Unregenerated man=666

 666 in Revelation, we can be certain that we will find the beginnings of that growth in the early days of the great rebellion.

As an insight into, and an explanation of the emergence of that which would eventually become a fully matured 666, God provided Israel with a law designed to protect them from the awful power symbolized by the numbers 6, 66, and 666. That statute reads as follows:

Exodus 21
¹ Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them.
² If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
³ If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
⁴ If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons and daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
⁵ But if the servant plainly says, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free.
⁶ Then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the door-post, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.

As the Hebrews acted out the requirements of this law, God designed that they should have their eyes opened to see the application of the same law to the entire history of the great controversy. He likewise expects us to see much more in this than an instruction limited to the Jews. We are to understand the outworking of man’s determination to bring his fellowmen into cruel, perpetual servitude, and the limitations God has imposed on that disposition.

Six = Six Thousand

The six years of bondage which the Hebrew slave was compelled to render, points to the six thousand years during which the human family as a whole will have been held in the bondage of sin. The fact is that there will be just six thousand years between the commencement of man’s bondage and the termination of it.

This allocation of six thousand years to human bondage is revealed by the fact that there will be one thousand years of total rest for the earth between the second and third comings of Christ. As surely as there will be one thousand years of rest, so there will be six thousand years of unrest and bondage. There is quite a list of statements confirming this, from which list I will select two. Describing the situation as it will be at the second advent of Christ, it is written:

The Great Controversy, p. 656:

For six thousand years the great controversy has been in progress; the Son of God and His heavenly messengers have been in conflict with the power of the evil one, to warn, enlighten, and save the children of men. Now all have made their decisions; the wicked have fully united with Satan in his warfare against God. The time has come for God to vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law. Now the controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men. “The Lord has a controversy with the nations;” “He will give those who are wicked to the sword.”

Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 342:

For six thousand years Satan has struggled to maintain possession of the earth.

Because we know that six thousand years will have elapsed between man’s fall into sin, and the return of our coming King, this does not therefore give us the ability to set the time for the Second Advent of Christ. This is because no one knows exactly how long it has been since Adam and Eve transgressed, for complete and accurate records of time have not been kept. However, we can be sure the time is now very short.

We must not overlook the fact that God is the Lawmaker who has limited the period of servitude to six years in the type, and to six thousand years in the anti-type. He has decreed the limitation of the time during which oppression can reign, and for this we can be truly thankful.

The Mark of a Slave

At the end of the stipulated period, the servant was offered his freedom, but, he was not compelled to take it. If he loved his master and the wife and children his master had given to him, he could elect to remain in bondage. If he chose this option, he could never again go free but must remain a slave forever.

To signify this, a visible, physical mark was placed upon him, by boring a hole in his ear. It was not in the shape of a six, but was the symbol of it, for everyone who saw the hole knew that he had served six years and then had chosen to be a slave forever.

This signifies the fact that, while God has placed a time limitation on the oppressor, no one is compelled to go free. Whoever wishes to, can remain in bondage eternally.

But this leaves a question:

“Why is the choice between perpetual freedom and never-ending bondage given at the end of the six thousand year period, rather than at the beginning of it?”

While it might appear that the slave makes his choice for permanent freedom or slavery at the end of the six years of service, in fact this point of time is really only the moment to ratify the decision he made beforehand. In practical terms, no slave would dreamily arrive at the end of six years and suddenly wake up to a decision to stay or leave. He would have been anticipating that moment and would have made his decision before then.

Likewise, all humanity will have made their decision for permanent freedom or bondage before coming to the end of the six thousand years of decision-making opportunity. The end of the six thousand years only permanently fixes the decisions that everyone has already made before hand.

Experiencing the Bondage

But we should take a little time to consider the purpose, benefits, and necessity of the symbolic six years of slavery as it relates to every individual that has or ever will live.

There is a most important difference between man before he goes into bondage, and man after he has experienced it for himself. This remains true even though Adam and Eve were thoroughly taught by Christ and His angel helpers, just what a servile existence would be like. They and their children were to learn by bitter, painful, personal experience that knowing what slavery is, is much, much more than merely knowing about it.

