666 is, arguably, one of the most symbolically rich numbers in the Bible. Bullinger would write, “666 is very far-reaching, and is filled with a meaning deeper, perhaps, than anything we have yet discovered. One thing, however, is certain, and that is, that the triple 6 marks the culmination of man’s opposition to God in the person of the coming Antichrist.”
Why 666? What does it mean? Why is 666 attached to the antichrist? What’s the spiritual significance of 666?
666 in the OT
Did you know that there are two references to 666 in the OT? Both references are connected to the antichrist.
We’ll start with Ezra 2:13. In Ezra 2, we’re given a list of Jewish families who were released from Babylonian captivity thanks to Cyrus the Great. Ezra 2 is a long list of families and the number of their children who were released. Most verses say something like, “The children of so-and-so, x number.” Then you work your way down through the list and when you get to Ezra 2:13, and you’ll find, “The children of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and six.”
A lot of people have scratched their heads over this. What’s the connection between Adonikam’s 666 children and the antichrist? Some, like Bullinger and a few others, have pointed out that Adonikam’s name means “the Lord of enemies.” The verse literally says “The children of the lord of enemies, six sixty six!” You can’t make this up!
This reinforces what we’re about to read in Rev. 13 about the number 666, that is, the lord of your enemies, the antichrist, has a number and that number is 666. It may also be possible that this reference to Adonikam in Ezra 2 is another indication that the antichrist has to be a Jew who rises up from among the Jews. It may also be possible that the antichrist’s name will be a variation in Hebrew of the word Adonikam. We can only speculate. But it’s possible.
The second OT reference is in 2 Chron. 9. This reference actually connects SOLOMON to the antichrist. Did you know that? Did you know that the wisest man who ever lived was somehow connected to the antichrist through the number of 666? You can’t make this stuff up!
The context of 2 Chron. 9 is Solomon getting a visit from the Queen of Sheba. It’s a great read. Long story short – the Queen of Sheba had heard of Solomon’s fame. She brought a massive entourage with her. She gave him tons of gifts, including gold in abundance. She asked him hard questions to test how wise he was. He thoroughly answered every question. She became overwhelmed by his wisdom and massive prosperity.
Thus, she says to him in 2Ch 9:5 And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: 2Ch 9:6 Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. 2Ch 9:7 Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. 2Ch 9:8 Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. Look down at 9:12 And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went away to her own land, she and her servants. 9:13 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and threescore and six talents of gold.
Given everything that happened to Solomon, everything his kingdom earned, all the gifts from the Queen of Sheba, including gold in abundance, Solomon had amassed in one year gold that weighed 666 talents. How much does a talent weight? I read that 666 talents amounts to something along the lines of 80,000 pounds of gold. If you take value of gold at today’s price of $1,800 an ounce, 16 ounces make a pound, and we have 80,000 pounds, that means Solomon earned over 2.3 billion dollars-worth of gold in that one year. In fact, gold was so abundant then that 1 Kings 10:27 said that in Israel silver became like stones in the street.
But you know that the Holy Spirit pointing out that Solomon’s gold weighs 666 talents has to be there for a reason, and it has to be connected to the antichrist.
In the June, 2011, issue of the Berean Searchlight, a guest writer by the name of Steve Shober had this to say about Solomon’s 666 talents of gold. He wrote, “The weight of gold that came to him in one year was 666 talents (1 Kings 10:14). Mention of the exact weight of the gold is not a coincidental thing; it is mentioned for a reason. Certainly, we know that number is associated with the Beast (Antichrist) who deceives the world and is empowered by Satan (Rev. 13:18). It would seem reasonable to conclude that the number 666 implies that Solomon was being deceived (and led astray) by his gold.”
So 666 helps us to connect the dots in terms of corrupting influences, a corrupt motivation for the antichrist. He isn’t only interested in power but also in the acquisition of massive wealth beyond anything anyone has ever seen before. Consider the fact that by the time the antichrist carries out the Abomination of Desolation at the midway point, he’s already the king of the world. The world will have watched the antichrist defeat the two witnesses. The world will be blown away by his victory. They will all say, “Yeah, we want you to be our leader.” And through that alliance he already has with the 10 kingdoms, he quickly becomes the king of the world and implements his global Babylonian system.
Then he goes to Jerusalem to enter the temple. All the unbelieving Jews in Israel are going, “He’s got to be the Messiah. He seems to have fulfilled a number of prophecies. He can do miracles, signs, and wonders. He defeated the two witnesses. He’s taken over the world, which must mean he’s established the kingdom. He’s got to be the Messiah.” So they all race to Jerusalem to meet him. He enters the temple proclaiming to be God.
Then what happens? The Gentile armies who have surrounded Jerusalem descend upon the Jews slaughtering or capturing every Jew they can find. Worse than the holocaust. Because in order for Satan to have an unchallenged global kingdom here on Earth, he has to take out all of God’s people, believers and unbelievers alike.
