Can you figure this scripture out for me seeings how you know much more of the bible than I do?
Here are all the scriptures speaking directly of this number:
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark,
or the name of the beast,or the number of his name.
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”
(Revelation 13:17-18).
“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten
the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the
number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God”
(Revelation 15:2).
Note From these scriptures, we have the following definite points:
1. The beast has a number and may be identified, if we have wisdom,
by this number.
2. The number is 666.
3. We are told to count this number—that is, add it up. The same Greek word
is used elsewhere only in Luke 14:28: Count the cost.
4. This number, 666, is the number of the beast. The only Bible interpretation
of this symbol, “beast,” is a kingdom or the king who rules it and, therefore,
really is the kingdom (Daniel 7:17-18, 22-24, 27).
Therefore 666 must be the number of the kingdom, or government, or empire,
as well as that of the king who founds or rules it.
5. The expression “the name of the beast, or the number of his name” makes plain
that the number 666 is the number of the name of the kingdom or empire.
6. The expression “it is the number of a man” shows we must also count this number
in the name of the king, or ruler, over the kingdom identified as the “beast.”
The Beast Is Not the Woman [a church]
In the 17th chapter of Revelation we find a beast, and a woman—a great, wealthy
but fallen woman—who was riding the beast. The Bible describes the symbol “woman”
to mean a church (see 2?Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7; Ephesians 5:22-27).
The beast of Revelation 13 is not the woman who rode the beast
—the beast is the government, and the woman is a church.
The beast of Revelation 13 is the Roman Empire!
This beast had a deadly wound (Revelation 13:3). That means the beast ceased altogether
to exist or function as it had since 31 b.c. Yet its deadly wound was later healed, after which
(verse 5) it continued to exist another 1,260 years!
The Founder of Rome
The founder and first king of Rome was Romulus.
The Roman Empire was named after him.
His name, the name of a man, also is the name of the kingdom.
And every citizen in the kingdom bears the same name—a Roman.
When John wrote this Revelation, telling us to count the number of the beast,
he wrote in the Greek language. Consequently, we should look for this name,
and the number 666, in this language recognized in the Bible, not in the Latin.
We are all familiar with the Roman numerals, where letters are used for numbers.
All understand that I is 1, v is 5, x is 10, etc. But many do not know that the Greek
language, in which the book of Revelation was written, also uses letters for numbers.
In the Greek this name was understood in the second century a.d. to have originally
been spelled Lateinos. It signifies “Latin man” or “the name of Latium,”
from which region the Romans derived their origin and their language.
This word, too, signifies “Roman.” In the Greek, l is 30, a is 1, t is 300, e is 5,
I is 10, n is 50, o is 70, s is 200. Count these figures. They count to exactly 666!
It is indeed no coincidence that the name of the kingdom, its founder and first king,
and of each man in the kingdom, counts to exactly 666!
Certainly the beast stands identified!