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I think Hank Handegraaff/Sigmund Brouwer explain it well how the number 666 adds up to Nero. John wrote Revelation to the people of his time, in a way they could easily understand it, based on their culture, and reglion. It was written as a warning for the Jewish Christians of his time. Studying the OT helps explain Revelation. Knowing their belief and culture of that time, helps in understanding it. The problem we have is trying to apply it to our time in our culture ...that is where we come up with all sorts of werid off the wall ideas. We have to stop being so arrogant in doing doing this. Its no different then studying how their culture was to understand more fully what Jesus taught. Like in the Story of the Good Samaritan....in that time Samaritan were very looked down on by others. To fully appericate the story, you need to know that...in understanding that and why then it makes more sense to be able to apply it to our culture today. We don't have Samaritains...but we have others that the culture tends to look down on, don't we? You miss out on the richeness of the bible if you don't have some knowlege of the culture of that time.
Anyway from the book, The Last Disciples, I think its explained well how 666 points to Nero...in the second book it goes more into depth, explaining how its not JUST Nero that is the beast, that the beast is applied to two things...I will get to that in a minute.
(so this makes sense to the read, this man, Damian is a Roman slave hunter...he knows nothing about the Jewish beliefs, or who Jesus is...he got his hands on the letter John wrote about the beast and seeks out a Jew to help him understand it. He heard it might be a threat towards Nero and wants to find out more. the Jew is Azariah he is trying to explain to Damian how the number adds up to Nero).
"Tell me about a certain matter in the letter. In one way the author of the letter seems to identify him clearly. And in another, not clearly. Simply put, who is the Beast?"
Azariah's reaction was much different than Darda's had been a day earlier. "'Let the one who has understanding solve the number of the Beast,'" Azarah said, smiling as he quoted from the letter. He wiped a greasy finger against his leg. "That is what you want to know for the exorbitant price you offer?"
"Yes."
"Dardad didn't want to speak about it, did he?" Again, Azarah made it sound like a statement, not a question.
If Damian had needed a reminder about the cleverness of the man opposite him, here was a plain one.
Azariah continued. "Darda fears the authorites much more that I do. Of course, they don't owe him as much money as they owe me. Unlike him, I'm not afraid that discussing it will be seen as treason."
Again, another hint of the danger of the letter. Somehow Darda had decided that the letter spoke against the emperor, an offense punishable by immediate death. But Damian had given the number of the Beast much consideration and though otherwise. "How could it possibly be treason?" Damian asked. "The number of the Beast is not given by Nero's name."
"No?" Azariah smiled indulgently. "Pretend I know nothing about gematria. Pretend I am a little boy, just learning to read."
"Every letter in our alphabet corresponds to a number," Damian said with a touch of impatience, because the use of gematria to convert words and names into numbers was indeed something every literate person understood from the first days of formal education. "The first ten letters are the numbers 1 through 10, the eleventh letter represents 20, the twelfth letter 30, and so on until 100. The twentieth letter is 200, and each new letter represents an additional hundred."
Mock applause from Azariah. "Thus," Azariah said, "the famous verse of poetry that Nero hates: 'Count the numberical values of the letters in Nero's name, and in murder his own mother, and you will find their sum is the same.'"
Damian nodded. In Greek, the numbers of all the letters in Nero's name totaled 1,005. As did the numbers in the phrase murder his own mother. It was a clever verse and a clever piece of gematria, reflecting the widespread knowledge that indeed Nero had killed his mother, Agrippina. The fact that the verse appeared everywhere in public places and was widely understood for its slyness also relected the univeral use and acceptance of gematria.
"So you are puzzled about the reference to the number 666."
"Yes," Damian said. "Of course."
"To the Jewish people," Azariah said, "it is more than a number. It, like much of the rest of the leter, is also a symblol For the Herbrews, it is a fearful sign of a king and a kingdom in the image of the Dragon...the fallen angel who opposes God."