THEN the antichrist makes plans to implement the Mark of the Beast.
God sends 3 angels who circle the globe with messages for every soul on planet Earth. The first angel gives the everlasting gospel. The second angel tells them that this Babylonian kingdom will fall. And the third angel tells them if you take the Mark of the Beast, you will be eternally doomed. Then there’s a brief period of peace. All the world is given time to make a choice about taking the Mark of the Beast. I’m thinking this period will be short, six to eight months at the very most. Everyone makes a choice. Some take the mark.
And then…
God starts pouring out His final, horrific, seven judgments upon the world and some of those judgments will target all those who took the mark.
So that brief period of peace, that six to eight months is also how long the antichrist’s kingdom will last, because once God starts pouring out His final seven judgments, the antichrist kingdom will be absolutely obliterated.
This brings us back to Solomon’s 666 talents of gold.
In that short period of maybe six to eight months in which we have the reign of the antichrist kingdom, the antichrist will amass jaw-dropping levels of wealth. In Rev 17:12 John talks about the antichrist kingdom. “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” The antichrist kingdom involves an alliance with ten kings who will be given power for one hour with the beast. One hour is used to illustrate the shortness of their reign with the antichrist, which means that the antichrist kingdom isn’t going to last long at all.
Then, in Rev 18:17 we find, “For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off.” That one hour is used to illustrate that the downfall of the antichrist kingdom will be quick. So his actual reign will be short and his downfall will be quick. And in that short reign of his kingdom, the antichrist will amass so great riches, but when God starts pouring out His final judgments, it will all come to nought. Acquiring all that power and wealth will be a wasted effort.
So the connection between Solomon’s 666 talents and the antichrist is that wealth will be a corrupting influences, a corrupting motivation for the antichrist. And in his short reign he’ll amass so great riches, but it will all come to nought. In light of all this, how can you not think of the words of the Lord in Mar. 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
666 in Rev. 13:12,15-18
In Rev. 13, John has a vision about seeing the rise of two beasts. In the first half, we have the rise out of the sea of the first beast, who is the antichrist.
In the second half of this chapter, we have a vision about a second beast rising out of the earth, and he is the false prophet. In this section about the false prophet, we still have a lot of references to the antichrist.
Look at Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
First notice that the false prophet’s influence is global. He “causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast.” This means that the antichrist kingdom will be a global, one world, Babylonian system.
Second, notice all the supernatural miracles the false prophet is able to perform. Verse 13 tells us that he’ll do great wonders, like making fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Who does that remind you of? Elijah, right? And his battle with Baal worshippers atop Mt. Carmel. I’ll bet you that little tick of the false prophet just might come in handy during the first half of the Tribulation. I can just imagine the false prophet saying, “That other guy isn’t Elijah. I’m the true Elijah! Look, I can call down fire from Heaven just like Mt. Carmel!”
And all the unbelieving Jews just might go “wow.”
The big point is that in the tribulation, God will allow Satan and all his demonic realm to perform miracles, just as the two witnesses are empowered to perform miracles. The tribulation is the third act climax, no holds barred supernatural battle between God and Satan.
But notice what John wrote in vs. 12. And he (the false prophet) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him (the antichrist), and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.The antichrist has all the same powers of the false prophet. The false prophet exerciseth all the power of the antichrist. Everything the false prophet can do, the antichrist can do, as well, just as the two witnesses are equally empowered with supernatural gifts.
I believe the rise of the antichrist and the false prophet takes place at the beginning of the Tribulation. The beast is already the beast from the beginning. The false prophet is already the false prophet from the beginning. Why do I say that? Because in the previous chapter, Rev. 12, we’re given the Abomination of Desolation. The beast is already the beast in chapter 12. And it’s after the Abomination of Desolation that John shares the vision about seeing the antichrist rise from the sea. This means that the antichrist’s rise had to have taken place before Rev. 12, and I’d argue this takes place at the beginning of the Tribulation or even before the Tribulation begins. I think that from the beginning of the Tribulation, the beast is already the beast. The antichrist is already empowered by Satan to carry out miracles, signs, and wonders to deceive the world. The same is true for the false prophet.
We also have at the beginning of the Tribulation the appearance and the ministry of the two witnesses, who I think are Moses and Elijah.
From the beginning of the Tribulation, we already have a conflict between two opposing forces of great power: Moses & Elijah vs. the antichrist & false prophet.
No doubt Moses and Elijah will have no reservation about identifying the antichrist and the false prophet boldly and publicly. I’ll bet they will condemn the antichrist and his false prophet in the clearest possible language. And I have no doubt the antichrist and the false prophet will be lying through their teeth about Moses and Elijah saying, “No, those two guys are the true agents of Satan.” Plus, there will be a myriad of false Christs also performing miracles.
