Dear Student of the Word,
This week we reach an important point in our Revelation study because we come to Revelation 13, where the concept of 666 is introduced. Here is what I have to add to the debate and speculation about what 666 actually means (you can download the entire study below):
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18This 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.
13:18 – I saw an article once claiming that Bill Gates, owner of Microsoft and the richest man in the world, is the antichrist. In my lifetime, I have heard the same said about Henry Kissinger, the Pope, Saddam Hussein, and Michal Gorbachev. This is silly speculation and obviously, those reports were incorrect.
It is a waste of time to try and determine a literal meaning for the number 666. If the Bible wanted us to know, it would have explained it to us. Because this is the only mention of this concept (a mark on the forehead), then we must leave it alone. If you read back over the commentary on the verses above, you will understand that persecution and death for believers have been part of every generation somewhere on the earth. Those who belong to God can be easily distinguished; those who don’t can as well.
I wear the mark of faith, and those who don’t serve my God wear a mark of works or some other religious system. I wear the mark of joy and peace, and those who don’t serve my God must wear the mark of sadness and torment.
There is no question that there is a systematic plot to wipe out Christians. That is nothing new. It was true in the days when Revelation was written; it is true today. What is also true is that God is still on the throne and the Church of Jesus is still here. It is also true that the devil is still trying, by every means possible, to thwart the work of God. The good news for us is that he has always and will always fail. To God be the glory!
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the daily devotional entitled Your Life Matters: Daily Reflections from the Book of Psalms. Thank you and soon I will begin sending you my edited studies from James' epistle. After that, we will only have the book of Revelation to complete before the entire New Testament is on the site where this study is posted.
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