To render them less able to make an enduring choice, Satan was there to confuse the issue as much as he possibly could. He made it appear that a life under his “gentle leadership” was much to be preferred to God’s “strict control”. He made evil to appear so attractive that it was to be desired above anything which God could offer. In consequence, Adam thrust mankind into a life of servitude to sin; a classroom where all are able to learn by firsthand, direct experience, what a monstrous deception was practiced upon him. If, when Satan first gained access to him, he had understood the misery of a life of slavery as clearly as he did when he came to live under it, he would never have listened to the devil for an instant. How quickly he regretted from the very depths of his soul, the sad choice he had made.

The Signs of the Times, February 6, 1879 [see also Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 82]:

Adam’s life was one of sorrow, humility, and continual repentance. As he taught his children and grandchildren the fear of the Lord, he was often bitterly reproached for the sin which had resulted in so much misery to his posterity. When he left beautiful Eden, the thought that he must die thrilled him with horror. He looked upon death as a dreadful calamity.

He was first made acquainted with the terrible reality of death in the human family by his own son Cain slaying his brother Abel. Filled with bitterest remorse for his own transgression, deprived of his son Abel, and looking upon Cain as his murderer, and knowing the curse which God had pronounced upon him, Adam’s heart was bowed down with grief. Most bitterly did he reproach himself for his first great transgression.

He entreated pardon from God through the promised Sacrifice. Deeply had he felt the wrath of God for his crime committed in Paradise. He witnessed the general corruption which finally provoked God to destroy the inhabitants of the earth by a flood.

Though the sentence of death pronounced upon him by his Maker at first appeared so terrible to him, yet after he had lived some hundreds of years, it looked just and merciful in God, thus to bring to an end a miserable life.

Thus Adam tasted for himself the reality of life as it is under Satan’s rule. He did not wait till the end of the six thousand years to make his choice in favor of God’s benign government. Even so, while in the meantime he had thoroughly repented, been forgiven, and delivered from the dominion of the sin-master, he was still subject to the last enemy, death, and will not come into his promised inheritance until the six thousand years are ended. Then, because he chose to be free according to the terms and conditions laid down by God, he will be set free forevermore.

But, strangely enough, very few in proportion to the masses of humanity who will have lived on the earth by the time Christ comes the second time, will have chosen to go free. This is because they love their master, the devil, and the material things he has given them, as symbolized by the wives and children in the typical law.

Probationary Periods

When a person makes the choice to remain in bondage to sin, he must bear the mark of that choice. It is the mark of the number six which is the number of man’s probationary time. When in the Bible a period of probationary time is stipulated, it will usually be found to be a unit of six or multiples thereof.

The probationary time connected with the flood in Noah’s day, illustrates this point very well. Noah was born 600 years before the flood, and warned of its coming for 120 years. The flood itself overtook the world 1656 years after the fall of Adam and Eve. Each of these periods of time is a multiple of six.

The period of time given to the papal church to repent was 1260 years:

Revelation 2
²¹ And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

This period, mentioned seven times in prophecy (Daniel 7:25, 12:7, 11:2, 3, 12:6, 14, 13:5), is also a multiple of six.

A Spiritual Sign

The mark of the number six, which was a hole bored in the ear, was visible to all those who looked out for it. But its anti-typical counterpart is not something which can be seen by the natural eye, but is a spiritual sign. Though unseen by the natural eye, it is a very real mark nonetheless.

The number of his name is the designation of his character. It is not some literal number laser beamed into the forehead or the hand. There will be no need for the government to do this, for the distinction between the two classes will be so marked that everyone will be fully aware of who is on which side.

It is possible that the powers-that-be will issue some sort of identification card to those who are prepared to sign allegiance to the papacy, but it is more likely that this will not be necessary. Nero did not need anything of this kind to tell who the Christians were in his day.

The Forehead or the Hand

Whereas the mark of slavery in the Old Testament was administered in the ear, the mark of the beast is to be put in the right hand or the forehead:

Revelation 13
¹⁶ And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

This is a counterfeit of the Lord’s original instructions to Israel, after He delivered His law to them:

Deuteronomy 11
¹⁸ Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

Binding the Law on the hand or hanging it between the eyes was a figurative way of saying, “Put the principles of my law into all you do with your hand, and into every thought and intent of your mind.”

The mark that the image Beast enforces is a counterfeit of this command. It means putting the strength and the thought into something other than the Lord’s commands, into a worthless substitute.

