What does 666 mean? - part 1

He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is a man's number. His number is 666. -- Revelation 13: 16-18.

A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "if anyone worships the beast and his name and receives his mark on the forehead or the hand, he too will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and forever. Their is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." -- Revelation 14: 9-11

"Money makes the world go 'round." -- from the movie, Cabaret (1960)


What would you do if one day you awoke to find that your money was no good? You couldn't buy anything and no one could buy a thing from you. You'd probably eat through everything in your pantry in a few days, then what? Beg from neighbors who had more than you did? Steal it?

The mark of the beast plays out like a riddle. You can almost hear Vincent Price rattle it out in the old King James, "let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast -- dramatic pause -- for it is... a human number. It's number is six hundred and sixty-six." What on earth could that mean? It's number?

If you're in any way a follower of end times theology you've probably heard every explanation from a veiled reference by the apostle John to the Roman Emperor Nero, to a vague symbol for incarnate evil, to the number of letters in former president Reagan's name -- Ronald Wilson Reagan. All the scattershooting on this one mystifies me, because this is one of the few images in end times prophecy that provides its own definition. It's the identifying mark of the 'beast'. In Biblical prophecy the 'beast' can refer to either an empire or an individual ruler of an empire, and this nation or individual acts, well, beastly. In the case of the beast in Revelation chapter 13-14, the beast bears the chief hallmark of a prophetic empire, in that it has more than one horn -- the horn being a symbol for an individual ruler.

With that said our job becomes easy. You see, the identifying mark of an empire isn't an individual ruler, it's not a flag (which wasn't used as a national symbol until renaissance times anyway), and it's not even a written manifesto. It's money.

Money is a unit of exchange, it's a means of conducting a transaction between individuals and corporations, and every country can be identified by the way it handles its currency. Money flows differently in communist countries than it does in capitalist ones. It's moves differently in monarchies than it does in constitutional republics. Here in the United States we cherish our freedom; it defines us. It also seems to confuse a great many. Did you think the words 'free country' meant that you could do whatever you wanted? How many times have I had that thrown at me on the streets? After fourteen years of law enforcement, let me tell you the bad news, that's not what it means. Our penal laws are very similar to the penal laws you'll find anywhere in the world: no murdering, no stealing, no fraud, all the essentials that make a society run. No, the 'free' in 'free country' refers primarily to a marked absence of regulation of business and financial transactions. It's how we regulate our money that makes us unique. The same could be said for every other country.

Now, what does it mean to John and why should I care?

In Biblical times a writer had a limited number of ways to express himself. Writing at the time was done on crushed plant fibers (mostly papyrus) or animal skins (mostly velum, ie: sheep skin). It was done in a solid block of text, no paragraphs, no punctuation, no little smiley icons that hit each other over the head with folding chairs. For the ancients a repetition of three worked like a exclamation point (or a blogger going to all caps). It provided stress. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Here, holiness is emphasized as the central characteristic of God. In Revelation 13-14, the number six is emphasized as the central characteristic of the beast.

In Hebrew numerology (the study of numbers and what they represent), the number six refers to evil. But here we have to be careful. The word 'evil' to a Biblical Jew meant something very different than the word we toss around these days. Now, when we say 'evil', we think of serial killers and pentagrams, monsters and movie villains. This idea comes to us from a different era than one in which John is writing. Someday, if I get the chance, I'll say something about the influence of Celtic dualism on modern day Christianity. For now, let me just say that the Jewish idea was radically different than the current one. For the Jews of the time, evil wasn't something they had to run from without tripping while horror music played in the background. It wasn't even something they had to do battle with on a day to day schedule. It was more like a virus. God and the presence of the Law of Moses gave them a kind of immunity, but if they violated the Mosaic law then God withdrew His hand of protection and they exposed themselves to a host of deadly symptoms.

The number six represented this violation. Well, it might be more precise to say that it represented the human propensity to commit violations. Six is one short of the number seven, the Hebrew number for perfection. Jews were required to rest after six days of work since their human frailty made a regular time of refreshing a necessity. When King David made his second attempt to take the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem his entourage took six steps at a time, stopped to worship, then took six more. Six represents moral failure. Six, then six, then another six, represents moral failure to the highest, or should I say lowest, degree.

Now, to pull it together. In part 2 we look at fiat currency, what it means and why it is that you really don't want to get it on your right hand or your forehead.