And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and it had two horns like to a lamb, and spake as a dragon;
A second beast now comes into view. He does not rise from the churning sea of the nations like the first; he comes up from solid ground. Everything about him is copied. He looks like the Lamb, but the moment he opens his mouth his real parentage comes out.
The two beasts come from different places, and the difference matters. The sea pictures nations in uproar. The earth pictures a world that has settled into order.
This beast does not rise up out of the sea like the first. The sea pictures society in trouble and unrest. He comes up out of the earth, a state of ordered and settled government. When we look at his character and his claims, we find something even more dreadful than the first beast.
The horns are the point of the picture. Commentators read them as the offices Christ Himself holds — and note which one is missing.
First, this beast had two horns like a lamb. He claims to be the expected Messiah, so he imitates the true Christ and takes on His appearance. He was like a lamb in the vision, and he also had two horns. Those horns are two of the forms of power that Christ as the Messiah will exercise. These are here the forms of prophetic and kingly power. Satan could not give the third form, that of the priest. He had lost his own place as accuser in heaven when God cast him down.
Earlier in Revelation the true Lamb has seven horns. Two horns are a copy scaled down.
From Revelation 13:11, we have the second beast with lamb-like horns. He counterfeits Christ (as in Revelation 5:6), but he has two horns instead of seven. His mouth betrays his Satanic origin.
The costume is convincing; the speech is not. John's Gospel shows two things about Jesus that this beast cannot copy — He is the Lamb of God, and He is the Shepherd whose sheep know His voice.
He impersonates a lamb, but his speech reveals his true character. Jesus came as THE LAMB of God, as John 1 shows. John 10 shows that He is the true Shepherd of the sheep, and His voice made Him known. Here the false "lamb" proves he is no true shepherd but a slave-driver. He speaks with the voice of the dragon.
Jesus warned that people would refuse Him and welcome a man who comes in his own name. Here that warning comes true, and it explains why crowds follow this beast.
Our Lord said, "I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him" (John 5:43). This prophecy now obtains a dreadful fulfilment. Of course Christ's sheep know His voice. They will not follow a stranger. They will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers (John 10:4-5)... They have rejected the true Shepherd. Now they swallow the claims of the "idol shepherd" whole. They have refused "the Lamb of God." Now they gladly take in the wolf in sheep's clothing. The god of this world has found them a Messiah suited to their taste. This one calls for no repentance. He flatters their vanity instead of rebuking their sin.
Later chapters name this beast again, and Satan gives him a different gift from the one he gave the first beast.
The second Beast, or Antichrist, is the same person as "the false prophet," who is named three times (Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10). Two men head the rebellion against Christ in His royal and prophetic rights, and Satan controls and energises them both — a trinity of evil. "The dragon has given his external power to the first Beast; to the second he gives his spirit, so that having this spirit it speaks as a dragon."
His work runs in two directions at once.
He is the Man of sin, the lawless one of 2 Thessalonians 2. He plays into the hands of the Roman power in the West, causing everyone to worship his image on pain of death. In the East he comes out in his true character as the Antichrist. He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God, and sets himself up as the object of worship in the rebuilt temple of God in Jerusalem.
- Ground — He comes up out of the earth, not the sea. He arrives when the nations have settled into order, not while they are in turmoil.
- Costume — His two horns copy the prophetic and royal power of Christ. The priest's office is missing, and the true Lamb has seven horns.
- Voice — The disguise is only skin deep. The dragon has given him his own spirit, so he speaks as a dragon, and that speech tells you whose he is.
- Welcome — The world receives him because he demands no repentance and flatters instead of rebuking. It refused the One who came in His Father's name.
- Safeguard — The sheep know the Shepherd's voice and will not follow a stranger. Discernment in that day is a matter of hearing, not of watching.
and it exercises all the authority of the first beast before it, and causes the earth and those that dwell in it to do homage to the first beast, whose wound of death was healed.