Azariah continued, obvioiusly aware of Damian's lack of comprehension. "To the Hebrews, 6 is a number of incompleteness, one short of 7, which stands for completeness. The triple 6 that much more so. But it's fascinating number and mathematically almost a riddle in and of itself, a code of multiple variations. I could spend hours expounding on this and believe me, I have given the number much thought since studying the letter for you."
Azariah had an empty scroll beside him. He picked it up and made some quick marking. (I can't show you this but it looks like a triangle filled with stars).
"This, as you know, is a triangular, " Azariah said. "A simple example. It's the traingular 21, which fourms two triangles with an inner triangle of 6 and an outer of 15, in a total of 6 lines. As the triangular 21, the total number of 21 is the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 6. If you extend this pattern all the way out to 36 lines, adding up all the numbers from 1 to 36, you fourm the triangular 666. I won't bore you with the calculations' trust me when I say that the triangle 666 is the 'fulfillment' of 105, a 12 fold triangle with the periphery of 30 x 3 1/2, a reckoning that also adds up to the fatally limited reign of 1,260 days that the letter prophesies for the Beast. Incredible code. Astounding, actually."
Azariah shook his head in awe. "It's even errie, epseically when you understand the name of the Beast." Damian was impressed at the rabbi's reaction of wonder and admiration, yet was too impatient to want more discussion of the matter. "I have far less interest in your calculations than in the name of the Beast," Damina said.
"But these numerical relationships are very significant," Azariah portested, "You came to me because..."
"The name of the Beast, " Damian interrupted. "That's what's imporant to me. It seems to me that John is plainly saying that I should be able to identify the Beast by its number. Except I can't."
"You are not Herbew." Azariah gave Damian a broad grin. "Which, if course, is why you came to me."
"You are saying you have the answer?"
"It is a plain to me as it would be to any other Jew reading it."
(had to stop)
God bless
WhiteStar
I think Hank Handegraaff/Sigmund Brouwer explain it well how the number 666 adds up to Nero. John wrote Revelation to the people of his time, in a way they could easily understand it, based on their culture, and reglion. It was written as a warning for the Jewish Christians of his time. Studying the OT helps explain Revelation. Knowing their belief and culture of that time, helps in understanding it. The problem we have is trying to apply it to our time in our culture ...that is where we come up with all sorts of werid off the wall ideas. We have to stop being so arrogant in doing doing this. Its no different then studying how their culture was to understand more fully what Jesus taught. Like in the Story of the Good Samaritan....in that time Samaritan were very looked down on by others. To fully appericate the story, you need to know that...in understanding that and why then it makes more sense to be able to apply it to our culture today. We don't have Samaritains...but we have others that the culture tends to look down on, don't we? You miss out on the richeness of the bible if you don't have some knowlege of the culture of that time.
Anyway from the book, The Last Disciples, I think its explained well how 666 points to Nero...in the second book it goes more into depth, explaining how its not JUST Nero that is the beast, that the beast is applied to two things...I will get to that in a minute.
(so this makes sense to the read, this man, Damian is a Roman slave hunter...he knows nothing about the Jewish beliefs, or who Jesus is...he got his hands on the letter John wrote about the beast and seeks out a Jew to help him understand it. He heard it might be a threat towards Nero and wants to find out more. the Jew is Azariah he is trying to explain to Damian how the number adds up to Nero).
"Tell me about a certain matter in the letter. In one way the author of the letter seems to identify him clearly. And in another, not clearly. Simply put, who is the Beast?"
Azariah's reaction was much different than Darda's had been a day earlier. "'Let the one who has understanding solve the number of the Beast,'" Azarah said, smiling as he quoted from the letter. He wiped a greasy finger against his leg. "That is what you want to know for the exorbitant price you offer?"
"Yes."
"Dardad didn't want to speak about it, did he?" Again, Azarah made it sound like a statement, not a question.
If Damian had needed a reminder about the cleverness of the man opposite him, here was a plain one.
