Revelation 13:18

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.