Book of Revelation Ch 13 Mark of the Beast Count The Number of His Name

Okay, good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome to the All Things Fulfilled broadcast. This is William Bell, and we're going to be talking this morning on the Mark of the Beast. I'll get to as much of that as I can this morning. It's good to see those who are coming in. Welcome, Stephen and Calvin. Good to hear from you, Beatrice, Eric, Deb. All right, very good. So, we're going to get rolling here. I know I kind of began introducing this on last week, and so I'm going to touch on a few things this morning to kind of lay that foundation again, because I think it's, from the perspective that I have, it's very, very important. And I didn't always hold this view, but for some reason it's appealing to me, and beginning to make some sense. You know, I don't know if any of you have looked at it before, but in terms of how the chapter sort of lays out, or is laid out, and the sequence and flow of it suggests to me that this is the direction where this Mark of the Beast is coming from. At any rate, let's get started. In verse 11, we have the land beast coming up out of the earth, and the earth in Revelation is generally a reference to Palestine. The beast has two horns like a lamb. It spoke as a dragon. The beast is, if you could say, it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. He looks like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon. And this shows the affinity with the first beast who received authority from the dragon that we have in Revelation chapter 12, verse 7 and following, and that corresponds with what we see in chapter 13. It says, he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence that he calls the earth and the inhabitants of the land of Palestine to worship the first beast. Also, he performed great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men. Now that seems to refer back to Elijah, the prophet of God, who called down fire from heaven in his contest against the 450 prophets of Baal, and during the time of the Exodus also, we see that there were these two magicians who performed the same type of miracle that it seemed that Moses did from 2 Timothy 3 and verse 8. It refers to Jannes and Jambres, who in like manner did some things that Moses and Aaron had done, and you find that in Exodus chapter 7 verses 9 through 13. The irony here may be that they made fire come down from heaven and instead of it being something that would have been to their favor, as it was in the case of Elijah, it may have been something that was destructive to them. I'm not sure exactly how that works out, but there is a correlation, I believe, with Elijah from that perspective. But you also see from Revelation 13 in terms of this land beast that as he performed these great signs so that he made the fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men, it says that he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast and who was wounded by the sword and live. So, deception was a big part of what was taking place here, and this sort of reminds me of Matthew chapter 24 and verse 24 where Jesus said that false prophets and false Christs will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. When you look in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Acts, you have Simon the sorcerer who for a time bewitched the people. You also have Elemas the sorcerer in Acts chapter 13 verses 6 through 8. Simon was in chapter 8, but Elemas the sorcerer in Acts 13, 6 through 10. And maybe we'll read just a little bit of that so you can kind of have that refreshed in your mind. But in Acts 13, beginning at verse 6, the text says, now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, or Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elemas the sorcerer, for so his name is translated, withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. And then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, O fool of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the right ways of the Lord? So you had Simon, you had Elemas, there was a slave girl who made her masters much money through divination. And so these are just some of the things that was leading up. But you also had other men like Thutis who were deceiving and leaving or leading people out to follow him, which Christ said that they should not do. And so during this time, those things were taking place. Now, as we said, the land beast deceived those who were dwelling in the earth, which I would take to be Palestine, as they said, but causing them to make an image to the beast. Now in verse 15, it says he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. The idea of giving breath to the image of the beast, making it appear to come alive. And those who refuse to worship him, of course, would be killed. Now that seems to be the same, as I said before, I think last week, the same pattern of events that took place during the time of the Babylonian captivity. In Daniel chapter three, when Nebuchadnezzar made this image of gold, and then required everyone to worship him. So let's look at that for just a moment and see if this doesn't follow the pattern. And the reason this appeals to me is because of the emphasis on mystery Babylon in the book of Revelation for Jerusalem. And because of the references to the