Revelation 13 introduces a second beast: not the world-ruler of the earlier verses, but his working partner. His whole task is to make the earth worship that ruler — which raises a hard question: how can a false messiah win worship for a rival?
The chapter shows two beasts, and they differ in what each supplies.
In Revelation 13 two beasts are seen in vision. The first is the Roman power and its blasphemous head under the direct control of Satan (Rev. 13:1-10). The second beast is the personal Antichrist (Rev. 13:11-17). The first is marked by brute force. It is the political power of the earth in those days, the one to whom Satan "gave his power and his throne and great authority" (Rev. 13:2). The second beast is clearly subordinate to the power of the first (Rev. 13:12). The ends he has in view are religious, not political. The might and strength of apostate Rome supports this religious pretension. So the two beasts act together under their great chief, Satan. All three receive worship together.
Much of the verse turns on the phrase "in its presence." Older translations read "before him." It rules out any rivalry between the two beasts.
This beast exercises all the authority of the first beast before him — that is, in his presence, with his full sanction. It is not a seizing of power. It is in no sense something done without him. It is done in his presence, as it says here. "And makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast" — there is an understanding between them — "whose mortal wound was healed." It is remarkable that in 2 Thessalonians 2 we do not hear of him causing the world to worship the first beast. There he claims worship and is himself worshipped as God.
This looks like a contradiction: a man who demands worship for himself, yet promotes another. Kelly answers that worship in this scene is never limited to one figure.
Three persons are clearly linked in this scene: the dragon, the world-power or first beast, and the second beast, which is both political and religious. Revelation 13:4 shows that men worship the dragon as well as the first beast. So the difficulty stays much the same, whether we take the first beast or the second to be the antichrist and man of sin. Either way, another shares the worship. In fact they are the anti-trinity, and find their bond in the unseen power of Satan.
Satan did not invent this arrangement of one person using another's authority. He copied it.
There is a fact here worth noticing — it is a kind of imitation of the ways of God. As the Father has given all power to the risen Son, and the Holy Spirit exercises all the power of Christ before Him, so Satan imitates the same thing in evil. The dragon will give his throne to the beast. Notice the character in which men will worship him: "One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed." When that wound is healed, there is a kind of resurrection — not of a person, but of the beast's power raised up again. Then all the world will wonder after the beast, and the second beast will exercise all the power of the first beast before him.
All the action in the verse belongs to the second beast. Some conclude the first is only a figurehead. Scott rejects that.
The second beast is a subordinate power, and its royal head is the active minister of the first beast. At first sight one might almost think the first beast is a mere passive machine. All the energy and force of character seem to sit in the second, since "he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him," that is, in his presence. But that is not so. The first beast is a powerful federation of ten kingdoms under an imperial leader — active, bold, persecuting, and blaspheming. The religious beast has no royal authority outside Palestine. So he uses the authority of the first beast, its force and prestige, to carry out his utterly evil design: to get Christendom to bow down in worship before the revived Roman empire.
"Those who dwell on the earth" is a set phrase in Revelation. It marks out one kind of person.
This is a strong expression in Revelation. It describes those who seek their portion on earth at the time when men refuse the Lord Jesus Christ His rights in it. A great trial awaits them (Rev. 3:10)... They will worship the first beast, and the miracles of Antichrist will deceive them. Yet the everlasting gospel will be preached to them, calling them to "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come." We do not read of their repentance.
- Counterfeit — the scene copies God's order. The Spirit exercises Christ's power in His presence; the second beast exercises the first beast's authority in his.
- Sanction — "before him" rules out rivalry. The first beast gives his authority with full consent, and the two have an understanding.
- Subordinate — the second beast serves as the active minister of the first. His aims are religious; the first supplies the force.
- Reach — outside his own land he has no royal authority, so he uses the first beast's force to bring Christendom to worship the revived empire.
- Victims — those who chose earth as their portion worship the beast, Antichrist's miracles deceive them, and Scripture never records their repentance.
And it works great signs, that it should cause even fire to come down from heaven to the earth before men.
