“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” (Revelation 13:18).

“Here is wisdom.” (vs 18)

The literature is filled with strange, entertaining and imaginative claims as to what this verse means. John’s opening words are instructive and a warning: hode he sophia – “here is wisdom.” This demands extraordinary understanding.

When Daniel was receiving those amazing last-day timing visions, he heard Christ tell him: “Those who are wise will understand” (Daniel 12:10). What kind of reasoning or thought process relates to Scriptural wisdom? It is uniquely associated with end-time prophecy that God’s Spirit helps to unfold. An incredible link is found in Mark 13:14 and Matthew 24:15 to those visions in Daniel. We are instructed to go where he prophesied that the “abomination that causes desolation” would be found. Then Jesus, in an aura of urgency, said: “Let the reader understand” (Mark 13:14). Where is that “wisdom” about the abomination the student is to grasp? Daniel 12 is front and center.

God made a remarkable promise through the apostle James: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5).

These verses require a special endowment of the Holy Spirit to grasp and understand. Careless speculation will dishonor God and confuse the solemn issues He is conveying.

“In other words, this is seen as a critical point of the passage, and John is calling for his readers to exercise extreme care and divinely guided wisdom in interpreting this number. It also means that he expected his readers to understand it, pointing further to the solution as centered in first-century rather than twentieth-century symbolism.”[1]

“Thoughtful investigation and earnest, taxing study are required to comprehend it. There are truths in the word which are like veins of precious ore concealed beneath the surface. By digging for them, as the man digs for gold and silver, the hidden treasures are discovered. Be sure that the evidence of truth is in the Scripture itself. One scripture is the key to unlock other scriptures. The rich and hidden meaning is unfolded by the Holy Spirit of God, making plain the word to our understanding: ‘The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.’”[2]

“All over the field of revelation are scattered the glad springs of heavenly truth, and peace, and joy. They are within the reach of every seeker. The words of inspiration, pondered in the heart, will be as streams flowing from the river of the water of life. Our Saviour prayed that the minds of the disciples might be opened to understand the Scriptures. And whenever we study the Bible with a prayerful heart, the Holy Spirit is near to open to us the meaning of the words we read.”[3]

“Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:” (vs 18)

Those earnestly seeking God’s Spirit to guide them can enter into the realm of actually calculating or ascertaining the meaning of the beast’s number. Recall that the mark of the beast was either its name or its number. This verse opens up that number.

The name and especially the number are symbols for the antichrist or anti-Christian powers in which 666 is a specific numeric symbol. It is adopted by humanity in total rebellion against God. It represents “incompleteness, incompleteness, incompleteness,” whereas seven is the complete or perfect number in the book.[4]

“Counting” the number, an idiomatic expression, means to solve the numeric code. “Figure out, interpret, come to an understanding.”[5]

There is a numeric identity with the beast. Since the number six falls short of the perfect number seven, it represents an imperfect number. The horrible beast is being guided by and supports the harlot, noted in Revelation 17:3. This lady is identified not only as an apostate church located in Rome but as “Babylon the Great” (17:5). She represents all of the apostasy outlined in the Bible related to that city. Intriguingly, Babylon had a numeric system tied to the number six.

In the next chapter God is informing the world that “Babylon has fallen.” God finally acts towards that abominable apostasy, and the record says that the “great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (16:19). It is then broken into three parts.

Those parts represent the false trinity who are all acting like God – trying to be honored and perceived as God: (1) the dragon, (2) the sea beast – papacy and (3) the earth beast – false prophet – apostate Protestantism in the United States. The triple six identifies each of these agencies as in rebellion. They never honor God’s sacred seven. They maintain an allegiance to a false sabbath – thus, they fall short of God’s divine plan.

“for it is the number of a man;” (vs 18)

The Greek word interpreted as “man” is anthropou. It has many allusions to man, humanity or mankind. Several translators have worked through its context in this book and feel it is better to use: “it is man’s number” (NIV), referring to a number of mankind. John uses the same word in 21:17, where the New Jerusalem is being measured according to the “measurements” of anthropou or mankind. Most expositors feel that this relates to a “human measurement” (NAS, NET) or “mankind’s measurement.” That new city was measured by the benchmark system man uses. There, the measurement of a “cubit” was used. Thus, it is not the number of a man but a measurement of mankind!

“and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” (vs 18)

Man’s measuring system developed in Babylon was based on sixty and sixes. Ours is based on ten. Nebuchadnezzar’s image was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide (Daniel 3:1). The sun was worshiped. They created a “sun dial” to tell time. Sixty degrees were assigned to each sixth of a circle – thus, 360 degrees came to represent a full circle.

The Babylonians became far advanced in astronomy and mathematics. In turn, out of their mystical worship of celestial objects, they developed a complex belief system tied to astrology. That system was directly associated with the number of 666. To protect them from many angry celestial gods, they created amulets to wear around the neck with a matrix of 6x6 or 36 squares. In each square was a number. In either direction (horizontally or vertically), when the columns were added up, they equaled 111 – then times 6 columns equaled 666 on each side. On the next page is a photograph of an amulet, and a diagram for clarity.

Notice the sun god Shamash on one side. Tied to their sun worship was the mystical number 666.

Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day. Without the seventh day of rest they would have been imperfect. The idea of incompleteness “is also evident from writings that interpreted the seven days of Genesis 1, by way of Psalm 90:4, as representing seven thousand years of world history (Barnabas 15; Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 5.28.3; cf. b. Sanhedrin 97a). The sixth thousand was to be the time of antichrist, immediately preceding the Messiah’s victorious millennial reign (cf. Barnabas 15). Against the background of this chronological reckoning of world history, Irenaeus (Adversus Haereses 5.28.2) understood 666 ‘as a summing up of the whole of that apostasy that has taken place during six thousand years.’ This idea of ‘six’ is also present in the sixth seal, the sixth trumpet, and the sixth bowl, which all depict judgment of the beast’s followers. The seventh in each series depicts the consummated kingdom of Christ. Each series is incomplete without the seventh.”[6]

The weight of evidence suggests that the seventh-day Sabbath will be pivotal in this great time of rebellion against God. The sacred seven found deep in God’s prophetic numbering system is rejected. Babylon, the symbol for satanic power working on man, becomes a system that God urgently calls His people out of. They have established a false worship day – Sun-day – based on the apostate number of 666.