beast, which take us back to Daniel chapter seven, and chapter eight for that matter as well. But because it's dealing with information from Daniel, it seems appropriate that this might apply as well. And so, and I agree with you, Jose, it's like adding more fuel. All right, so from that perspective, verse one says Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and it's with six cubits. Now that's very tempting to just go with that alone. I know that I have some other Preterist friends who look at the temple in Jerusalem, and they see those dimensions. I was intending to look that up, but I didn't get a chance to. But if you want to check out some of Holger Neubauer's material, he did a little track on the temple and the numbers 666. So check that out, see what you think about that. I'm going to take a different perspective than Holger did, even though I think ultimately we're kind of in the same ballpark in terms of what's going on. But nevertheless, notice that he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. So when you look at this image, that's being set up. It's being set up in Babylon. And if you think about the land beast, you think about Palestine and the people who are involved in this war against the saints, etc. We're talking about mystery Babylon, which of course would be Jerusalem in the New Testament. Then he commanded all the officials of the province to come and see this image. And then following that, he commands all the peoples, the nations and languages to fall down and worship it. Now, so you've got this universal command for all people to fall down and to worship the beast. And you can see in verse 15 and 16, it says he was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all both small and great, rich and poor free enslaved to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads. So the penalty for those who would not worship the image, they would be, according to Daniel's prophecy, they would be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And there were certain of the Chaldeans, that is the Babylonians who came forth and then accused the Jews because they did not worship. Now this is similar to what happened in Revelation, because it says all of those who would not worship the beast would be killed. Well, you got the same penalty, you got the same judgment, you got the same condemnation that would come upon them as well. And you have these Chaldeans who are accusing them. Well, if you look again back at Revelation chapter 12, and you see in verse 7, it says that this war broke out in heaven with Michael and his angels who fight against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. In verse 11, no in have come for the accuser of our brethren who accused them before our God night and day has been cast down. So here you can see there's an accuser here, just like there was an accuser in Daniel chapter 3 with those who refused to fall down and worship this image. And it says that they had a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads. Now, once they refused to worship, of course, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. The intention was to kill them. And when we look in verse 16, they refused to fall down and even indicating that they were willing to give up their own lives for their allegiance to God. In other words, they were not willing to forfeit their stance with God by falling down to worship this image. And that's same thing that we just read in Revelation 12. It says that they love not their lives to the death. So some of them, even though they're being accused, even though they were forced to worship, they refused to do so and therefore were willing to give up their lives. So the pattern seems to follow all the way through in terms of what's taking place with the beast in Revelation and also with the image that was set up here. And you have an image, of course, in both cases. And so the language in Daniel, where in verse 17, when they are required to worship, they said, you know, let it be known to you, O King, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And he spoke and commanded they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. So they are now about to be cast into the furnace because of their refusal to worship this image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Now we're given this cryptic number as the mark of the beast. And we've had a lot of suggestions as to who this mark of the beast is. Some ascribe it to Nero and because they say the letters of his name, and of course you have to use, I think it's the of his name and those consonants will equal up to 666. Some use Nero. And on the other hand, that's if you're using the Hebrew, you will get the number 666 using the consonants in his name. If you're using the Latin, I think they say in Latin, it will only amount to the number 616. So now you've got to decide, are you going to use the Latin or are you going to use the Hebrew? Let's see, the New Living Translation, anyone who with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit, understand what he is saying to the churches, to everyone who is victorious, I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven and I will give to each one a, I think it's a new name that says in that text, no, a white stone and on the stone will engrave a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it. All