Revelation 13 - What does the Number 666 Represent?

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The Beast out of the Sea

13 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

If the dragon is Satan, who is the beast that comes out of the sea?

From the place identified with evil and chaos and resisting God, a beast comes forth. The ancient Greek word translated beast here has the idea of a wild, dangerous animal. Because John calls him a beast and not a dragon (as in Revelation 12:3), this creature represents someone distinct from Satan who was represented by the dragon (Revelation 12:9).

The ten horns and the seven heads represent the authority of the beast. Seven and ten were both numbers of "completeness" in the Jewish bible. A bull with two horns is hard to kill but one with ten is almost impossible.  Because the beast has so many similar qualities to Satan is why the beast is most beast is called the antichrist. The term "anti" means against. So the antichrist is the one who is against Christ. 

This antichrist will be against Christ, but in a deceitful and cunning kind of way. Kind of like the snake in the garden who misled and deceived Adam and Eve.

As much as Jesus’ character and personality was beautiful and attractive, the Antichrist’s character and personality will be ugly and repulsive. As much as Jesus spoke only truth, the Antichrist will speak only lies. This emphasizes the idea of the “opposite Jesus” too much. The Antichrist will instead be more of an “instead of Jesus.” He will look wonderful, be charming and successful. He will be the ultimate winner, and appear as an angel of light. In this sense the Antichrist will be a satanic messiah, instead of the true Messiah Jesus Christ. - Guzik

As we can see the whole world followed the beast showing he was an enigmatic and charismatic individual. Notice the world worshipped both the dragon/Satan, and the beastm who Satan gave authority to. 

What was the fatal wound to one of the heads? 

 Some who see the beast not as a man but as a government see this as the revival of the Roman Empire, fulfilling Daniel 7. In this perspective, the Roman Empire has been dead but will again be revived, and the world will marvel. Yet the most natural way to understand John’s words in Revelation 13 make us believe that he speaks of a man who will be mortally wounded and then healed. The man will lead a revived Roman Empire, and his personality will dominate it – yet he and the empire are not exactly the same.

Wounded… healed: This is truly an Antichrist, who even imitates Jesus in His death and resurrection. The world will believe this, and it will add tremendously to his fame and power. - Guzik

5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

For three and a half years, the beast (antichrist) blasphemed God's name and exercised its power during this time. The beast slandered God's name, his temple, and those who were already in heaven. 

The beast continues without restraint by God for a period of forty-two months – the familiar three and one-half years. The duration of the period shows that the beast has full reign for the first half of the final seven years, and that during the whole time he is still under God’s authority.

Why does the beast blaspheme… those who dwell in heaven? This means he speaks against those who were taken in the rapture, and are therefore out of his reach. - Guzik

The beast's power allowed him to conquer Christians from all nations who were living at the time. He temporarily was given reign over all people of every tribe and language. All people worshipped the beast, except those who were written in the lamb's book of life, which are all those who have been saved. 

Here, the main instrument of that persecution is revealed: the government of the beast will persecute and kill all those who do not bow in worship to the beast. -Guzik

This final world dictator will demand and receive worship from the whole earth. But those who worship him pay the price: they are whose names have not been written in the Book of Life. - Guzik

What is the Lamb's Book of Life? 

This final world dictator will demand and receive worship from the whole earth. But those who worship him pay the price: they are whose names have not been written in the Book of Life.

When John mentions the Lamb who was slain from the beginning of Creation, he reminds us that God had a redemption plan in place since the beginning of Creation. He knew Adam and Eve would fall. He knew Israel would follow other gods, even after all He had done for them. He knew Jesus would be rejected and killed on the cross and then raised from the dead. But those written in the "book of life" were those God had predestined to be saved through Jesus, the Messiah. 

This final world dictator will demand and receive worship from the whole earth. But those who worship him pay the price: they are whose names have not been written in the Book of Life.

9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.10 “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Though they are viciously attacked by the Antichrist and his followers, the saints of God must keep steadfast faith in the ultimate justice of God. He will reward their persecutors with persecution of His own.

The Beast out of the Earth

11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Another beast came out of the earth with less power as indicated by the fact that it had only two horns. This beast looked like a lamb but spoke like Satan. It was probably deceptive in this sense. The second beast served the first beast by making those who lived on earth to worship the antichrist. This beast also produced many signs including fire coming down from heaven. 

Part of the deception of this beast was to trick the people by setting up an image through which people worshipped the antichrist. The second beast could give power to the image of the first beast by breathing into it. The image of the antichrist spoke and also carreid out judgment on all those who didn't worship him. 

The beast rising from the earth is essentially a Satanic prophet, who leads the world to worship the beast and the dragon. It may seem fantastic to some that the world will be led into worship of a man and of the devil. But by nature, men have an undeniable religious impulse, and they also have an undeniable rebellion against God. What men want most is not the elimination of religion, but their own religion. They say they want the kingdom, but they don’t want God in it. - Guzik

The beast rising from the earth will use a deceptive, animated image as the focus point of the worship of the beast. The image of the beast is animated in some way, in that it has breath and can speak. Whether the image is animated supernaturally or technologically, the result will be impressive. 

The second beast coerced or forced all people on the earth to receive a mark on their right hand or forehead showing allegiance to the antichrist. Remember the 144,000 received a seal on their foreheads to set them apart as God's people to protect them from the tribulation. Without this mark the people could not buy or sell. They would starve to death, if they didn't receive this mark. The mark signified the antichrist's name and also the number also signified his name. 

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Now we get to an extremely popular topic, as the number of the beast is 666. John says a person needs wisdom and insight to be able to calculate the number, which I assume gives some of the meaning to the name. It is also the number of a man. One popular theory is that since 7 is the number of completion or perfection, 777, or three sevens would be complete perfection. 666 looks a lot like 777 yet is it is not perfect or complete, just like the antichrist gives the appearance of being like God, but is incomplete and fake.  

GotQuestions.org essentially says the same thing, 

The Bible often uses the number 7 to refer to God and His perfection. Traditionally, 6 is thought to be the number of man, created on the sixth day and always “falling short” of God. The beast/Antichrist will strive to be like God. He will likely even claim to be God. But, just as the number 6 falls short of the number 7, so will the beast/Antichrist, with his “trinity” of 6’s, ultimately fail in his effort to defeat God.

There are various other theories throughout the church age about what this number means, how to calculate the number, or how a specific individual is the product of the number. 

Does this tell us who the beast is, by figuring out the numerical value of a name and seeing if it adds up to 666? Using this method, many candidates for Antichrist have been suggested, such as the Pope or the Papacy, John Knox, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and so forth. But the schemes for unlocking the number of the beast are as confusing as they are endless. - Guzik

Does this tell us who the beast is, by figuring out the numerical value of a name and seeing if it adds up to 666? Using this method, many candidates for Antichrist have been suggested, such as the Pope or the Papacy, John Knox, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and so forth. But the schemes for unlocking the number of the beast are as confusing as they are endless.

The problem with every theory that links the number 666 with an evil dictator in history is that many evil dictators have come and gone, but none of them fulfill the role of the antichrist, as described in the book of Revelation. This is why we need to be hesitant to presume what God's Word means. We need to be careful to not just construct human theories based on human knowledge and wisdom. God's ways are much higher than our ways and we need to approach these matters with humility!