So I gave it a shot.
6+6+6 = 18 so 1+8 = 9
6 x 6 x 6 = 216 so 2+1+6 = 9
So what's with the number 9 ?
I feel like i'm no better off.....
Or even nine , which sounds like nein in german for no.
Maybe this is a secret message , telling me nein! / no, it is not 9.
Ah well back to the drawing board....(rolls eyes).
So how do we count / calculate the number guys?
The number isn't 6, 6, 6. It's 666 (six hundred and sixty-six). Adding three sixes together is meaningless.
The number is written in Greek numerals in all of our oldest texts of the Apocalypse, which looks like this: ΧΞϚ
Like in many ancient numeric systems, numeric information was done by assigning numeric values to alphabetic characters. So as an example, the Greek letter Alpha had a value of 1, the Greek letter Beta had a value of 2, all the way to Theta with a value of 9, afterward the values would be 10, 20, 30, etc, then 100, 200, etc.
The Greek letter Chi has the numeric value of 600, the Greek letter Xi has the numeric value of 60, and the Greek character Digamma (retained in classical and Koine Greek purely for its numerical use) had the value of 6. So ΧΞϚ is literally 600+60+6.
In some of our oldest manuscripts of the Apocalypse there is an alternative number, ΧΙϚ or 616. This variant was known to early Christian writers of the 2nd century, such as Irenaeus, though Irenaeus believed that 666 was original and 616 was a mistake in some copies.
This is important, because the number only appears to be three sixes when written using Hindu-Arabic numerals and using the Hindu-Arabic decimal system which has been universally adopted in modern civilization. The Hindu-Arabic system has 10 numeric symbols, 9 symbols for 1-9, and a tenth symbol to represent zero. With this system rather than having a symbol that means 10, 20, 30 (or 100, 200, 300, etc), each numeric place has an assigned value. So the numeric value of one is written by a "1", we write out the numeric value of ten by taking a "1" and adding "0", thus "10" has the value of ten. Rather than adding symbolic values together, we create a decimal-place notation. Four hundred, therefore, is written as "400", doing this we can depict very large numeric values that were basically impossible in other systems. It's essentially impossible to write massive numbers, such as a billion or a trillion using Roman, Greek, or Hebrew numerals. But using the Hindu-Arabic decimal place system a billion can be written as "1,000,000,000". Thus the reason why six hundred and sixty-six appears as three sixes when written in our modern system of numerals is simply because each six fills in for the one's place, the ten's place, and the hundred's place: 6[00]6[0]6, or 666.
We cannot extract any meaning or significance using a system which was unknown by St. John when he wrote the Apocalypse, the use of the number, while cryptic, was not meant to be a convoluted mess. John gives us the key to understand by pointing out that the number is the number of a name. That only works in systems where alphabetic characters have numerical information, such as Greek. This means that Greek words and names could have a numeric value, by adding the numeric value of each letter in the word or name. The Apostle Paul, for example, is Παῦλος (Paulos), each letter of his name has a numeric value:
Π = 80
A = 1
Y = 400
Λ = 30
Ο = 70
Σ = 200
80+1+400+30+70+200 = 781. So the number of Paul's name is 781. This has no inherent or intrinsic meaning. There's nothing mystical about it.
So when John says that that the name of the Beast has the numeric value of six hundred and sixty-six, it means that when you take the letters of the Beast's name, that is the value you'll get.
John gives this information because he, presumably, expects the readers of his work to be able to figure it out. This suggests that the original audience to whom the Apocalypse was written were at least capable of figuring out who the Beast John is writing about is. And yet, debate has continued about the meaning and significance of this for about as long as Christians have been talking about the Apocalypse. Not all in the early Church even accepted the Apocalypse to be Scripture; but was considered by many in the early Church as questionable or even spurious. It was widely accepted by Western Church leaders, and thus was commonly read in Western churches, such as in Rome; but was held in suspicion by many of the Eastern churches. In fact many of our earliest Bibles lack the Apocalypse because of the controversial nature of the text, though by the 9th century it had attained full (or at least near-full) Canonical acceptance in both East and West.
Which is all to say that not only is John's meaning been heavily debated, for much of early Christian history there wasn't a lot of emphasis or focus on the book because even its Canonical status was under scrutiny. Several early writers do use it and comment on it, such as the aforementioned Irenaeus, as well as Justin Martyr and Hippolytus. But we don't even get a more thorough examination of the text in the ancient Church until Victorinus in the late 3rd century.
As a result understanding John's meaning here is exceedingly difficult and fraught with incredible controversy.
As for my own treatment of the text here, I believe that the most likely meaning here is that the number 666 is an intentionally cryptic reference to Nero. And that St. John is identifying this Beast with the imperial power of Rome vested in Caesar which, under Nero, resulted in the first widespread persecution of the Church--a harlot drunk on the bloodshed against the Church, as described later in the Apocalypse. For John, aware of how Nero had died from a mortal wound, and who would have been familiar with the rumors and legends present later in the first century of Nero coming back somehow, John's vision involves this Beast suffering a mortal wound and then being brought back to life. The early Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea tells us that when John wrote the Apocalypse it was during the reign of Domitian, and that while Domitian's father (Vespasian) and brother (Titus) did not engage cruelly with the Church as Nero had done earlier, under Domitian those cruelties returned. By the time of Trajan persecution certainly did return, as we can see in the exchange between Trajan and Pliny the Younger where Pliny asks the emperor what to do with Christians. It was also under Trajan that Ignatius faced martyrdom, and we see persecutions break out here and there, sometimes larger, sometimes smaller, throughout the Roman world. From Domitian and onward, the Church continued to face oppression and persecution. So that Tertullian, writing at the start of the 3rd century, would say that the blood of the martyrs are the seeds from which the Church grows--the evil and wicked machinations of ungodly tyrants, rather than slowing the spread of the Gospel, actually caused the Gospel to spread further and wider, as the testimony of Christ's saints enduring in the midst of tribulations sparked faith even in those who had previously committed violence against Christians.
So that the overall point and purpose of the Apocalypse is just this: Even as Christ said, that in the world we shall have trouble, but we may be of good courage for Christ has conquered the world. For we behold in the first chapter of the Apocalypse Jesus Christ risen and glorified, with the keys of Hades, having overcome death and hell and victorious over the devil; who is the Lamb of God enthroned in heaven, and who will come again in the end to bring Judgment. The powers of this world, the powers of hell, the power of death, the devil and all evil temporal authorities are overcome by the Lamb of God who was slain but is risen, and is seated in glory as King of kings and Lord of lords; and in the end all the wicked schemes of men, of kings and tyrants, and even the devil himself, shall amount to nothing. For Christ shall come again, in glory, with Everlasting Kingdom, World without End, the dead shall be raised, there is life everlasting, and God shall make all things new. And shall therefore echo for all eternity the Allelujah and Amen of all God's saints and angels forever and ever.
-CryptoLutheran
