666 doesn’t mean what you think.

If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me why I love such ‘dark’ things, whether it’s my spooky books, or Crumb Hill, I would have several nickels.

One of the things I always try to explain is the difference between actual spiritually dark things and, for lack of a better word, symbolism. Today I want to take a quick look at one of these, which is the number 666, which as many people know, originates from the Bible, and might not mean exactly what you think it does.

To many people, the number is superstitiously elevated to something evil or cursed in and of itself. There is even a named fear of the number: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. But as I have come to understand the original meaning within the book of Revelation, I don’t think it warrants these things, and the original meaning of it, in my opinion, is far more interesting and, perhaps surprisingly, political.

It is from the book of Revelation, chapter 13, which I’ll paste here, with full context, because as we learned in yesterday’s blog, context matters! lol.

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.

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. [Some translations say 616]

As you can see, it clearly tells us that 666 is the number of a man. Not a beast or demon or witch or spirit, but a man. And the fact that he tells us to calculate it gives a hint that we should decode it…so what is John referring to?

Well, most scholars agree that John is referring to a common practice used by the Jews in the first century called Gematria. It’s like a system of assigning numbers to each Hebrew letter. And quite simply, if you write out “Nero Caesar” in the corresponding numbers, it adds up to, you guessed it, 666. (Technically, it would be NRON QSR. As stated above, some translations say 616 instead. Why? That would be NRO QSR. Simply a different way to write out the emperor’s name.)

So what John is really doing is talking about the emperor in code. Because if he came out and said “Caesar is a bad dude and he really has it out for us Christians….but he’s not really the one who’s in control; Jesus is,” he’d be killed and his letter would be shut down instantly.

So instead, he talks about a beast whose number is 666 (but y’all can figure it out, he says with a wink) and how a slain lamb is really running the universe.

It’s also helpful to know that the Caesars did operate the economy of Rome strictly and controlled trading and selling. You had to use their one universal currency…with Caesar’s head on it (something we just take for granted now, accustomed to that with our currency).

And most people believe the reference to the head and arm is speaking to the Jewish practice of tefillin, in which they would wear verses from the Torah on their head and arm. So, writes John, the empire is opposed to us and is shutting down our religious operation. He is not writing about the devil in relation to this number.

Why does this matter?

Well for one, it means that we don’t have to be spooked because modern people try to mistakenly adapt ancient apocalyptic writings…wrongly. It’s almost funny.

It would be like trying to spook your superstitious friend by misinterpreting the Constitution, and making them think they’ll be cursed by the ghost of George Washington because of some little code you found in the document. Like, that’s not at all what the writers intended or what was happening there.

No, John was making a very political statement here and I’m sure he would laugh if he saw how scared people were of the number 666. If anything, they should be scared of the number 5, which is the actual number of satan, most think (pentagrams have 5 points, he was supposed to be the fifth horseman, etc. 6 is man’s number; made on the sixth day, plus what we just talked about…).

This is one of many symbols which is often adopted for horror and other spooky things, but which has no power. Do people often use this number to try to do nefarious things? Sure. Doesn’t mean they’re the most well-informed folks. Plus, just because something gets misused or misquoted doesn’t mean that it is inherently bad or evil. It’s…a symbol.

And Christians need not fear symbols. We have on our side, and dwelling within us, God Himself who is certainly stronger than any symbol which only impersonates powerful things.

e

Day 23 of 100 days of blog.

The post 666 doesn’t mean what you think. appeared first on ethan renoe.