)
|
Sum
|
|
200
|
60
|
100
|
50
|
6
|
200
|
50
|
666
|
People at various times have
interpreted this "beast" as paganism, the anti-Christ, or (more
amusingly) the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, Islam, the British
Empire, the United States, Nazism, the United Nations, the European Union,
Ronald Wilson Reagan (note six letters in each of his three names), etc. But most likely it was Nero.
How bad
was Nero?
·
Nero was the sixth ruler of Rome
(Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero).
·
He was the first emperor to
persecute the church (64 AD).
·
Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder
called him “the destroyer of the human race” and “the poison of the world.”
·
Nero built a statue of himself
100 feet tall!
·
He castrated a young boy named
Sporus then married him.
·
He kicked a pregnant wife to
death.
·
Was involved in numerous
homosexual rapes.
·
Nero caused civil wars in Rome.
·
He committed suicide as the Roman
general Galba was about to capture him. He was a disgrace to Rome. Rome
underwent distress and near ruin.
Once Nero died, Rome revived.
In the worst, more powerful
kingdom around, Nero was the worst of its rulers. John told the readers that human wisdom could
figure out who he is. Would John write a
letter in captivity, hand it to Roman guards and tell them to send it out when
it attacked one of its rulers by name?
It's in code and Jews familiar with the Gematria system could figure it
out.
No amount of 1st Century wisdom
could calculate the number of a 21st Century beast. John had to be talking about a 1st Century
person.