So how will believers figure out who is the true antichrist?
The number 666.
666 is a number of identification. It is the secret to unlocking the true identity of the antichrist in a world that’s now full of liars doing miracles.
Speaking of the false prophet, John writes in Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. What does that verse mean? Long story short, I think this means that Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet, are mimicking the Godhead in the sense that these three beings operate as one unit just as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are separate but always operate as one unit.
Look at Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of A man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
Let’s talk about the Mark of the Beast. We read in vs. 16, And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. I think that “he” is talking about the false prophet. The context bears that out. In vs. 15, it’s the false prophet who will have the power to give life unto the image of the beast. He is the one who establishes this global environment to worship the image of the beast, to worship the falsehood of everything he claims to be.
Now everything Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet do, they do together as one unit, mimicking the Godhead, but in vs. 16, it’s the false prophet who is primarily put in charge of implementing the Mark of the Beast.
Taking the mark is more of a religious thing than anything political or economic. In the antichrist’s global Babylonian system, the antichrist is generally viewed as the political leader whereas the false prophet is viewed as the religious leader. This is why he would be in charge of implementing the Mark of the Beast. Because by accepting that mark, you’ve entered into a religious commitment to worship the beast, the image of the beast, and to worship all the falsehoods of everything the beast claims that he is. Oh, and you’ll also be able to buy and sell. But that’s secondary. What’s primary is your commitment to worshipping the beast. That mark is more of a religious commitment than anything else.
I also think it’s nice that the false prophet gives options in what kind of mark you can have. The whole system is evil, but we’ll give you some options about the kind of mark you can have on your hand or forehead. You can have a generic mark, or you can have the name of the beast written on you, or you can choose to have the number of his name. Take your pick! You have options! Isn’t it great?
The bigger point is this: having the mark, having yourself marked with 666 is once again a number of identification. By taking that mark of 666, you are consciously identifying yourself with one man. You are identifying yourself with the antichrist himself, and by extension Satan, which makes you a target of God’s wrath and dooms your soul forever.
In vs. 18,John writes, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of A man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
He first says, “Here is wisdom.” What is wisdom? Wisdom is the application of the truth God has given you. Knowing God’s truth is one thing. How to apply God’s truth to your life is wisdom. Thus, God is saying, basically, apply these truths I’m giving you to figure out the identity of the antichrist. Unbelievers will be at a total loss to identifying the true antichrist unless they believe that Christ is the Son of God and they’ve studied the Word of Christ in order to become familiar with the method to identifying the antichrist. And the Lord offers all believers four keys to identifying the antichrist.
- The number of his name (vs 17).
- This is the number of the beast (vs. 18).
- It is the number of A man (vs. 18).
- And his number is 666 (vs. 18).
Again, vs. 18 reinforces the fact that 666 is a number of identification. It is the number of a man. That number is 666. That number is designed to identify the antichrist.
How does that work exactly? How do you use those four keys together to identify the antichrist?
Let’s start with the fact that, as John says 666 is the number of A man, the Bible also teaches us that six is the number OF man. Six is not only the number OF man but six is also the number of man who is destitute of God. We know that seven is the number of spiritual perfection, but six falls short of that just as man has fallen short of the spiritual perfection of God. As Jordan would write in his Daniel study book, “Six is next to the sacred seven, which it mimics but falls short of” it.
The Number of Man
God created man on the sixth day. His average height is six feet. His workweek is six days. Corresponding to his labor is the whole way God constructed time. 24 hours (4×6), divided into day and night of 12 hours each. The multiples and subdivisions are also stamped by the number six. The months being 12; while the hours consist of 60 minutes (6×10), and the minutes of 60 seconds (6×10). The whole construction of time corresponds with God’s judgment upon man to labor over this sin-cursed creation when God said in Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. Time was constructed in divisions of six to correspond with man’s judgment of labor because of sin.
Jordan, in his book on Daniel, also made the case that there are eighteen major types of the antichrist in the Bible: Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Balak, Sisera, Abimelech, Ahab, Goliath, Absalom, Soloman, Haman, Saul, Nabal, Jeroboam, Nebuchadnezzar, Judas, and Herod. And he’d say, you know what eighteen is, don’t ya? Six times three. Three sixes!
In any event, one of those OT types was Goliath. I thought, “That’s strange. I wonder how Goliath is a type of the antichrist.” It’s his dimensions. In 1 Sam. 17:4-7, we’re given very specific facts about Goliath’s size. His height was 6 cubits. He had 6 pieces of armour. The number 6 was predominant to describe Goliath’s size.
You might have also noticed that Nebuchadnezzar was listed a type of the antichrist. In Dan 3:1, we learn that his golden image was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits broad. 66 is predominant here.