Halfway through Revelation 13 a second beast appears, and it performs the sign that once settled who the true God is. The fire that fell for Elijah now falls for a deceiver. If heaven itself seems to back a lie, what keeps anyone from believing it?
The signs are not listed, but one is named — and it happens in public view.
He "performs great signs." These are not listed, but one outstanding sign is named: he makes "fire come down from heaven," and he does it in public, "in front of people." This is the kind of miracle by which Elijah proved the claims of Jehovah over those of Baal (1 Kings 18:38-39). In this way the second Beast supports the first beast's claim to the worship of the whole world.
One writer names this second beast the Antichrist. The parallel with Elijah runs further than the fire — both scenes end in killing, but opposite people die.
In his day, God gave Elijah power to call down fire from heaven. It bore witness to the true God and exposed the worship of an idol. What Elijah did by the power of God, Antichrist will copy by the power of the devil. He will use it to turn men away from the true God to worship an idol, the image of the beast. In Elijah's day the fire exposed the idolaters, and the prophets of Baal were killed. In the coming day the wonder of fire from heaven will deceive men into worshipping an idol, and those who refuse to worship the image will be killed (1 Kings 18:36-40).
The sign is not strange. It looks like the very evidence God Himself has used.
This second beast makes fire come down from heaven. It is very solemn testimony. In 2 Thessalonians 2:9 the Greek uses the same words for the works of the one whose coming is by the power of Satan as Acts 2:22 uses for the proofs of the Christ — power, signs and wonders. So the same things given to prove the Christ are given also to prove the antichrist!
Commentators differ on whether the fire actually falls. One reads the wonders as genuine events that God permits:
These are not merely pretended miracles. They are real wonders. God will send men a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and at that time He will allow this instrument of Satan to produce them. No one will be deceived by them except those who would not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.
Another calls it imitation — something that holds only in the way people see it:
So he imitates the great power of God — though of course it is not so; it holds only in the sight and understanding of men.
Either way, the crowd is convinced.
The deception is also a judgment on people who had already turned from God.
This is the time when God, in judgment, gives up the guilty scene of the Christian world, which had already given Him up. Their punishment begins here. God hands them over to an active delusion, so that they believe a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11). The result is that Satan takes his seat in the professing house of God, and so completely sets God aside that devil-worship is the terrible result.
Scripture announced this miracle in advance. So it does not mean the same thing to everyone who sees it.
Elijah once did this very miracle to turn the hearts of a fallen-away Israel back to the true God. Here the deceiver is allowed to do it to turn men to a false one. Men are given up to be deceived… God's Word announced this beforehand, so of course it is the perfect safeguard of those who trust it. To God's chosen ones this very miracle would be a sign, not of Christ, but of Antichrist. But to the men who dwell on the earth… heaven itself would seem to seal the deceiver's claims.
Intelligence is no defence here. What holds is something simpler and much more available.
All the cunning and subtlety, the signs and lying wonders, all the resources of Satan, all the machinery of hell, are completely powerless against a heart that is governed by the love of the truth. A little child who knows and believes and loves the truth is wonderfully shielded, sheltered and kept safe by God from the blinding and deceiving power of the wicked one.
- Copy — The one named sign is Elijah's own miracle, borrowed to prove the opposite case. Fire once exposed an idol; now it recommends one.
- Credentials — Acts uses certain words to certify Jesus. 2 Thessalonians uses the same words for this deceiver's works. So a miracle by itself proves nothing about its source.
- Cause — God gives up a world that had already given Him up. He hands it over to a delusion, and the punishment starts here.
- Consequence — Elijah's fire ended with the prophets of Baal killed. This fire ends with everyone who refuses the image killed.
- Cure — The same miracle that seals the deceiver's claim for the world marks him out to anyone who trusted the Word beforehand. Love of the truth, not cleverness, keeps a person standing.
And it deceives those that dwell upon the earth by reason of the signs which it was given to it to work before the beast, saying to those that dwell upon the earth to make an image to the beast, which has the wound of the sword, and lived.
