Revelation 13: 18: Number of A Man, or Number of Man
Bernard Pyron
On a Christian forum a guy said: "Revelation 13:5-10: "The Beast {666} will exercise his authority for 42 months {Or 1260 days or 3 1/2 times}......He will be given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he will be given authority over *EVERY* tribe, people, language and nation. *ALL*
inhabitants of the earth will worship the Beast {666}--all whose names
have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb...This
calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the
saints."
He also said ""Rev 13:16,17: "He {The False Prophet} forced everyone... to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead. No one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name {666}. 666 is called a "BEAST" 36 {6x6} times in Revelation. The BEAST is a much better name than the antichrist since anti-christ is mentioned 5 times in God's Word {I John 2:18{2X}, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7} and each time the word encompasses all who are against Christ. Such as I John 2:18: "Even now many anti-christs have come."
The description of the first beast of Revelation 13 begins in verse 2 as
being like a leopard, a bear, and a lion, which refers to the Daniel 7
beasts, who are the same except for the fourth dreadful and terrible
beast. Then in 13: 3 one of the heads of the first beast was wounded
to death, but his wound was healed and all the world wondered after
the beast.
Then in verses 5 to 7 the first beast is referred to a "he."
The dispensationalist insistence on consistent literalism can mess up
an understanding of what the first beast is.
Calling the first beast a "he" does not necessarily mean this is one
man, the super one man beast. Nor is the second beast of Revelation
13: 11-18 one man, but is a type, representing many false
prophets.
To be consistent with Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, the first beast would be
a government, an empire. There were six main empires before the Cross, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires. The last four of these empires that came before the Cross are found in Daniel 2: 31-44. Then the four beasts of Daniel 7: 4-8 represent the last four world empires after the Cross. There were two Catholic empires which came after the Cross, but before these four last empires of Daniel 7. The two Catholic empires were the Holy Roman and Catholic Spanish empires. The four world empires of Daniel 7 are the lion. the bear, the leopard and the beast who is dreadful and terrible.
The head of the beast whose deadly wound was
healed sounds like the nation of Israel, also the little horn of
Daniel 7: 8.
In 2010 some Facebook Remnant people and I looked at Revelation 13: 18, on whether the number 666 is applied to "A man," or to man as all men.
On http://biblos.com/revelation/13-18.htm
A Greek-English Interlinear for the Westcott-Hort Greek, says
"...arithmon (number) tou (of the) thēriou (beast) arithmos (number) gar (for) anthrōpou (of man) estin (it is)..."
It does not say "number of a man." It translates anthropou, from which we get
our anthropology, as man in the abstract.
It happens that the Westcott-Hort for Rev 13: 18 has exactly the same Greek
words as the Textus Receptus.
The Revised Standard Version for Rev 13: 18 has:
"This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the
beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six."
The New International Version for Rev 13: 18 says:
"This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of
the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."
The NIV and the Revised Standard Version are based mainly on the Westcott-Hort
Greek text, which is essentially the same, for this verse, as that of the Textus
Receptus, from which the King James is translated. But both these translations
say it is man in the abstract who has the number, and not an individual.
The King James Version for Rev 13: 18 says "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."
I joined a Christian Yahoo group in 2010, whichversion, to ask about the Greek in Rev 13: 18.
Here is the response I got from one member who knows more Koine Greek than I do: "The problem is that Greek has no indefinite article, unlike English.
ANQRWPOU may fairly be rendered either "of man" or "of a man." It is
context that then must determine which is the best way to translate the
text. If a specific individual were in mind, Greek would normally use the
definite article (which it does have), but that's the other part of the
problem -- Revelation is hardly written in what anybody would recognize as
standard Greek, even of the Koine period."
Despite all the problems with the New International Version, it has "for it is man's number. His number is 666." A Westcott-Hort Greek-English Interlinear says it is man's number.
John's Greek ""anthropou estin" is not real clear whether he is saying its the number of A man or of man as a species.
The 6,7 and 8 cycle is given in a very brief way in Revelation 17: 11, "And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition."
The beast is said to have been in number seven, which is God's rest (Genesis 2:2-3, Hebrews 4: 3, 5). It is implied in Revelation 17: 11 that before the beast was in number seven, it was in number six, which is man's position - in Genesis 1: 26, 31. Man was created on the sixth day, and following the sixth day God rested. God's rest into which those in Christ are to enter is number seven.
Since man's number, before an individual is born again by the Spirit in Jesus Christ, which is God's rest, is number six, 666 refers to unregenerated man or man as a species, anthropos. Our English word "anthropomorphise" means to attribute to a human the traits of an animal, abstract concept or construct, hence, to claim that what is called a beast in prophecy must be one man.
Matthew 24: 11 says "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." A number of other New Testament verses, including Matthew 7: 15, Mark 13: 22-23,Luke 6: 26, II Peter 2: 1, and I John 4: 1, say there are many false prophets. To be consistent with New Testament use of false prophets, the second beast of Revelation 13: 11-18 would refer to many false prophets, not one man.