right, well, at any rate, we have this number and some say it's Nero. And so, you know, you spell it Caesar, Neron, and that's how you get the number. I'm not, I used to hold that view, but because of the fact that the beast was to continue for 42 months and would be destroyed by the coming of Christ, Nero didn't survive that and died before the return of Christ or before his coming occurred. And for the same reason, I don't subscribe to the 616 because, you know, you'd have the same problem there, but then that number doesn't total up to 666. But the Bible says that the number is 666. So how do we find a solution for that? Others claim that it has something to do with the goal that Solomon received according to first Kings chapter 10 and verse 14. And let's go over there and take a look at that because there's a passage that I want to point out in connection with first Kings 10 and verse 14 that is used as well to suggest, because this passage actually uses 666. And I think it's the only one in scripture that does so in terms of any reference that we might have in the Old Testament, 666. And what did I say? It The weight of gold that came to Solomon was 666 talents of gold. Besides that from traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the Kings of Arabia and from the governors of the country. Now, if you're going to use 666 for the gold that Solomon received, that wasn't all the gold that he received. The text says that this was besides that from traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the Kings of Arabia and from the governors of the country. Now, whether they brought, you know, more merchandise or whether they brought more gold, not sure. Nicole Rogers says, and the sons of Achan in the days of Ezra were 666. Thank you for that reference as well. I wasn't sure about that one. All right. So that reference refers to Solomon's gold in this one in the sons of Achan in the days of Ezra were 666. Okay. So that's another reference. And I'll, I'll look at that a little bit. Now, do you have the exact verse on that one, Nicole? If you do, I will, I'll look that up. I'd like to read it. If you can post it here on the, on the screen and let us take a look at it. But I can't say that I hold to the statement about Solomon's gold as well. And then, as I told you before, Holger has a view where he looks at the, I think it's the building of the tabernacle or the building. Yeah. Where it mentions, you know, either the various dimensions, materials, et cetera, et cetera, that are made up that make up the temple and the tabernacle. And in that tabernacle, the numbers 666 are calculated in some way. Now I'm going to suggest something else and this comes out of Babylon. And I don't know if you, you are familiar with it or not, but it seems to make some sense to me because of the correlation that Daniel or rather that John is making with Daniel and the overall theme of the book of Revelation focusing on mystery Babylon seems to make a lot of sense to me. There was in Babylon, in Babylon's numbering system, it was a base 60 numbering system. Let's see what Eric says. And, and I saw Dale's comment as well that mentioned, you know, that theory about Nero being revived after death. I'm not very keen on holding that opinion either. But at any rate, Eric says some manuscripts say 666 and others say 616. That is why I think it's Nero, but I like the statue and Babylon relation to Jerusalem and the golden dimensions for the temple in regard to temple worship. There are often layers, but it does say that it is a man's number. So again, I think it is Nero. Well, I can appreciate that Dale. Eric, yes, it is a man's name. However, think of a corporate man for one, so that it doesn't necessarily have to be an individual. And also consider that the temple itself was laid out in the form of a man. And if you look up some of Mike Sullivan's work, you'll see where he did some, some work on that. But I think any, you know, if you're kind of familiar with that, you'll see that the temple was kind of laid out as a man as well. So there could be something a bit more deep, deeper than just a man. So it could be talking about like the old covenant man or something to that extent, the, as opposed to an individual. As I was saying, the Babylonians used a base 60 number system from which comes 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, 360 degrees in a circle or 60 times six and 60 degrees in each angle of an equilateral triangle, and thus 360 divided by 10 equals six, and then six times six equals 36. Let's see. Here's this text. I'll be back to my point in a moment. All right, the children of Adonikum 666. Okay, so it was Adonikum. All right, Adonikum, I can't pronounce that. But I'll look that up later and just see what I think about what I think about that number in relation to that name. So they wore this amulet. Now, this is something else that makes me think that, again, this is referring back to something related to Babylon and this image that Nebuchadnezzar made up etc. But they wore an amulet, and that was an object worn especially around the neck as a charm against evil or injury. An ornament or gem, and this is Wikipedia's definition of what that is, a scroll or a package containing a relic. Now, I've also heard people talk about the phylacteries etc. that