And of course, the predominant number for the antichrist is 666.
Thus, we go from 6 to 66 to 666.
Plus, Bullinger had some things to say about that. In the first example of Goliath, he said we have one six connected with the pride of fleshly might. In the second example of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, we have two sixes connected with the pride of absolute dominion. In the third example of the antichrist, we have three sixes connected with the pride of Satanic guidance. He also wrote, “If six is the number of secular or human perfection, then 66 is a more emphatic expression of the same fact, and 666 is the concentrated expression of it. 666 is, therefore, the trinity of human perfection, the perfection of imperfection, the culmination of human pride in independence of God and opposition to His Christ.”
666 is the greatest of the imperfect, the highest man can achieve apart from God. He can perform miracles and wonders, and as we read in Rev. 13:12, he’ll be able to heal his own deadly wound. Whereas 7 is the number of spiritual perfection, six is the number of man coming short of God’s perfection.
Yes, 666 is also the greatest of the imperfect. Jordan would write, “He is in triplicate. He is the intensification, the glorification of man.”
Man apart from God cannot achieve greater statis than what we’ll see in the person of the antichrist. Even then, one man could never achieve those heights on his own without selling his soul to the devil. Arno Gaebelein would write, “Here we have three times six. it is humanity fallen, filled with pride, defying God. The number 666 signifies man’s day and man’s defiance of God under Satan’s power in its culmination.” He’d also write, “The final Antichrist… is the heading up of the apostasy. He fills up the measure of the apostasy of humanity. He opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or object of worship.”
666 is Identification
The other three points that John shares is that this is the number of his name (vs 17). This is the number of the beast (vs. 18), and his number is 666 (vs. 18).
How do you get 666 out of a name? Do you count the number of letters? Are there numerical values to numbers?
Here’s another question: What language is his name? Are we talking a name in English? No way. How about Latin? Greek? How can it be koine Greek? Who would be speaking koine Greek in the Tribulation? Won’t that language be just as dead in the Tribulation as it is now?
I’d suggest that it’s the antichrist’s name in Hebrew. We made the case before that the antichrist must be Hebrew and Hebew alone. Dan 11:37 told us, “Neither shall he regard the God of HIS fathers…” That is common Jewish language in the OT, the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This language also infers that he’s a pure Jew. Neither shall he regard the God of HIS fathers. Daniel doesn’t write that he regards not the God of his fathers from two different races but only the God of HIS fathers, plural, which can only mean that his fathers, his lineage, his heritage, can only be Hebrew and nothing else.
Thus, the means to identifying him has to be the numerical value of his name in Hebrew.
And how do you calculate a Hebrew name into the numerical value of 666?
Bullinger made the case that “one of the factors” is gematria. I don’t think gematria will be “one of the factors”. I think gematria will be the only way believers will be able to determine the numerical value of the antichrist’s name.
What is gematria? Gematria is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to an alphanumerical cipher. A single word can yield several values depending upon which cipher you’re using.
“Okay,” you might think. “What’s the cipher that will be used to determine the numerical value of the antichrist’s name?” We don’t know. By my count, I came across 17 different ciphers Hebrews use to calculate the numerical value of words. 17 different ciphers!
The standard Hebrew cipher is called the Mispar Hechrachi, the absolute value method. This cipher assigns the values 1–9, 10–90, 100–400 to the 22 Hebrew letters in order. And then there’s a rather complicated mathematical formula that’s used to calculate the numerical value of words. To make matters worse, there are ciphers within ciphers and some think that Mispar Hechrachi had ciphers within it to conceal other hidden ciphers.
So we have 17 different ciphers. There’s a standard cipher that may have hidden ciphers within the cipher. How on Earth would any believer be able to figure out the numerical value of the antichrist’s name? I believe this is part of the unction of the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit will reveal the cipher to believers. He may use a cipher that already exists, or He’ll provide a new Heavenly cipher.
We’re still in a spiritual warfare. The Bible is as much a war book as it is a spiritual book. This is a war book that the enemy has total access to. If Satan knows what cipher will be used to identify the antichrist, then it goes without saying: he’d choose a man to be the antichrist whose name he knows wouldn’t have the numerical value of 666 just so he could prove God wrong. So I believe God gives the clues without the cipher. So it doesn’t matter who becomes the antichrist. God already knows who it will be, and the Holy Spirit will reveal the right cipher to help the believing remnant conclusively identify the antichrist.
I’d also suggest that 666 is more than just about identifying the antichrist. It will also help to refute all the lies that’ll be said about Moses and Eilijah when they’re here. Their names in Hebrew will never add up to 666, which will refute every lie said about them and confirms beyond any doubt that Moses and Eilijah are exactly who they say they are. 666 is as much about clearing the innocent as it is about identifying the guilty.
SUPPLY OF GRACE 