By Hank Hanegraaff

Multitudes today assume that 666 is a number rep- resenting a modern-day beast that is about to be revealed. Placing the Beast in the twenty-first century, however, may well pose insurmountable difficulties.

First, the apostle John, author of Revelation, told a first- century audience that with “wisdom” and “insight” they would be able to “calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). Obviously no amount of wisdom and insight would have enabled a first-century audience to calculate the number of a twenty- first-century beast. It would have been cruel and dangerously misleading for John to suggest to first-century Christians that they could identify the Beast if, in fact, the Beast was a twenty-first-century individual or institution.

Furthermore, unlike today, transforming names into numbers (gematria) was common in antiquity. For example, in the Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Roman historian Suetonius identified Nero by a numerical designation equal to a nefarious deed. This numerical equality (isopsephism) is encapsulated in the phrase: “Count the numerical values of the letters in Nero’s name, and in ‘murdered his own mother’ and you will find their sum is the same.” In Greek, the numerical value of the letters in Nero’s name(Greek: Νέρων, English transliteration: Neron) totaled 1,005, as did the numbers in the phrase murdered his own mother. This ancient numerical cryptogram reflected the widespread knowledge that Nero had killed his own mother.

Finally, while Nero in Greek gematria totaled 1,005, the reader of John’s letter familiar with the Hebrew language could recognize that the Greek spelling of “Nero Caesar” (Greek: Νέρων Καίσαρ, English transliteration: Neron Kaisaros) transliterated into Hebrew (נרון קסר) equals 666. Moreover, the presence in some ancient manuscripts of a variation in which 666 is rendered 616 lends further credence to Nero as the intended referent. The Hebrew transliteration of the Latin spelling of “Nero Caesar” totals 616, just as the Hebrew transliteration of the Greek, which includes an additional letter (Greek: “n”=50, English transliteration: “n”=50), renders 666. Thus, two seemingly unrelated numbers lead you to the same doorstep—that of a beast named Nero Caesar.

Twenty-first-century believers, like their first-century counterparts, can be absolutely certain that 666 is the number of Nero’s name and that Nero is the beast who ravaged the bride of Christ in a historical milieu that included three and a half years of persecution. In the end, Peter and Paul themselves were persecuted and put to death by this beast. Indeed, this was the only epoch in human history in which the Beast could directly assail the foundation of the Christian church of which Christ Himself was the cornerstone.

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.

Revelation 13:18 NKJV

For further study, see The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible Really Says About the End Times . . . and Why It Matters Today (Nashville, W Publishing Group, 2007) and also Who is the Antichrist?

 

**Note the preceding text is adapted from a new Revised and Updated version of The Complete Bible Answer Book that is forthcoming. When available we will update this page with corresponding information. Until then you can still purchase or receive for your partnering gift the current version by clicking here for purchase or here for partnering gift. ***