the Jews wore, and they put a scripture in it, and some wore it on the hand, some wore it on the forehead, or either I think on the shoulder. But nevertheless, they used that as well, and they said that may have been the mark of the beast. But I think this one, because of what's involved, may suggest something a bit more involved than that. All right. It was a kind of protective ornament or charm, often bearing magical symbols worn for protection against ill will, negative influences, evil spirits, or the supernatural. So that was the basic meaning of this amulet that they wore. But it's also important to look at the significance of the Babylonians using a sexagesimal, and I hope I said that right, base 60 number system. And I've mentioned this 60 minutes in an hour etc. So what they did was they worshipped gods that were associated with the sun, the moon, the planets, and stars involved with astrology. And Babylonians were also the principal developers of astrology, as we know it today. And it is because of this that pagan priests wore these amulets called Sigilla Solis, or sun seal, which symbolized 36 constellations. And you can also see the origin of Babylon and sun worship. Now, the origin of 666. In this system of worship, they had 36 supreme gods, which included the sun god, which they believed to be the father of all other gods, and so was supreme overall. The Babylonians believed that numbers had power over their gods they worshipped. So they assigned numbers to their gods so that they could have power over them. They did this by counting their gods and assigning a consecutive number to each of the 36 lesser supreme gods, and then added up the numbers from 1 to 36, and assigned the sum to the sun god. The sun god was assigned number 1, as it was the father of all gods, and thus was also the male deity. The moon god was assigned number 2, and of course was the female deity. The gods number 3 through 36 were considered the children of the sun and the moon god, which included the various stars and constellations that these gods were associated with. I am sure that you have already guessed by now that the sum of the numbers from 1 to 36 totals 666, which they also assigned to the god associated with the sun as being the father of all their gods. So the calculation is simply this, and you can do this calculation. I would encourage you to do it just so you can see. But if you take the numbers 1 through 36, like 1 plus 2 plus 3 plus 5 plus 6 plus 7, so forth and so on, until you get to the number 36, the total will be 666. Now, scholar and secret society expert Merle Vance come in in his book, The Trail of the Serpent. He says, in the astrological religion of Babylon, every god had its sacred number or numbers, which were often used in place of a god's name. And these numbers indicated the god's place and power among these astrological gods. Going back into Babylonian astrology, we find the reason for the sanctity of the number 36. The Babylonians divided each of the twelve houses in the zodiac into three rooms, making 36 in all. They then divided the entire remainder of the sky into 36 constellations and appointed the ruling god of each constellation to rule over one of the 36 rooms of the zodiac. And since the spirits of the departed were believed to go to and dwell in the stars, which is a teaching that was much alive today. Now, I'm not sure if that refers to a time in the past or whether it still exists today. But at any rate, it says there was therefore not a spirit in the heavens, not a star in the sky, which was not represented in the 36 rooms of the zodiac. And to swear by the number 36 was to swear by every god in the heavens above, as well as by all the spirits of the departed. The 36 gods were called Dekans, because each ruled over, or Dekans, I guess, ruled over 10 degrees, but that's what that means, 10, of the zodiac circle, and over 10 days of the 360-day year. So, the seven planets, or the seven-headed astrological dragon, ruled over 36 Dekans. Now, these numbers seem to have some relationship, because they're talking about dragons, they're talking about the sun and the moon, they're talking about the number 666. All of this seems to kind of fall in place with what's been happening in Revelation 12 and 13, at least up to this point. And so, they said it was natural and inevitable that since the summary number of the numbers from 1 to 36 is 666, this number, called the grand number of the sun, should have been assigned to the sun god as the cosmic god, who not only ruled over all the other gods, but also was the heavenly parent. Herein lies the reason for the solar seals in use before the time of Christ as amulets to ward off any evil that may come from the 36 Dekans, or Dekans. Now, that was according to Vance. Again, remember now, in Revelation 13, it says that anyone who did not have this seal could not buy or sell. So, it was some form of protection for the people who used it in order for them to be able to survive. Those who did not use it would die. So, the purpose of it seems to be the same purpose or similar purpose that we have in the book of Revelation. Because the Babylonians saw their gods as being predominantly evil, they feared that one of them may strike them down sometime. This is why they made the amulets with a 6 x 6 matrix, with the numbers 1 through 36 on