A second power deceives the world by working signs. It then tells people to build an image to a ruler who once took a deadly wound and lived. Two questions follow: are the signs real, and why does a wounded ruler win the world's worship?
The deceiver here is not the beast the world admires. It is a second beast, who works in the presence of the first. His signs hold up a throne that rests on nothing solid.
He leads astray and deceives the people of the earth by the signs he is allowed to work in front of the beast. The beast is glad to have such power holding up his throne. It lifts his authority high and makes it look grand in the eyes of men — authority that rested only on deceit, on deluded minds, or on persecution.
The verse says these signs are allowed. Writers insist they are not stage tricks.
These are not fake miracles. They are real wonders. There is coming a time when God will send men a strong delusion, so that they believe a lie, and then this instrument of Satan will be allowed to produce them. Only those who refused to receive the love of the truth that would have saved them will be deceived by them.
Commentators differ on how the signs work. Some give human cleverness a share in them:
These are not miracles of grace, like the ones the Lord did on earth. They are terrifying feats, such as making fire come down from heaven. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 calls them "false signs and wonders." So human cleverness will likely have some part in them, yet behind them stand both satanic power and satanic delusion.
The particular sign named — fire from heaven — is borrowed. It was once God's own proof against idols, and it is now bent to the opposite purpose.
In his day God gave Elijah power to call down fire from heaven. It bore witness to the true God and exposed the worship of an idol. What Elijah did by the power of God, the Antichrist will copy by the power of the devil. His aim is to turn people from the true God to worship an idol — the image of the beast. In Elijah's day the fire exposed the idol worshippers, and the prophets of Baal were killed. In the coming day fire from heaven will deceive people into worshipping an idol, and those who refuse to worship the image will be killed.
The verse names the victims: those who dwell on earth. The phrase marks out a kind of person, not an address.
These passages point to a group of people who are not simply on the earth. Their only interests are in it, and they are limited by it. In moral character they are "dwellers on the earth."
The delusion is also a judgment on Christendom — the world that carries the Christian name:
This is the time when God gives up the guilty world of Christendom in judgment, paying back what it deserves. It had already given Him up. Their punishment begins here.
This is not the first time people have been ordered to worship an image. The age of the Gentile empires opened the same way:
It is striking that when Gentile world rule began, men were forced on pain of death to worship an image standing for the greatness and majesty of the first empire (Dan. 3). Now, as that rule closes, it happens again. How stubborn human nature is! … An image is something that stands for another, though it need not look like it. We are sure that the "image to the Beast" will be a real, literal, huge figure set up in the centre of Christendom, and through it the Beast will be worshipped.
The difference is the ending. God once stopped Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Daniel 3:
Our chapter shows that the times of the Gentiles will end just as they began, and seemingly with greater success: those who refuse to worship the image of the beast will be killed. This time God will not step in to block the plans of these wicked men, as He once did with Nebuchadnezzar. Their judgment will fall in one crushing blow at the end.
The verse names the beast by his wound. That naming is deliberate.
This surprising fact is mentioned three times in this chapter. In Revelation 13:3 the whole earth wonders after him because his mortal wound was healed. In Revelation 13:12 he is again described as the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. That is not said just to identify him, since "first beast" alone would have been enough for that. Clearly it is for emphasis.
- Permitted — the signs are real, not tricks. They are allowed, so God is letting the delusion come; Satan is not overpowering Him.
- Borrowed — the one sign named, fire from heaven, was Elijah's proof of the true God. Here it drives people to an idol.
- Aimed — the targets are the dwellers on earth. Their whole interest is bounded by this world, and they refused the love of the truth.
- Repeated — Gentile rule began with a forced image in Daniel 3 and ends with one. This time no rescue comes.
- Wounded — the world worships the ruler who took a sword blow and lived. The healed wound, named three times in the chapter, is what wins its wonder.
