16) And he (i.e., the false prophet) compelled everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to allow [his clergy] to place a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, (17) so that no one would be able to buy or sell except those with the mark, [consisting of] either the name of the [first] beast or the number of his name. (18) Here is wisdom:  let everyone who is alert [at that time] calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man[‘s name].  And his (i.e., the beast’s) number is six hundred and sixty six . Revelation 13:16-18

We are told specifically in Revelation 13:17 that the alternative use of the mark is “the number of his name”. The “number of the beast” thus has to be the same numerical equivalent of antichrist’s name. That is to say, “six hundred and sixty six” is the number which both:

• constitutes a numerical value for the beast’s name and
• which also functions as the alternative form of the mark. (see previous post 7.7 for ‘the mark’.)

Before considering the number of the beast per se, we need to say a few words about his “name” as it will occur in the other versions of the mark along with its numerical value.  The “wisdom” given here is not in any way mysterious.  If at that time one is merely “alert” or paying attention to what scripture says about this issue, the formula provided will easily dispel all doubt about what is the true “mark of the beast” so that believers will have no trouble whatsoever identifying it (and no excuse for failing to avoid it).

Revelation, as part of the New Testament, is written in Greek, and for that reason it is the Greek system of numerals which must be employed to calculate the “name” for its numerical value (use of Arabic numerals in the west was not widespread until the 15th century).  In the Greek system, each letter of the alphabet (and some symbols as well) has a numerical value, with alpha, the first letter equaling one, and omega, the last letter equaling eight hundred.  For example, the Greek transliteration mentioned above for the Hebrew word Messiah (meaning, “anointed one”), is as follows:

Μεσσίας:   Μ = 40 + ε = 5 + σ = 200 + σ = 200 + ί = 10 + α = 1 + ς = 200 >  =  656

By adding the Aramaic imperative “come!” (cf. Marana tha!, “O our Lord, come!”), we create a phrase equaling the requisite number of six hundred and sixty six (because the letters theta and alpha equal nine and one respectively so that θα = +10).  Before the reader gets too excited about all this, let me point out what should be readily obvious, namely that in such a system the number of possibilities for constructing names that add up to 666 is incalculably large (if not literally infinite).

Not possible beforehand.

For this reason, the information given us in Revelation 13:18 cannot possibly be used to figure out antichrist’s name before the fact.  For even if one was fortunate enough to hit upon the precise sequence of letters for the actual name, there is absolutely no way to determine before his revelation that said sequence was the uniquely correct one.  What we are given in Revelation 13:18 is thus not a key to figuring out the identity of antichrist before the fact.  On the contrary, it is an analytical tool or “litmus test” for evaluating the putative name of the beast to see if he is indeed antichrist after we have a name to work from.

With a simple transliteration of any name into the Greek system, we can with relative ease examine any name and discover fairly easily whether it might have the numerical value of 666.  This was a fairly common sort of cipher in antiquity (often called a “gematria”), and one finds, for example, graffiti recovered from Pompeii where the names of lovers were concealed in this manner, as well as riddles on funeral monuments in the Greek speaking areas of the Mediterranean which substitute a sum of letters for the name of the deceased and invite the onlooker to solve the puzzle.  Without clues, such riddles are impossible to solve, since, as mentioned above, the number of names that can be made to fit into any large sum is, for all practical purposes, endless.  The relatively small number “10”, for instance, could be a lone iota, an alpha plus a theta, a beta plus an eta, etc., etc.  And the possibilities grow geometrically the larger the numbers become.

Only when the actual marking begins

One should also note that once the universal marking begins, decoding the precise mark of the beast as it occurs at that time will be a fairly simple matter despite issues of transliteration.  Before the precise form of his name as it is to be used for the mark comes to light, however, this test is unlikely to be the best litmus test for uncovering antichrist.  For example, will the mark contain only his last name?  Will it include his first name or merely his initials, and which ones?  More to the point, will antichrist change his name in some way at the point when he takes his seat in the temple of God in Jerusalem and proclaims himself to be God?

The point is that until the exact form of the name as it occurs in this alternative version of the mark becomes generally known, there is little point in making the calculation recommended here.  And Bible believing Christians should take careful note that scripture only gives us this information at the point when the actual marking begins, indicating very clearly that any attempt to identify antichrist in this way before the process of universal marking is pointless.  In any case, by the middle of the Tribulation it is difficult to comprehend how any genuine believer in Jesus Christ who has the least bit of spiritual discernment could not know that the dictator who has come to control the world and has invaded God’s very temple is antichrist.  The real danger here is that believers in the early days of the Tribulation will fail to recognize the beast because his name as it occurs at that time may not seem to fit the formula given in verse eighteen.

