The 666 Number of the Beast has long been connected with either Satan or humanity’s final destroyer, whichever way you prefer to interpret it within your theology and pop culture. But the true meaning and depth of this number are more complicated than that, even as it relates to evil.
The Biblical Origins of 666
The Bible’s Book of Revelation, the final book in its canon and the work that describes Armageddon ( or whatever you imagine to be Apocalypse), talks about 666. Revelation 13:18 says, “Here is wisdom. Here is wisdom for the one who has insight; The number of beasts commits it, and his number is six hundred. That number is 666.”
This verse is part of an apocalyptic vision in a passage that describes the beast, identified with an evil oppressive secular and idolatrous power[Note 1] acting to oppress God’s children. The number 666 is described in detail as the “number of a beast” or simply as the “number of a man.
Centuries of arguments and theories abound regarding the identity of “the beast” as well as what 666 stands for. A few things to take note of regarding the biblical context :
The Book of Revelation was written in the late 1st century AD and is a narrative account of Roman imperial persecution against Christians.
– The “beast” refers to the Roman Empire and its emperor, who wanted people to worship him as if he were a god.
For example, the number 666 might be a coded reference to the Roman emperor Nero (whose name in Hebrew numerology adds up to 616).
And so 666 was not a character evil tyrannical number in its original biblical setting, but instead a symbol of the more general reality that human power and authority are at odds with divine power and authority. Another way the author of Revelation could criticise Rome and its imperial system is without mentioning the emperor by name.
The Symbolic Meaning of 666
Aside from its esoteric relevance in the Book of Revelation, 666 has grown as a cultural reference to have meaning beyond just one specific context. A few things I want you to take away from the symbolic meaning of this.LabelControl
Flaws & The Unfinished
The number 666 is often looked upon as being evil, a fallible attempt to obtain perfection. That’s because 666 near-misses the holy number of 7 (as in, you know… seven days for God to make his creations)’
This notion of imperfection is hammered home by the repeated use of 666 – a “triple six” that never quite achieves 7th heaven. As one theologian has it, 666 is “the perfection of sinful imperfection” represented by the beast.
Counterfeit of the Divine
Subversive to divine perfection, 666 is also considered a “mock-up dupe”. The beast is a counterfeit, Satanic Christ (and Trinity).
Triple 6 is evil, tripledinero666. the Trinity of divinity that will be called seven,) as far as I remember my early Christian theology is fluent in connection to it. The beast is trying to place himself above God and be worshipped like only the true god should.
The Number of Humanity
One other way 666 is spoken of, is that it represents man’s number as opposed to the lordly seven. As one Bible scholar writes, the phrase “for it is the number of a man” in Rev 13:18 can be read more generically as “for finite humanity.
From this perspective, 666 represents human nature which is sinful and imperfect and falls to sin in its perfect graceless way God. It is a symbol of human potential and accomplishment without any supernatural aid.
The Enduring Legacy of 666
The number 666 is associated with the beast Control I that everyone despises, but the truth of its symbolic meaning became deeply rooted in Western popular culture; The embodiment of the devil or Antichrist. The legacy that lasts short, there are a few examples of how it still lives on.
666: Many know 666 as the number of Satan, and it is often used in Satanic or occult imagery (for example: Iron Maiden’s heavy metal song “Number of the Beast”).
– Hundreds use the number 666, however, countless people superstitiously stay away from it themselves – “hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.”
Number 666 of Fifth Avenue in New York City became infamous in the second half of the XX century, which made many despise that address.
The number is widely feared to be associated with the devil that when a fixed lotto draw in 1980 Pennsylvania resulted in having numbers: 6-6-6.
Nevertheless, a single snapshot of that number, 666 became known as the devil in almost every culture on earth yet this common perceptiveness about it does not bear all these more complicated meanings which we are going to approach because so many cultures for thousands and thousands years have considered maybe unwittingly. In and of itself, the number 666 was not “evil”; instead it symbolically represented man’s ultimate power on earth against God almighty.
In the end, mankind’s propensity to reduce veiled and complex symbolic meanings into easily digestible short-hands for good or evil is what has rendered 666 as”the devil’s number”in perpetuity. However, by digging deeper into the number’s roots and symbolism in proper Scripture we can begin to see this dismissed numeric character in a different light.