This again, shows that the mark will be spiritual in nature, and is determined by the way men relate to the law and the gospel. It is only by the gospel, the creative power of God, that the principles of God’s law can be reproduced in the soul. Any modification of the gospel or the law, so that men either form a wrong conception of what God’s standard for them is, or do not understand how to achieve it, destroys the plan of salvation.

This is clearly the aim of Satan in this last test: to rob men of their last chance of salvation and keep them in bondage to sin forever.

Worldwide Points of Decision

So far, the application of the number six has been confined to the individual and his being brought to his personal point of decision. While this is a valid line of thought to follow, it falls short of the larger message revealed in the statute given to Israel which points forward to the day when the 6000 years shall end and all will be compelled to certify the choice they have made. When that time comes at last, the number 666 will be fully made up.

The development of the number 666 to the point where it is fully made up, is the work of millennia. It began with the entrance of sin, and will end when the whole world under the leadership of the Image Beast, will worship the beast whose deadly wound shall be healed. When this final crisis is reached, every person upon the earth must, at the same time, have chosen either to stay in perpetual bondage under their old master, or accept eternal life and freedom under God. No one will be able to remain neutral or undecided.

The Revelation of the Father

But this will not be the first time in history that every person on the earth has, at the same time, been unable to avoid life’s most important decision, for, at the time when the flood was approaching, the whole world was brought to a spiritual crisis point, resulting in eight souls entering the ark and the remainder staying outside.

The masses who made their decision against going free, did so, not merely on what they had been told about life under the slave-master, but in the face of what they had learned of it through personal observation and experience. But they loved their master, the devil, and the pleasant things he gave them, so they chose bondage above freedom, and service to self and Satan before faithfulness to God. When they made that final decision and received the mark of the number 6, they renounced their freedom forever, and passed into eternal slavery under the remorseless dominion of death as the flood took them into its cold embrace.

The almighty powers of Heaven did not sit back and wait for the masses on earth to arrive at their collective decision, but put forth every possible effort to dissuade men from the tragic course in which they were placing their feet. It is important to note that during the period leading up to the flood, it was the Everlasting Father who was revealed to mankind in Heaven’s dedicated efforts to save those people.

The Revelation of the Son

When that effort failed, Jesus Christ was sent as the next demonstration of redeeming love. He came to re-validate that law which limited the dominion of the slave-master and offered perpetual freedom for those who chose to accept it.

Once again, through the ministry of Christ and the Spirit-filled disciples, the entire world was brought to a point of decision, in which, once again, only a small remnant chose the offered freedom. The hour of decision was not so closely tied to a specific day as it was in Noah’s time, but the entire world was involved nonetheless.

Now we come to a crucial point in the making up of the number 666. The point is that those who made the decision taken in Christ’s day were far more responsible than were those who made their choice in Noah’s time. This is because the antediluvians were breaking new ground. While they had seen the effects of sin in the individual lives of various people, they had never seen the cataclysmic effect of a simultaneous global rejection of God. For them there had been no precedent. For them, such a deterrent was missing.

But this was not so in the situation prevailing when Christ and the inspired apostles brought the world to decision day. They had the witness of the catastrophic effect of the choice made by those who had gone before them. This meant that, when in the face of such evidence the people of Christ’s and the apostles’ day chose bondage over freedom, they were testifying that, had they lived when the flood came, they would have joined sides with the masses. Therefore, upon them also rested the number six by which men were marked in the days of Noah. This is further attested to by Jesus when He said,

John 15
²³ He that hates me hates my Father also.

But even before Jesus came, they had already received the first number 6 by their rejection of the Father as presented in the Old Testament writings. Their apostate condition at the time of Christ is positive proof that they were doing no better than their pre-flood forefathers and with less reason.

But that was not all. After rejecting the Father, they were faced with what to do with the Son, who brought the same offer as the Father, but with a much more powerful and more convincing appeal than had been possible in Noah’s time. Therefore, in addition to receiving the mark of the number six by duplicating the sin of the antediluvians, they received their own as well. Thus the making up of the number 666 advanced to 66 upon the rejection of the Father and the Son.

The Revelation of the Holy Spirit

After this, the only remaining Messenger from heaven who can bring the loving offer of freedom is the Holy Spirit who is soon to be manifested in latter rain magnitude on a worldwide scale. With awesome power He will contest the efforts of the sin-master to hold all men in bondage for eternity, and so fiercely will the battle be fought, that every man, woman, and child in the whole world will be compelled to make a personal decision.