them, which are called numeric matrices, magic squares today. Some positive quantities were credited to some of their gods, in particular the sun god, but overall their gods were seen as being evil rather than good. Now, in order to increase the power of these numbers in such a way that the sum of any given row, column, or diagonal was 111. And therefore, the sum of all six rows or all six columns was 666. Now, let's see if I can share with you somewhat of a picture of what this looks like. Let's see. I don't know if you can see this at all. If you can let me get it down a little bit. Now, if you see that. Okay, there we go. And you look on the side where my hand is, it's hard to hold this thing up in front of the camera. You can see that like square there, and there's a number in each one of them. And either way you go in either direction, those numbers will add up to, let's see, what did he say? He said that, let me take this down so I can see my note here. The sum of any given row, column, or diagonal was 111. And therefore, the sum of all six rows or all six columns is 666. And that was supposed to provide extra protection, including the sun god, since the god Sun was present on the amulet. The one above has the god of the sun standing on the lion. This indicated the sun's position in the constellation of Leo during the hot days of August, etc. And, you know, I'll leave it at that. Now, the reason I say this is simply this. With this chapter, referring to those who persecuted the saints, we know that that was Israel. Let's see, Christians who refused to bow down and admit Caesar as Lord could not buy or sell in the marketplace. Okay, and I can understand that. The only concept I'm saying is, with this idea of referring to Mystery Babylon, I think you also had some of that going on with the, with the, I'm losing my thought here, with the Zealots as well, in terms of their preventing the people from having access to food as well. So, I understand that you had Caesar, you know, who are doing that. But again, when I look at the overall context of Babylon being the focus of Revelation 13, of the persecutions, of the land of Palestine, it seems to me that this beast and this image aligns more with what happened in Babylon than what's happening with Rome. I still am having the major problem in looking at these concepts in relating Rome to the ones who persecuted the saints. That's just a little bit difficult for me. Now, this, you know, was a kind of challenging point. This is information to me that is interesting. I thought I would put it out there to see if any of you looked at it. If you want to go and read the entirety of this material, you can go to a website called 666 or 666thenumberofthebeast.com. 666thenumberofthebeast.com. It's just interesting that you find in Babylon this amulet that was worn in order to prevent them from experiencing danger and threat from these gods. And here were, I would say, the Jews are, you know, causing those who would not fall in line with them, would be causing them to lose their lives as well. So, from that perspective, it kind of makes sense to me. But at any rate, see what you think of it. I'm not trying to enforce that view on anyone. But at any rate, you know, consider it. And we will move forward in our studying on next week and see if we can get beyond. And I'm still not done with the identity of the beast in the chapter because we get to chapter 17. There's some additional information that we can cover on that. Okay, Rome was not destroyed in AD 70. The beast was. I agree with that, Ron. That's another major reason I have a problem with ascribing Rome to the beast is because the outcome and the end result of Rome is not destruction in AD 70. But for Jerusalem, it is. Jerusalem is Mystery Babylon. All of this imagery, and even these concepts of this amulet and idol in AD 66 goes back to a Babylon influence. And that seems to fall in line with the tone and tenor of the book of Revelation. All right. Couldn't Rome then be the woman who wrote the beast instead? No, I don't really think so. Well, thank you, Ron. There's one person who kind of agrees with that. Not that I'm saying you accepted what I said about the the amulet, but Nero just gives me a problem. And something that falls in line with Babylon tends to flow with the way the book of Revelation is flowing with me more than anything else. Well, that's the message this morning. A little bit challenging, for sure. A lot of reading, of course, but that's the best that I could do with that material. Reflect on it, think about it, and let me know what your conclusions are. I know we've held Rome and Nero to be the object of these things for so long that it's not easy to even think about going in a different direction. But that at least gives some basis of a reason to do so. All right. With that, I'm going to say good morning to you. Thanks, everybody, for joining in. You have the link down below to send out to people who might want to subscribe to our newsletter. And it is getting some good results. And we're getting correspondents from people as well who have joined the newsletter. And so, we're definitely interacting with them. So, thank you for sharing that. We appreciate all of you very much. And I will see you next week. And we'll be talking about another subject at that particular time. Thank you.