Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dvnspc1!tom@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Number 666 in Revelation Message-ID: Date: 9 Apr 91 06:55:43 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Unisys Corporation, Devon Engineering Offices Lines: 170 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article st0o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Steven Timm) writes: >Robert Johnson in his assignment of the number 666 to Nero ignores >a few facts. Chief among them is since Revelation was written in the 90's ^^^^^^^^^ >A.D., Nero was already dead by this time and Domitian was emperor. This is not a fact of history, but an opinion held by many. There are also many who hold that Revelation was written during the reign of Nero. And there are good reasons for holding that opinion, based on both internal and external evidence. >Though both of these persecuted Christians, their persecution was small >compared to the persecution which came in the early 300's AD. Although it is usually given as one of the reasons for the Domitian date, there is little historical evidence to suggest that Christians experienced any significant persecution during his reign. Certainly nothing on the scale of what they underwent during Nero's time, nor the sort of persecution that is being described in Revelation. Here are my thoughts on the subject of Revelation 13. Some of them track what Robert wrote. The Beast from the Sea (Rev. 13:1-8) Technically speaking, the term "antichrist" only occurs in the epistles of John. In those instances, "antichrist" is used of one who is apostate from the religion of the Bible. They have left the worship of the true God to follow after their own desires, and to draw others into believing their deadly error (cf. I John 2:18ff). So while some folks may refer to the sea beast as the antichrist, they are not necessarily the same from John perspective. This may the cause for some confusion in this matter. Revelation is sort of like one of those posters you might see for sale in airport concessions; the ones that are labeled "A 's eye view of the World." Where is replaced by the city of choice. The city in question figures in most of the picture, with the outlying suburbs less prominent. Finally, way out in the distance you might catch a glimpse of an ocean, or another, much larger city, although dwarfed by the city you're in. John was concerned about showing the world as it exists from the perspective of the New Covenant city of God, the Church. Jesus Christ and His people are the key figures in this picture. Everyone else is a bit player, even the powerful Roman empire. "The Beast from the Sea" is the symbolic description of this bit player, Rome. If you were to stand in Judea or Asia Minor and look west, you would be confronted by Rome, the powerful nation that controlled most of the known world of that day. It is the city that lies across the sea, and the symbol of a beast rising up out of the sea is quite appropriate. What does the sea represent? We are told in the book that the waters of the sea represent peoples, nations, etc (17:15). Rome was the nation that had political, economic and social control over the peoples of the earth; and especially the land of Judea, the center of the worship of the true and living God. The Beast is pictured as a leopard, a bear and a lion; the three beasts from Daniel's vision of the kingdoms of the earth. (Dan. 7) In that vision the three beasts represent the three powerful kingdoms that would precede the appearance of the kingdom of God. John roles those three beasts into the one final beast, Rome, that was to be the last great kingdom prior to the Messiah's kingdom. We know from history that the decline of Rome can be directly traced to excesses of the Caesars of the 1st Christian century. The Beast from the Land (Rev. 13:11-15) While the KJV translates the Greek as "earth," I believe the vision is of the Beast rising from the Land. In this case the land refers to Israel. The land beast, also referred to as the false prophet (16:13), is the one who does the bidding of the sea beast, just as the sea beast does the bidding of the dragon. The activity of the land beast involves "signs and wonders, fire coming down from heaven." You might recall the words of Jesus in Matthew 24 where He tells His disciples that just before the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, false Christs and false prophets would arise in the land in an attempt to deceive the people of God. In John's vision the land beast, the once holy nation of God, has become the spiritual vice-regent of the Roman sea beast. The relationship between Israel and Rome was well known by the early church. In the gospels we are told that as a result of their interaction over the crucifixion of Jesus, Pilate the Roman and Herod the Jew became good friends (Luke 23:12). And again: The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, BOTH HEROD, AND PONTIUS PILATE, WITH THE GENTILES, AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, WERE GATHERED TOGETHER, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word. (Acts 4:26-29) Together the beast and false prophet are doing the work of the dragon, Satan. They are also unwillingly doing the work of God as well. Rather than killing the infant church, the persecution only made them stronger and more powerful in bringing the gospel. By the strengthening action of adversity, Christianity became a truly universal religion as Our Lord intended (Matt. 28:18ff). The Mark of the Beast (Rev. 13:16-18) This is one of the most interpreted symbols in the entire Bible. There are more ideas as to what is the mark of the beast than I can mention in this limited space, everything from ultaviolet tatoos of the number "666" on hands and foreheads to ATM cards. Again, I believe that if we want to properly understand the symbol we must look at it from the perspective of the 1st century Christian. First of all I believe the mark is symbolic. If you trace the concept through the OT you will see that a mark signifies ownership, or one who is called out for a particular task. The high priest, we are told, carried the words "holy to the Lord" engraved on a plate on his forehead (Ex. 28:36). It was to be a reminder that God's people are set apart as a holy kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6). You might also recall the words of the Shema recorded in Deuteronomy 6:4-9: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. AND THOU SHALT BIND THEM FOR A SIGN UPON THINE HAND, AND THEY SHALL BE AS FRONTLETS BETWEEN THINE EYES. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. The symbolism of phylacteries was to remind the Jew that the commandments of God were to be constantly before him. He had a special calling, and the sign was a reminder of that calling. In the Revelation picture, those who follow after the beast and the false prophet receive a mark. Just as the child of God has the mark of God on his hand and forehead, so too the child of the devil has his mark. Here we see the false prophet causing the mark of the beast to be propagated among the inhabitants of the land. Verse 18 gives us a clue to the fact that the symbol has coded information. Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty six. The number is the number of a man. If the beast is Rome, then the number must refer somehow to "a man" associated with Rome. Why six hundred and sixty six? As you may know, both Greek and Hebrew use letters from their alphabets to represent numbers, whereas in the Roman alphabet we use today, we borrow symbols from the Arabic alphabet to represent our numbers. Well, to make a long story short, "666" is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew form of Nero Caesar, Neron Kaser. You might ask, "Why Hebrew to Greek? Isn't that a bit artificial?" Remember, John was writing to Christians of Jewish background or at least very familiar with Judaism. Many commentators have remarked on the fact that even though Revelation is written in Greek it reflects a very Hebrew way of thinking. Some even believe that it may have been written first in Aramaic or Hebrew and later translated to Greek. You might also note that in some manuscripts of Revelation, instead of "666" we find "616." A variant spelling of the Hebrew for Nero's name would offer an explanation for this alteration. -- Tom Albrecht