But none will make it in ignorance of the rejection of the Father in the antediluvian days, and of His Son when He came the first time. The Holy Spirit, as only He can, will make the issues so clear that everyone will see for themselves the true nature of the two great global rejections which have gone before, and what it will mean to add the third and final preference for everlasting bondage rather than perpetual liberty.

The powers of darkness will go to desperate lengths to hold mankind in captivity even to the persecution of the saints unto death. The Image Beast, as we have already seen, will use every device and measure at his command to achieve the supremacy at this time.

Incredibly, once again only a few will accept deliverance, the rest displaying a love for their master and his gifts to them, which will be stronger than life itself. When these, under the leadership of the beast and his image, decide for eternal bondage, they will receive the mark of the number six for themselves.

By so doing they demonstrate their approval of the decision made at the lead-up to the flood, for which they too will receive the same number six. They will also endorse the decision taken by the generation which rejected Christ and His apostolic messengers. For this, they will share that six as well.

So they will come to their final day of destiny and decision already bearing the number 66, and have but to add their own number 6, to at last make up the number 666.

Thus the number 666 is not something in the false title applied to the Pope of Rome, but is the symbolic designation of men who, in the face of all the evidence of past history, have chosen never to be free again. Upon every man, woman, and child who chooses bondage instead of freedom when the beast and his image are rampaging the earth, that number will be marked.

Revelation 13
¹⁸ 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.

The man of sin has done his very best to bury that number from sight by giving a false interpretation which, if accepted, diverts the mind from the real truth of the matter.

Sun Worship

But one does not have to go very far into the satanic delusion of this false religion to find 6, 66, and 666 cleverly, but not securely buried from sight. These numbers are found in the anciently established sun worship which will continue to the end of time, and which is at the heart of every false religion. This is why the universal enforcement of Sunday worship will figure so largely in the final struggle for supremacy.

In sun worship, the sun is made the great center around which circles the twelve signs of the Zodiac each of which occupies thirty degrees of the circle.

Each of the twelve divisions were further divided into three “decans” each occupying ten degrees of the circle, making a total of thirty-six progressions altogether. If each of these numbers is added to the sum of the numbers before it, the sum is 666.

Thus, right in the religion of sun worship which is soon to take the entire world captive, is a picture of the making up of the number 666, the mark of those who, in the end of time, have chosen eternal bondage to be served under the last of all masters: death.

Coming Short

The apostle Paul gave this warning to the church:

Hebrews 4
¹ Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
⁴ For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
⁹ There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.
¹⁰ For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
¹¹ Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

The seventh day, or Sabbath, was a sign of God’s rest. To understand better exactly what God’s rest is, we recommend the book, Entering into God’s Sabbath Rest, since there is not space here to lay out all those principles. 

God’s rest is signified by the number seven. After God had created all things in six days, including man on the sixth day, He rested on the seventh. This rest, to rest in the creative power of God to recreate us through the gospel, into His image again, remains. As long as the gospel is preached, that rest remains for us to enter into.

Paul warned the church not to “come short” of that rest. The number six, which signifies man and dependence on man, comes short of seven, or fails to “enter into His rest.” Since the “rest” is freedom from sin, to fail of entering into it means to remain a slave to sin.

There remains a rest for the people of God. Let us take heed and enter into it now.

The first of these is A BEAST rising out of the SEA. This beast is all WORLD POWER IN HUMAN SOCIETY WHICH IS RULED BY MATERIAL INTERESTS INSTEAD OF BY OBEDIENCE TO GOD. This world power of humanistic materialism received its DEATH WOUND AT THE CROSS OF CALVARY but continues to fight against Christians during the whole period of the church’s life from Acts 2:1-47 until the final coming of Christ.

2.

The second is the devil’s agents is A BEAST rising from the EARTH. This is FALSE RELIGION which blindly supports the State--Nominal Christianity. Having the name but not the life of Christianity. And again, the devil works through these two agents during the whole period of the church’s existence until Christ’s final coming. And during this whole period God protects the real inner life of His own people. The MARK OF THE BEAST "666", is conformity to the world’s standards--Humanism--the falling short of God’s perfect plan--the best that man can be and do without obedience to God--The belief that man can run this world’s affairs himself without God.

