Contending With Two Ferocious Beasts - The Mark of the Wild Beast

The Mark of the Wild Beast

John now sees how Satan maneuvers the political parts of his visible organization to cause the maximum suffering for the remaining ones of the seed of God's woman.  (Genesis 3:15) He returns to describing "the wild beast" itself:  "And it puts under compulsion all persons, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that they should give these a mark in their right hand or upon their forehead, and that nobody might be able  to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of his name.  Here is where wisdom comes in:  Let the one that has intelligence calculate the number  of the wild beast, for it is a man's number, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six." -Revelation 13:16-18.

The wild beast has a name, and this name is number 666.  Six, as  a number, is associated with Jehovah's enemies.  A Philistine man of the Rephaim was of "extraordinary size," and his "fingers and toes were in sixes."  (1 Chronicles  20:6)  King Nebuchadnezzar erected a golden image 6 cubits in breadth and 60 cubits  high, to unify his political officials in one worship.  When God's servants refused to worship the image of gold, the king had them thrown into a fiery furnace.  (Daniel 3:1-23)  The number six falls short of seven,  which stands for completeness from God's standpoint.  Therefore, a triple six represents gross imperfection. 

 A name identifies a person.  So how does this number identify the beast?  John says that  it "is a man's number," not that of a spirit person, so the name helps to confirm  that the wild beast is earthly, symbolizing human government.  Just as six fails to measure up to seven so is 666-six to the third degree-is a fitting name for the world's gigantic political system that fails so miserably to measure up to God's standard of perfection.  The world's political wild beast rules supreme under the name-number 666, while big politics, big religion, and big business keep that wild beast functioning as an oppressor of mankind and a persecutor of God's people.

Next time: Contending With Two Ferocious Beasts - Conclusion of the Mark of the Wild Beast

From the Book of Revelation