What is the meaning of 666? Not to be mistaken, you need to know what the numbers represented to the ancient Jews. For example: the 144 thousand elected (Apocalypse, chapter 14) is the Christian people, that did not join the imperial cult, remaining faithful to Christ. 144,000 = 12 x 12 x 1000. The number 12 was a symbol of perfection and is quoted 187 times in the Bible. The number 1000 represented the glory of God.
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The symbolism of 666 is clearly interpreted by the Church
The Jewish mentality stated that the number 7 meant perfection and contact with God, and what was beneath was imperfect, so that the number 6 was a sign of imperfection, error.We have, for example, the 7 Sacraments, the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, the 7 pains of Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, etc; is a symbol of perfection. The number 6 repeated means “perfection of evil”, and the author of revelation identifies the beast with the 666, talks of this as several characters or someone who pursued the Christians of that era.
Persecution of Christianity
It’s good to remember that the Apocalypse was written at the end of the 1st century. 95 A.D., in Greek, and had addressed the Christian communities of Asia minor (Rev 2.1 1.4; -3.22), who spoke Greek. At that time, this region was under the rule of the Roman Empire and Christianity was severely persecuted by the evil emperor Domitian (81-96 a.d.). This Emperor considered himself a god and required all his subjects to worship him, which Christians would never have accepted.
St. John, so writes the book of Revelation, divinely inspired, proclaims that, in the end, Christianity will come out the winner. Wanting to say who was the beast, without speaking clearly in order not to be accused of a crime of “Lese Majesty” (was in exile on the island of Patmos because of the word of God – cf. Rev. 1.9). So the Apostle made use of gematria, which consisted of assigning a number formed by the sum of the right alphabet letters to express a truth known by readers.
Ancient peoples did not use the Arabic system (our) to express the numbers, but rather the very letters of the alphabet. The Romans used only 7 letters. Also the Jews and the Greeks attributed numbers to letters from their respective alphabets, but much more broad than the Romans, since every letter (Hebrew or Greek) had a certain value. Greek alphabet: Alpha = 1;Beta = 2; Range = 3; Delta = 4; Epsilon = 5; Stigma = 6 (ancient Greek letter that after certain time ceased to be used); Zeta = 7; ETA = 8; Tit = 9; Iota = 10; Kapa = 20; Lick = 30; MU = 40;Nu = 50; XI = 60; OMICRON = 70; PI = 80; Ro = 100; Sigma = 200; Tau = 300; Upsilon = 400;Phi = 500; Chi = 600; PSI = 700 and Omega = 800. Hebrew alphabet: Aleph = 1; Bet = 2;Gibran = 3; Dalet = 4; He = 5; Ford = 6; Zayin = 7; Chet = 8; TET = 9; Yod = 10; KAF = 20;Lamed = 30; Mem = 40; NUM = 50; Sameq = 60; Ayin = 70; PE = 80; Tsadi = 90; KOF = 100;Resh = 200; Shin = 300; Tau = 400.
Origin of 666
St. John was Hebraic and wrote the Apocalypse in Greek. If we do the gematria of Greek expression “NVRN RSQ” (Nero Caesar), using the Hebrew alphabet, totalizaremos 666: N (50) V (6) R (200) N (50) R (200) S (60) Q (100) = 666.
The communities of Asia minor spoke Greek, but they knew the Hebrew characters. St. John has mixed up two languages, namely Greek and Hebrew for that fact. If, the book fell into the hands of the Roman authorities, who did not know Hebrew, it would not put its readers at risk. Nero (67) was the first great persecutor of Christians and, at the time it was written the Apocalypse (90 years), Domitian was persecuting Christians with more strength and cruelty. He was a new Nero. This and other evidence led to the scholars to interpret that the beast of revelation was the Emperor himself, persecutor of Christians.
The Ap -11 17.10 reaffirms this interpretation. This verse says: “they are also seven Kings, five of which have already fallen, one exists and the other has not yet come, but when he comes he will have to remain for a short time. The beast, which existed and no longer exists, is itself the eighth and also one of the seven, but walks to perdition “. The Kings of the quotation are the Roman emperors. Whereas, chronologically, the emperors from the coming of Christ, until the time of the writing of the book of revelation: five have already fallen – Augusto (31aC-14dC), Tiberius (14-37dC), Caligula (37-41dC), Claudius (41-54dC) and Nero (54-68dC);There is 1: Vespasian (69-79bc); and 1 last bit: Titus (79-81dC: only 2 years!); the beast is the eighth Domitian (81-96dC).
The two beasts of the Apocalypse, who are they?
The first beast, which rises from the Sea (v. 1), is the Emperor of Rome, Domitian (as explained); the sea is the Mediterranean, where Rome was, the capital of the Empire. Their authority comes from Satan (v. 2) and the blaspheming words that are proclaimed (v. 5) refer to the cult of Emperor worship imposed by Domitian to all peoples of the Empire. The second beast, coming out of the Earth (v. 11), classified as a “false prophet” (Ap 16, 13; 19.20; 20.10), is the imperial cult ideology favored by the pagan religions. The prostitute (chaps. 17-16) means the Pagan and idolatrous Rome (v. 9). The Kings of the lands committed fornication with her (v. 2) are the people who have adopted the cult of Emperor worship.
Figurative way, the 666 can be also full power symbol, culture, people, who fight against God and his Holy Church. St. John said, in the 1st century that the Antichrist was already in the world.