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Verses 1-10

The purpose of Chapter 13 is to describe the second and third enemies of the church.

"A beast of the sea," (verse 1).

"Another beast out of the earth" (verse 11)

The dragon (the devil) attacks the church by delegating his power to these two beasts (verse 4) and (verse 11).

There is no surprise so terrifying as an indirect attack. When evil comes, not in some familiar shape for which one is prepared, but in some unforeseeable form, then he is at a loss as to how to fight this evil. The surprise of Revelation 13:1-18 is that the devil--the great red dragon, does not attack the church directly but he employs the roundabout way of delegating his power to another, and delegated power is harder to combat than any direct attack just because it is so difficult to recognize it.

THE FIRST BEAST: Verses 1-10. It is important to note his origin.

Verse 1 "Out of the sea"--(see also Daniel 7:1-28).

"The sea" represents THE RESTLESS MASS OF HUMAN KIND (see 17:15--"The waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations.").

Individuals, like the waves of the sea, swayed by impulse or passion make up this sea (see Isaiah 57:20). This beast rising out of human kind is not to be confused with "the living creatures" of 4:7 where the Authorised Version incorrectly translates as "beasts."

WHO IS THIS BEAST?

Most scholars see here a symbol of THAT WORLDLY POWER WHICH IS CONTROLLED BY "THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD." This wild beast is the symbol of ALL worldly power built on passion, greed and selfishness. It is not merely Rome of John’s day, nor any one form of earthly government, it is the general influence of the world so far as it is opposed to God. The influence of the beast is not confined to any party, system, sect or age. Wherever in human society, or group or individual, men are ruled by material interests instead of by God, there this beast is to be seen (see Ephesians 6:12).

THE DESCRIPTION OF THIS BEAST

Verse 1.

"With 10 horns and 7 heads." "Seven heads"--later, in 17:10 these "7 heads" are more fully described as "seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come." Thus the key is in our hands. Five world powers had passed away when John wrote. Our history books refer to the five world powers of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persian, and Greek, which had all passed away when John wrote. The sixth "IS" (when John wrote) is Rome. "AND THE OTHER HAS YET TO COME"--THIS REFERS TO OUR PRESENT AGE. "Ten horns" These are explained in 17:12 as "The kings which have not yet received royal power." When they arise they also will derive power from the dragon and be part of the beast (worldly power). "A blasphemous name upon its heads" (verse 1) evidently refers to the self-worship, the arrogant pride and self-sufficiency which characterises these world powers. (We haven’t far to look for present day evidence of this).

Verse 2.

The beast has THE FEATURES OF THREE WILD ANIMALS. He is like a "leopard" --leaping on its prey like a "bear" --relentless like a "lion" --devouring The beast is a symbol of all world powers which are quick to shed blood.

Verse 3.

"One of its heads seemed to have A MORTAL WOUND, BUT ITS MORTAL WOUND WAS HEALED." It is important to note that when John saw the beast rise from the sea the beast had already received its death wound. The blow which cast the dragon (the devil) down from heaven in chapter 12 also inflicts a mortal wound on his agent. The victory of Christ at the Cross and Resurrection and Ascension inflicted a death blow to all worldly power based on passion, pride, greed and self-sufficiency. "BUT ITS MORTAL WOUND WAS HEALED" This tells the church that the full results of Christ’s victory will be DELAYED. Worldly power having received its death wound does not die immediately, but rises with renewed vigour to persecute the church. Note also that it is this beast IN HIS RESURRECTION STATE to which John draws our attention.

Verses 5-10

In that condition the beast is UNIVERSAL IN HIS INFLUENCE. "Authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation." All "whose names are not written in God’s book of life" worship this beast. This beast has power never possessed by any one form of human government. He is universal in his influence.

Verse 5.

HE WORKS NOW IN THIS DISPENSATION for "it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months." This period, as previously noted, refers to the WHOLE CHRISTIAN AGE FROM PENTECOST UNTIL THE RETURN OF CHRIST.

Verse 10.

Against this enemy the true life of every Christian is protected. They may be troubled (as the witnesses of chapter 11) but those who persecute Christians will come into greater condemnation. Here is cause for Christian patience and faith. One fact stands out--Satan is always looking for instruments to use in this world. Just as God is always looking for hands to use, so also Satan seeks servants. In this world a person and a nation has the choice between being the instrument of Satan or of God.

