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The Mark of the Beast and 666: #3

The Mark of the Beast and 666: #3

Last updated on: October 14, 2022 at 2:35 pm by Rob Dalrymple

The Mark of the Beast and 666: #3 2022-10-14T14:35:45-08:00 Rob Dalrymple

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As I noted in my last post, the Mark of the Beast mimics the Seal of God, which is given to the people of God (see: 14:1—I am assuming here that the “name of Jesus and the Father” on the foreheads of the 144,000 is the same as the “Seal of God” on the foreheads of the 144,000 in 7:2-3. I am also assuming here that the “144,000” represents all of the people of God, but that will have to wait for a future post to defend this).

I also noted in my last post, that the Mark of the Beast meant something to John’s readers and that it was something they were at least able to figure out. This is why they were exhorted to “calculate the number of the beast” (13:18).[1]

Finally, I also noted that the word “mark” occurs “7” times and that this heightens the intensity of the number and its contrast with the Seal of God, as the number 7 often indicates God and the things of God: though in the book of Revelation the Beast and the Dragon have “7” heads! (12:3; 13:1). The idea is that the “Mark” appears to be something good and the Christians were in danger of being deceived by it (see my first post in this series).

NB: John’s intention in pointing out the “Mark” is to encourage those in the churches not to receive it. A close reading of the book of Revelation may even indicate that some already have!

666 is not a new number in the Bible

We should note that already in the Old Testament 666 was a number that represented evil. I’ll mention only one example here.

1 Kings 10:14 states,

“Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.”

There is no question that the narrative of 1st Kings does not believe that Solomon’s acquiring of wives and wealth was a good thing. After all, the narrative of Kings is reading Israelite history in light of the book of Deuteronomy, which explicitly forbids kings from amassing wealth:

“Moreover, he [the king] shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself” (Deut 17:16-17).

What is the Mark of the Beast?

First, we see that in each of the seven occurrences of the word “Mark” [2] the word designates loyalty to the Beast.

NB: we will address the identity of the Beast in future posts.

The implication is that the Beast brands his followers with a Mark. (This point gains even more support by the fact that the people of God—i.e., the 144,000—are branded by God with the Name of Jesus and the Father (7:1-3; 14:1).[3]

The first point is that the Mark represents loyalty to the Beast.

666 is the number of a person

Second, we know that 666 represents a person—or it is a representative person. That is, the Beast may be a person or a representative of similar persons (we will return to this in future posts).

John does not leave us in the dark here. Remember, he exhorts his readers to “calculate the number of the beast” (13:18). John, then, provides some clues to help in our “calculation.”

First, he states that the Mark is “either the name of the beast or the number of his name” (13:17).

Then he adds that “the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (13:18).

How does this help us?

Gematria

There is a widespread consensus within the scholarly world that John had in view the ancient practice of gematria.

Gematria was a practice in which one ascribed a numerical value to each of the letters of the alphabet (A = 1; B = 2: etc). This practice was used by both Greek and Hebrew writers.[4]

This allowed people, especially if they desired to be discrete, the ability to embed or hide the reference to something by substituting the numerical value of the word instead of the word itself.

An example of this appears in a piece of graffiti that was preserved in the ruins of Pompey. The inscription reads, “I love the girl whose number is 545.” Apparently, the young man either didn’t want the info getting out, or he substituted her number because everyone already knew her name.

Some scholars suggest that it would have been safer for John to identify the Beast with the number 666—knowing well that the early Christian reader/hearers would have been able to discern the meaning—than it would have been for him to say, “in case you are wondering, the Beast, who is empowered by Satan [Rev 13:2], is Rome and its Caesar.”

I have a hunch—just a hunch—that the latter might not have gone over too well if it becomes public knowledge.

Okay, so I just gave away what 666 means: Caesar: and in particular Nero.

Now, how did we get there?

And what does it mean for us today?

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[1] See the parallel statement in 17:9. See also, Dan 12:10; Mark 13:14

[2] See 13:16, 17; 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4.

[3] I am not going to defend this assertion here. See the commentaries for more info. Or wait until 2024 when my commentary comes out!

[4] Many Greek and Hebrew language textbooks display the numerical value for each of the letters in the opening chapters.

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About Rob Dalrymple

Rob Dalrymple is married to his wife Toni and is the father of four fabulous children, and two grandchildren. He has been teaching and pastoring for over 32 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD (Westminster Theological Seminary) in biblical interpretation. He is the author of four books (including Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation & Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters) as well as numerous articles and other publications. He is currently completing a commentary on the book of Revelation titled, “Revelation: a Love story” (Cascade Books, pending 2024). You can read more about the author here.

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