The significance of 666: 

The first thing to emphasize here is that we do not necessarily have to do with three consecutive numeral “sixes”, that is, some precise variant of 6-6-6.  In our system of Arabic numerals, a system that does not greatly antedate the printing press here in the west, it is true that there is no distinction between the number six hundred and sixty six and its representation by three consecutive sixes:  666.  In the Greek system, however, this is not at all the case.  In Greek, the language of Revelation and therefore the basis for the system that must be employed to understand this issue correctly, six hundred and sixty six would be represented by two letters and a symbol, namely, chi, xi, and stigma.

What this means for our purposes here is that much popular theorizing that makes the “sign of the beast” a series of three sixes may be entirely wrong.  And while it is certainly possible that three Arabic numeral sixes will indeed constitute the essential mark that stands for the name of antichrist, there is no convincing reason why this should be so.  Just as the Arabic numeral representation 666 would appear different in the Greek system (i.e., as χξϛ), so it is also fair to point out that the contemporaneous Roman system (i.e., “Roman numerals” wherein 666 = DCLXVI) and Hebrew system (an alphabetic system similar to Greek wherein 666 = תרסו) certainly have as much claim to be considered as the much later, non-contemporaneous western version of the Arabic system.

Moreover there is no way that we can say before the fact that antichrist might not adopt, say, a base two system (stressing technology), or a base twelve system (stressing Babylonian mysticism), or any other system of mathematical, geometrical, or mystical symbolism to represent the integer 666, perhaps even one of his own devising not yet extant.  The point is that discerning Christians cannot afford to assume that any mark that does not have three Arabic numeral sixes (i.e., 666) could not possibly be “the mark of the beast”.

The significance of the number itself has also long been a matter of as much speculation as its appearance.  As Christians, we would choose to note that whether 666 is seen as single integer, a series of sixes, or a repeating decimal, at all points it falls short of perfection. It falls short of the perfect number seven by “one”, namely, through rejection of the “One” who is the way, the truth and the life, our true Savior Jesus Christ. Others, however, may speculate that, like “pi”, a repeating system of sixes may have some significance for the mythology that antichrist creates around himself and his system of devil worship.

One thing that is generally not appreciated in such discussions is that, unlike English, Greek numerals are at times declinable, and such is the case in this instance.  Specifically, “six hundred and sixty six” in this instance at Revelation 13:18 is feminine, so that what the text here is really saying is “six hundred and sixty six (feminine)  _________’s, and it is left to the reader to fill in the blank from the context.  This is a not unfamiliar situation in Greek where one often understands the occurrence or repetition of a particular noun which can be easily guessed from the information contained in the ending of an adjective (in contrast to English where adjectives are unchangeable). Of course there is no feminine noun in context, a situation which no doubt explains why various other versions switched the ending to masculine, neuter, or eliminated the problem entirely by using symbolic notation (i.e, the Greek equivalent of 666 mentioned above: χξϛ). But in fact the  case of a feminine adjective with no noun expressed is far from unprecedented in Greek, there being a generally understood short list of common nouns to be supplied in such circumstances.

By far the most common noun to supply in such situations is the Greek word for “way”, hodos (ὁδός; cf. “odometer” = “road-measurer”), and that is the noun to be supplied here.  Since 666 represents an infinitely repeating cipher, the “six hundred and sixty six ways” may be understood as the all inclusive and virtually infinite number of “paths to salvation” in the beast’s religious system (cf. Amos 8:14 where “way” refers to a type of paganism).  Provided only that one worship antichrist and his father the devil as god, all other religious, traditional, or cultic practices will be pronounced acceptable and deemed effective in “saving” the individual worshiper.  But in fact, this cipher leaves out the “one” that would end its pointless repetition and instead produce completion and fulfillment, the “One” who is the one and only true “Way”, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 9:2; 19:9; 19:23; 22:4; 24:14; 24:22; 2Pet.2:2;):

I am the Way:  the truth and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me. John 14:6

• This post is a re-formatted citation of Robert Luginbill’s website Ichthys.com, PDF tribulation 4.