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Verses 11-17

THE SECOND BEAST Revelation 13:11-17.

Whereas the first beast rises out of the sea (verse 1)

This second beast comes up "out of the EARTH" (verse 11)

1.

THE CONTRAST OF THESE ORIGINS OF THE TWO BEASTS IS SIGNIFICANT. "THE SEA" is a symbol of the restless secular world (Isaiah 57:20) "THE EARTH" is a symbol of religion In this sense the first beast belongs to the SECULAR. This second beast belongs to the RELIGIOUS sphere. Particulars of this enemy of the church confirm this.

Verse 11.

"The TWO HORNS LIKE A LAMB" are a mockery and travesty of the "SEVEN HORNS OF THE LAMB" so often seen. THIS SECOND BEAST IS A SYMBOL OF FALSE RELIGION. Note that in 16:13, 19:20, 20:10 this second beast is actually called "THE FALSE PROPHET" indicating that he arises in religious affairs.

2.

THE FUNCTION OF THIS BEAST (verses 11-17) is to lead people to worship the first beast. It is always true that the worst possible combination that evil can concoct is the union of bad secular government with corrupt religion. History records many instances when religion has supported unjust secular government. John is asserting what takes place whenever false religion and bad government go together. Read 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 in conjunction with this passage. (The Living Bible is a good translation here.) THE SCENE IS JOHN’S AGE. He has seen the divine system of Judaism perverted by its priests. He has seen Jesus, the Son of God, rejected, misrepresented, and crucified--not so much by a Pilate of secular government AS BY THE PRIESTS OF FALSE RELIGION. So, to John THIS SECOND BEAST TAKING POWER FROM THE DEVIL IS SEEN WHENEVER THERE IS A PROFESSION TO UPHOLD RELIGION BUT OBJECTING TO THOSE TRUTHS IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH WHICH IT FINDS UNPALATABLE. It is "salt that has lost its savour."

Verses 16, 17

"The MARK ON THEIR RIGHT HAND OR THE FOREHEAD, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark" "THE RIGHT HAND"--suggests TOIL and the strength, the power and ability to work. "THE FOREHEAD"--suggests "WHERE IT CAN BE SEEN"--conforming to popular custom--character. Do we see in this mark of the beast a present day abuse of trade unionism which refuses a person the right to work for a living unless he conforms to stipulated ways of thinking and acting. Unless a man has his union ticket (the mark on his right hand) he is not allowed to work. And unless a person conforms to accepted social pressures he is not accepted (the mark on the forehead).

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Verse 18

3.

The NUMBER OF THE BEAST. Revelation 13:18 "This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon THE NUMBER of the beast, for it is A HUMAN NUMBER, its number is 666." (R.S.V.). (1) Note--It is not the NAME of the beast but "THE NUMBER"which John counts as important. There are interpretations of this verse which calculate the numerical values of the letters of the names of men. When these total "666" they think they have the answer. At various times these have been interpreted (or manipulated) as "Nero," some of the Popes of Rome, even "Martin Luther," "Mussolini," "Hitler," and a score of others. But "wisdom" and "understanding" is not here. We sacrifice the dignity of the symbolism of Apocalyptic literature in "John’s Revelation" when we search for its meaning like children with an acrostic puzzle. (2) THE INTERPRETATION OF "THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST" Let us keep true to the principles of symbolism here. "SEVEN" is the number of "THE PERFECT" "SIX" is the number for "SIN"--missing the mark--one short of seven. So that to a Christian, The Trinity of the Godhead is symbolically represented by the triple seven--"777." But the number "SIX" awakened feelings of dread in the mind of every Christian who realized its symbolic significance for it missed the mark, it came short of the perfect "seven." Triple the "SIX" and we have a symbol of EVIL, MISSING THE MARK, DOOM. WE UNDERSTAND THIS "666" TO BE A SYMBOLIC NUMBER EXPRESSING ALL THAT IS POSSIBLE FOR HUMAN WISDOM AND HUMAN POWER TO ACHIEVE WHEN UNAIDED BY FAITH AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD. "666" REPRESENTS WHAT WE CALL HUMANISM.--The belief that man can manage all affairs in life and society himself, without God. The number "666" represents unregenerate mankind and the best that he can do and be. "666" is what we call "WORLDLINESS"--the belief of man that he can run the world without God. We read John’s word of doom on such a system which apes the divine. "Its number is the number of MAN"(not "A" man, as the A.V. wrongly translates. There is no article "A" in the Greek text. Nor is the Living Bible correct for it gives the misreading "the numerical values of the letters in his name amount to 666.") The text really says "Its number is the NUMBER OF MAN." MAN--unregenerate man--man apart from God.