And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, and should cause that as many as should not do homage to the image of the beast should be killed.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bondmen, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead;
A mark now falls on every class of person on earth, demanded not by the first beast but by another who enforces submission to him. Commentators ask three questions: who demands the mark, what it means on the hand or the forehead, and why a person's eternal future hangs on taking it or refusing it.
The demand does not come from the first beast himself.
This wicked man will claim religious authority over everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave. To enforce his authority he will demand public submission to the first beast, shown by a public mark on the right hand and on the forehead. Without that mark, humanly speaking, life will be impossible: no one will be able to buy or sell.
The three pairs of people named are not a random list. Together they close every loophole.
In those terrible days the Beast crushes out all individual thought and action. He demands the most complete submission to the worst tyranny ever seen, and nobody dares refuse. The classes named cover everyone within reach of his influence, and they come in pairs. No one escapes — neither the lowest in rank nor the highest. Neither riches nor poverty can buy or find exemption from his iron rule.
The two places on the body say two different things about the person marked.
The mysterious mark on the forehead, whatever it turns out to be, announces the person to everyone as a follower of the Beast. On the hand it points to active support — a willing worker for the Beast's interests.
God marks His own people before the beast marks his.
As the Seal, the Spirit marks us off as belonging wholly to God. We are God's possession, marked as such, just as a farmer who buys sheep puts a mark on them at once, so they can be known as his. In Revelation we read that the coming "beasts" will make everyone "receive a mark" (Rev. 13:16). Those who do receive that mark will have to face the fierce wrath of God, as the next chapter shows. And Revelation 7 tells us that God acts ahead of the beasts' wicked plan: He puts "the seal of the living God" on His own.
The next verse names the mark, the beast's name and his number. These are not three separate items.
The mark is the general term, and it consists of either the name or the number of the Beast. The name and the number are included in the mark and explain what it is. God has not told us the name of the Beast… We do not say it is impossible to know who and what the name and number mean. But God will surely give full light and understanding on these points to the saints who are there at the time, to whom such knowledge will be most useful and even necessary… Those who receive the mark of the Beast, in either its name or its number, are doomed to eternal misery.
Commentators differ on what physical form the mark will take. Scott leaves it open. Another writer points to present-day technology:
Experiments have already been reported in the United States that put a thin layer of liquid plastic under the skin, as a backing for an invisible number that only a laser scanner can read. When something like this is forced on the population, so that people are either subject to the Beast's authority or not allowed to buy or sell (v. 17), believers will have to refuse this identification with the Beast completely, as though they were his property.
Today a person can avoid taking sides. Under the beast, that option disappears.
In the days of "the beast" there will be no room for neutrality. There will be no room for men to be satisfied, as many are now, with making no profession at all. Men must be either for God or for Satan… Everyone who refuses to worship the beast will then be sentenced to death. Those who do worship him will receive a mark, so that those who refuse to bow to the beast can be picked out, and known as men that nobody should buy from or sell to.
Two marks, two masters, two destinies — and the decision cannot be reversed.
In these solemn times there will be followers of the beast with his mark on them (Rev. 13:15-18), and followers of the Lamb with His mark on their foreheads… As someone has said: "The choice must now be made between God and Satan, between Christ and Antichrist, between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Once made, that choice is final and cannot be reversed, and the results are eternal and unchangeable." To refuse the mark of the beast, to obey God, and to be true to Jesus will call for the endurance of the saints.
The principle behind the mark applies long before the beast appears.
We cannot carry two marks, if the one mark, that has been placed upon us, is God's mark. He is a jealous God. The mark that is upon us is exclusive… Take great care, O young Christian! for the world is ever seeking to put its unholy marks upon you, as though you belonged to it. You do not belong to it, you belong to God; so be careful not to wear the seals and badges it wishes to put upon you.
- Ownership claimed. The man who enforces the first beast's authority demands a public mark of submission to him, and without it no one can buy or sell.
- Ownership total. Three pairs of people are named, and together they cover everyone: no rank, wealth or poverty buys exemption.