Azariah continued. "Darda fears the authorites much more that I do. Of course, they don't owe him as much money as they owe me. Unlike him, I'm not afraid that discussing it will be seen as treason."
Again, another hint of the danger of the letter. Somehow Darda had decided that the letter spoke against the emperor, an offense punishable by immediate death. But Damian had given the number of the Beast much consideration and though otherwise. "How could it possibly be treason?" Damian asked. "The number of the Beast is not given by Nero's name."
"No?" Azariah smiled indulgently. "Pretend I know nothing about gematria. Pretend I am a little boy, just learning to read."
"Every letter in our alphabet corresponds to a number," Damian said with a touch of impatience, because the use of gematria to convert words and names into numbers was indeed something every literate person understood from the first days of formal education. "The first ten letters are the numbers 1 through 10, the eleventh letter represents 20, the twelfth letter 30, and so on until 100. The twentieth letter is 200, and each new letter represents an additional hundred."
Mock applause from Azariah. "Thus," Azariah said, "the famous verse of poetry that Nero hates: 'Count the numberical values of the letters in Nero's name, and in murder his own mother, and you will find their sum is the same.'"
Damian nodded. In Greek, the numbers of all the letters in Nero's name totaled 1,005. As did the numbers in the phrase murder his own mother. It was a clever verse and a clever piece of gematria, reflecting the widespread knowledge that indeed Nero had killed his mother, Agrippina. The fact that the verse appeared everywhere in public places and was widely understood for its slyness also relected the univeral use and acceptance of gematria.
"So you are puzzled about the reference to the number 666."
"Yes," Damian said. "Of course."
"To the Jewish people," Azariah said, "it is more than a number. It, like much of the rest of the leter, is also a symblol For the Herbrews, it is a fearful sign of a king and a kingdom in the image of the Dragon...the fallen angel who opposes God."
Azariah continued, obvioiusly aware of Damian's lack of comprehension. "To the Hebrews, 6 is a number of incompleteness, one short of 7, which stands for completeness. The triple 6 that much more so. But it's fascinating number and mathematically almost a riddle in and of itself, a code of multiple variations. I could spend hours expounding on this and believe me, I have given the number much thought since studying the letter for you."
Azariah had an empty scroll beside him. He picked it up and made some quick marking. (I can't show you this but it looks like a triangle filled with stars).
"This, as you know, is a triangular, " Azariah said. "A simple example. It's the traingular 21, which fourms two triangles with an inner triangle of 6 and an outer of 15, in a total of 6 lines. As the triangular 21, the total number of 21 is the sum of all the numbers from 1 to 6. If you extend this pattern all the way out to 36 lines, adding up all the numbers from 1 to 36, you fourm the triangular 666. I won't bore you with the calculations' trust me when I say that the triangle 666 is the 'fulfillment' of 105, a 12 fold triangle with the periphery of 30 x 3 1/2, a reckoning that also adds up to the fatally limited reign of 1,260 days that the letter prophesies for the Beast. Incredible code. Astounding, actually."
Azariah shook his head in awe. "It's even errie, epseically when you understand the name of the Beast." Damian was impressed at the rabbi's reaction of wonder and admiration, yet was too impatient to want more discussion of the matter. "I have far less interest in your calculations than in the name of the Beast," Damina said.
"But these numerical relationships are very significant," Azariah portested, "You came to me because..."
"The name of the Beast, " Damian interrupted. "That's what's imporant to me. It seems to me that John is plainly saying that I should be able to identify the Beast by its number. Except I can't."
"You are not Herbew." Azariah gave Damian a broad grin. "Which, if course, is why you came to me."
"You are saying you have the answer?"
"It is a plain to me as it would be to any other Jew reading it."
(had to stop)
God bless
WhiteStar
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First and foremost and the historical evidence that backs it up. Makes for great witnessing when you can point to facts outside of the bible that prove all those people, places and events really did happen....for those nonbelievers. 