4.

THE NAME OF THIS BEAST This name will not be found in any single person who has yet appeared in history. Whether such a person will yet arise is beyond our view. But the beast described in Revelation holds UNIVERSAL sway--and no single ruler in any part of the world has yet had such power. No human ruler has died and risen again to be worshipped by "every tribe and people and tongue and nation" (13:7). But there is a philosophy, a trust of man in himself, in his own powers and abilities unaided by any faith in God or obedience to God--a philosophy accepted in university chairs to workshop floors--that man is the master of things. This is "666." Man’s belief in himself has received its death-wound because of its failure to satisfy the deepest needs of men in past generations. Yet this false philosophy rises again in the succeeding generation which gives its blind worship to the discredited trust of man in himself--which misses the mark--which apes God--which creates a bear-garden of strife in place of a garden of harmony in society. The name of this beast?-You find the name in man himself, in his trust in himself.

II. MEDITATION--Revelation 13:11-17

THE IMPORTANT THING

This is the important thing--

THERE IS A SPIRIT WHICH WORKS IN ALL NATIONS, 
WHICH KNOWS NO NATIONAL BOUNDARIES, 
--WHICH OPERATES IN ALL CLASSES, 
--WHICH WORKS IN MAN.

THIS IS THE ATTITUDE THAT MAN CAN RUN THIS WORLD ON HIS OWN, WITHOUT GOD.

There you will find the number of the Beast.

Man’s short-coming 6, even when tripled by the THREE enemies of the church--the dragon and the two beasts animated by him is the awful "666". Perhaps it is best expressed by the one word "WORLDLINESS".

We can be sealed with the mark of God.

We can also be sealed with the mark of the devil.

So, in blunt words we can put what John is saying in this way--

"Commercial, industrial, social life can become so involved in the current idolatry of materialism that one cannot succeed in business and society without the mark of the beast. One is not permitted to work unless he holds a union ticket. One cannot succeed in business without conformity to unethical standards in business. This conformity to unethical standards in commercial, industrial and social life is to have the mark of the beast upon the right hand and forehead."

We must choose either to have the mark of God’s Holy Spirit, or to have the mark of the beast.

In other words, “The evil trinity 666 apes the Holy Trinity 777, but always falls short and fails,” (Torrance, The Apocalypse Today, 86).

But 666 is also fallen humanity’s number. Created on the 6th day, humanity soon squandered the gifts of God by worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. Now all those who worship untrue gods, who fear and love and trust in things more than the Lord, bear the number 666. They mirror the not-perfect, failing gods they worship. They image in their lives, thoughts, words, and actions the very imperfection, incompleteness, and darkened image of the gods whom they adore.

The number 666 thus encapsulates everything anti-God in the world and in idolatrous human hearts.

When Jesus is born, God puts into motion his strange, merciful math. He becomes his own image. He who crafted humanity in his own image and likeness becomes a human himself. The Son of the Father, who is “the image of the invisible God” becomes the Son of Mary, too (Col. 1:15).

God becomes man. The Creator a creator. When we see Jesus, we see the fulness of God made manifest (Col. 1:19). As Jesus tells Philip, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” (John 14:9).

And, when we see Jesus, we see our humanity made perfect. The Christ Child is the only perfect, complete, and flawless human ever born into this world. Christ is the perfect 7 born into a world of imperfect 6’s:

+the 6 of our twisted, idolatrous hearts meets the 7 of his heart wholly devoted to his Father.

+the 6 of our dirty shame meets the 7 of his glorious joy.

+the 6 of our far-from-perfect, incomplete, shattered lives meets the 7 of his divine and human perfection.

+the 6 of the gods of this world meet the 7 of the God-made-man who comes to overthrow them.