- Ownership displayed. The forehead announces a person as the beast's follower; the hand marks him as an active worker for him.
- Ownership countered. God seals His own first, so the beast's mark is a copy of something older and better.
- Ownership decided. Neutrality ends. Every person carries either the Lamb's mark or the beast's, and the choice cannot be reversed. Refusing the beast calls for the endurance of the saints.
and that no one should be able to buy or sell save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of its name.
The previous verse lists who is marked: small and great, rich and poor, free and slave. One writer shows the ban leaves no exit.
In those terrible days individual thought and action are crushed out. He demands the most abject submission to the vilest tyranny ever seen, and none dare refuse. None, however low in station, none, however exalted, can escape. Neither riches nor poverty can buy or find exemption from the iron rule of the Beast. All, from the least to the highest, are equally his slaves. To resist his will means losing the right to live, for in effect he controls all commerce. It means inviting certain death.
The verse names a mark, a name, and a number. The same writer argues these are not three separate things, and says who will be given the name.
The "mark," the "name," and the "number" are not three separate, independent things. The mark is general, and consists of either the name or the number of the Beast. The last two are included in the first, and explain the mark. God has withheld the name of the Beast from us... No doubt God will give full light and understanding on these points to the saints who are then in the scene. Such knowledge will be most useful to them, and even necessary, so that they may know the true character of the Beast... Those who receive the mark of the Beast in either its name or its number are doomed to eternal misery.
Commentators differ here. Another writer takes the mark as the brand of a slave, and sees the name or the number on the man who rises to rule inside the system.
A person might be a ruler or leader in this system. Then, though not a slave himself, he would have the character of it stamped on him even more permanently and knowingly.
The mark is more than a permit to trade. Walter Scott explains what it declares about the one who wears it.
The mark on the "hand" would show that the person branded was an active slave of the Beast. Stamped on the "forehead," it would serve as a public acknowledgment of slavery... It was usual to brand slaves with the name or special mark of their owner.
Today a person can decline to take sides. In that day no one will have that choice.
In the days of "the beast" there will be no room for neutrality. Men will not be able to satisfy themselves, as many do now, by making no profession at all. Men must either be for God or for Satan. Then the words of Jesus, so glossed over now, will be fully proved — "Whoever is not with me is against me." It really is so now, only it is not visible. There will be the sentence of death then on all who will not worship the beast. Those who do worship will receive a mark. It will set apart those who do not bow down to the beast, and mark them out as men that none should buy or sell with.
One company stands outside this vast trading union. Its members carry no brand. A record written before the world began names them.
So he will form a vast organization. It will include all except those whose names were written from the foundation of the world in the slain Lamb's book of life. Outside of it, trade will not be lawful. Under the pretence of the welfare of the empire, this dreadful tyranny will fall on all. The penalty is the loss of the most ordinary liberty of the individual.
God is not caught off guard by this branding. Another writer points out that He seals His own first.
Those who do receive that mark will have to face the fierce wrath of God, as the next chapter shows. And Rev. 7 shows us that God anticipates the wicked action of the beasts by putting "the seal of the living God" on His own.
Writers noted that shutting a person out of trade to force his conscience was not an unfamiliar tactic even in their own day.
He uses one terrible power for evil, forcing all men, small and great, rich and poor, to receive the mark of the beast. Certainly this has not been fulfilled yet: Satan is trying it as a cruel power for evil at this moment, and it is a new thing in the earth, and it bears the name of a living man, one of its cruel victims. It is called Boycotting.
- Mark. One brand in two forms: the beast's name, or the number of his name. It marks a slave and names his owner.
- Market. The beast controls the mark, so he controls all trade. Food and work hang on one act of submission.
- Reach. Small and great, rich and poor, free and slave: no class, fortune, or rank buys exemption.
- Refusal. Neutrality ends. A person is either marked for the beast or shut out of buying and selling, and death follows refusal.
- Record. Those outside carry no brand. Their names stood in the slain Lamb's book of life before the world began, and God seals His own before the beast brands the rest.
