Revelation Chapter 13
VERSE 18 “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
HERE IS WISDOM: What a marvelous way to catch our attention! Everyone would like to be wise. But the meaning is NOT that. It means, as does Daniel 12:10, that those who are blessed with God’s favor will understand, and no one else.
LET HIM WHO HAS UNDERSTANDING: No one will be able to “calculate the number” except those who understand the place of the Roman system in history.
CALCULATE THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST: Several items in this phrase need attention. First, the “number” must be “calculated.” It does not just plainly appear. Secondly, it is related to the 10-horned beast -- the one to whom the image was made (Verse 14). Thirdly, number symbolizes VALUE. Whatever must be calculated apparently has something to do with the beast’s “value.”
This doesn’t mean monetary value, but rather the “value (number) of his name.” (Verse 17) His name STANDS FOR SOMETHING. It represents his values. History shows us that the values of the apostasy can be summed up as usurped power and authority. Verse 5 summarizes this idea. Thus, when we learn that Papacy’s claim is to be the one who rules in place of the Son of God, and that Papacy, therefore, appropriated the blasphemous title VICARIVS FILII DEI, we HAVE the name which identifies his values (number).
THE NUMBER IS THAT OF A MAN: Paul identified the “man” -- the office -- to which this refers as the “Man of Sin” and the “Son of Destruction.” (2 Thess. 2:3, 4)
It is the Papacy.
HIS NUMBER IS 666: The sum of the Roman numerals in VICARIVS FILII DEI is 666.
MANY titles or descriptions (in several languages) of the Roman system calculate to this figure -- a fact which corroborates the conclusion. VICARIVS FILII DEI, however,
(VICAR OF THE SON OF GOD, or VICARIOUS SON OF GOD) seems the best explanation of the reasons stated above.
Brother Loomis points out that the three languages used on Jesus’ cross (Latin, Hebrew and Greek all have words representing this number. The Hebrew word ROMIITH---Roman):
R = 200
O = 6
M = 40
I = 10
I = 10
TH = 400
=666
(The Hebrew alphabet, of course, must be used!)
The Greek work LATEINOS (Latin Man); again, using the Greek alphabet:
L = 30
A = 1
T = 300
E = 5
I = 10
N = 50
O = 70
S =200
=666
There are apparently a number of other solutions -- all pointing to the Roman system. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that coincidence is ruled out.
(Verse 18 as it is explained in The Keys of Revelation)
“By Thy Words Thou Shalt Be Condemned” (Matt. 12:37)
The Council of Trent, as is well known, declared the Latin Vulgate to be the only authentic version of Scripture, and doctors at the council preferred it to the Hebrew and Greek text itself—though the latter was written by the prophets and the apostles. For over a thousand years the Roman Church Latinized everything, and to a large extent still does use the Latin: in the Mass, prayers, hymns, litanies, canons, decretals, bulls, titles, inscriptions, and councils.
The “number of his [the beast’s] name” (Verse 17) is “the number of a man,” the “man of sin” (2 Thess. 2:3).
In other words, the first beast is the Man of Sin, the Papacy, as heretofore shown. Since according to the prophecy this mystical number is the number of a man, the suggestion is that the number is to be derived from the name or title of some particular symbolic man. The most plausible explanation, noted by others, is a certain Latin title the pope has taken to himself and allowed others to apply to him. The title is “Vicarius Filii Dei,” that is, “Vicar of the Son of God.” Vicar, meaning “instead of” or “substitute,” describes the pope acting as the representative on earth of God or Christ. Jesus’ death on the Cross is sometimes spoken of as a vicarious sacrifice, meaning a substitutionary sacrifice, namely, a man’s life for a man’s life. The letters of this title, which the Latins used as numerals, add up as follows:
V = 5
I = 1
C = 100
A = 0
R = 0
I = 1
V = 5
S = 0
F = 0
I = 1
L = 50
I = 1
I = 1
D = 500
E = 0
I = 1
Total = 666, the number of the Man of Sin
(Note: In Latin the “U” of Vicarius becomes a “V,” and the double U [W] is actually a double “V.”)
Continued with next post.