Our 777-God so loved this 666-world that he sent his Son to work his math of grace and mercy. What we lacked, he added. Where we were incomplete, he completed us. Where we were falling and failing and falsely worshipping in our 666 lives, Jesus came to add his beloved one to our lives, to bring us into the 777 life of the Holy Trinity.

The Father’s math is simple and profound: in this 1 child, 1 Savior, 1 perfect human, he takes the 6 of our lives and adds 1 Jesus to them. We become the 7 that mirrors him.

As we are joined to him, we leave behind the 6 of idolatry to enter the 7 of true worship. We are made whole, the humans the Lord wants us to be, in this perfect human who draws us into the 777 life of the Trinity.

In Christ, gone is the mark of the beast, emblazoned on our foreheads (Rev. 13:16), to be replaced by the name of our Father, written “on our foreheads” (Rev. 14:1).

We are tattooed as God’s own, those who bear his name, his number, his zealous and vivifying love. That is God’s math, who deep-sixes all evil and ido

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unregenerated man, born but once of man, is flesh and is in the realm of the flesh.

During the time of unregeneration, men live in the lusts of their flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) for "it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God" (Rom. 9:8). The soul is subjected to the allurements of the lusts of the body and in pursuit thereof commits many unspeakable sins. But since at this time man is dead unto God (Eph. 2:1), being dead in his offenses and in the uncircumcision of his flesh (Col. 2:13), he is not in the least conscious of his being in sin and is perhaps still proud of himself, thinking that he is still better than others. Indeed, when man is in the flesh, the passions for sins, which act through the law, operate in his members to bear fruit to death (Rom. 7:5). So, it is because he is "fleshy, sold under sin" (v. 14) that he serves "with the flesh, the law of sin" (v. 25).

Because the strength of the flesh is exceedingly weak (although it is extremely strong in committing sins and fulfilling the desires of the mind), it cannot satisfy God in fulfilling any of His requirements. This is because the flesh is weak and cannot keep the law (Rom. 8:3). Not only is the flesh unable to fulfill the law of God, but it cannot even be subject to it, "because the mind set on the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be" (v. 7). However, this is not to say that the flesh will indulge itself in any way it pleases and altogether ignore the things of God. As a matter of fact, there are fleshly men who have tried their best to keep the law. The Bible does not say that those who are in the flesh do not walk after the law, but rather it affirms that "out of the works of law no flesh will be justified" (Gal. 2:16). That those who are of the flesh do not keep the law is, of course, not unusual; it shows that they are of the flesh. However, what God has ordained is that a man is not justified by the law but by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:28). Therefore, even if a fleshly person tries to keep the law, this only serves to demonstrate that he submits himself not unto God but unto his own will, going about to establish another righteousness apart from the righteousness of God (10:3). It shows even more that he is fleshy. Anyway, "those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (8:8). The three cannots (that is, the flesh cannot keep the law, cannot subject itself to the law, and cannot please God) judge all fleshly men as to their sins.

In God’s view the "flesh" is absolutely corrupt. Since the flesh is closely linked with lusts, the Bible often speaks of the "lusts of the flesh" (2 Pet. 2:18). Although the power of God is great, God is not able to change the nature of "the flesh" into something pleasing to Him. God Himself says, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh" (Gen. 6:3). The corruption of the flesh is beyond the power of God; it is something which God is unable to change. Neither is the Holy Spirit by striving against the flesh able to make it no more the flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Yet men do not understand God’s Word and intend to reform and improve the flesh. However, God’s Word holds true forever. Because the flesh is in such a deplorable state before God, He warns His saints to hate "even the inner garment spotted from the flesh" (Jude 23).

God knows the actual condition of the flesh. He therefore knows that the flesh cannot be changed. He who intends to improve his own flesh, working through the process of self-denial so as to help the flesh to change for the better, is bound to fail. God knows that the flesh is incapable of change, improvement, or reform. So, although He wants to save the world, He does not set out with the task of changing the flesh, for even if He had undertaken this task, He would not have achieved it. God does not change the flesh of man but, instead, gives man a new life so that it may cooperate with Him to bring the flesh into death. The flesh must die—this is the way of salvation.

(Spiritual Man, The (3 volume set), Chapter 5, by Watchman Nee)

 Son, to usher us into the 777 of his divine and undying life.