Here is wisdom. He that has understanding let him count the number of the beast for it is a man's number; and its number [is] six hundred [and] sixty-six.
The chapter about the two beasts ends with a riddle — a number to count, and it belongs to a man. Two questions have followed it ever since — what does 666 mean, and who is meant to solve it?
The verse asks for wisdom. One writer says the key is spiritual, and the full answer belongs to one moment:
This symbolic number holds divine wisdom. It is the only place the number occurs. Only spiritual understanding can unlock the mystery in it. No doubt its full, exact and final answer will be clear to the wise or godly in the coming crisis. Then the Beast's power, under Satan's craft, will display the highest human development in pride and irreverence. It will oppose God and His Anointed in both religion and politics. That, in general, is the moral meaning of 666. The saints it concerns will see the meaning, and it will call them to reject the Beast and his claims at once.
People have long counted up the letters of a name, hoping to reach 666. The results have followed the quarrels of the moment:
I do not pretend to solve this question. It would be easy to repeat what others have thought. Some of the early Christians thought it was "the Latin man." Irenaeus, the devout Bishop of Lyons, was one of them. Others have found various names, in line with their own quarrels and prejudices. Roman Catholics found in it a riddle pointing to Luther; Protestants, the name of more than one Pope. People have imagined Mohammed in ancient times, and Napoleon in modern times. But are such notions better than riddles? It is not the way of the Spirit to occupy God's people with counting letters or numbers in this vague fashion.
If no one can crack the number in advance, that is not a flaw. It is timing. The instruction aims at people who will live through what is described:
Many have tried to unravel this mystery, but all have failed. Judging by how Scripture works elsewhere, we conclude that no one can discover the secret before the beast appears. When at last he comes on the scene, those who have the wisdom of God will identify him by the number given. God will have warned them in advance. So the direction given here is for those who will be in the circumstances described.
The verse itself says the number is a man's number. Commentators trace the digit six through Scripture:
Six hundred and sixty-six is man's number. The unit six was stamped on him at his creation and through his later history. Man was created on the sixth day. His appointed days of labour and toil are six. The Hebrew slave was to serve six years. For six years the land was to be sown. The number seven means what is perfect or complete. Six falls short of that, so it means human imperfection and toil.
Repeated three times, six pushes that character to its limit — man at his most impressive and most godless:
Six is the highest number short of seven; six sets out what is nearest to perfection. 666 is the strongest emphasis of this... "The Beast" rises out of the sea, and is seen in its final Head. Does it not mean that he will present to the world the Superman so much talked about? He will be the finest specimen of fallen human nature, but without one feature that is of God. No doubt such a person will have a perfect body, a brilliant mind and a powerful will. His statesmanship will be unmatched, and his military skill of the highest order. Now put all this in a man who has no regard for God and His word. Under God's control these fine qualities would be magnificent. In him they become frightful instruments for enslaving and ruining mankind.
The same six that measures the height of the boast also measures its ceiling. Six days are working days; the seventh is not his to take:
The 6 is repeated three times. It speaks of labour and not rest — of failed effort to reach the divine 7. It declares that evil at its highest is limited and in God's hand. This number is, after all, we are told, "the number of a man"; and what is man? He may multiply responsibility and judgment. But the Sabbath is God's rest, set apart to Him. Without God, he can have no Sabbath. This 6, 6, 6 is the number of a man who is only a beast, and doomed.
- Wisdom — the verse calls for spiritual understanding, not letter-counting. The real answer is moral before it is mathematical.
- Man — six is stamped on man from the start: the sixth day, six days of labour, six years of service. It is the number of toil that never reaches rest.
- Height — tripled, six pictures the finest specimen of fallen human nature, with no feature that is of God. Gifts that could have blessed the world ruin it instead.
- Timing — no one can name the man before he appears. When he does, those who need the warning will get it.
- Doom — six never becomes seven. The boast is limited, held in God's hand, and the man behind the number is a beast already doomed.