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We are aware that the imagination has run riot with the gematria of names. Names as
disconnected as those of Napoleon, Mahomet and Martin Luther! finding their places in
the list. Rome however does not come in this fanciful category.
Apart from the computation of the number of the name we can learn something more
concerning the character of this final phase by the occurrences of the number elsewhere
and its significance. Take for example the revenue of Solomon in one year
(I Kings 10: 14)., viz., 666 talents of gold. Surely we can see something more than a hint
in this that one of the gods of Gentiles dominion will be Mammon:--
"The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine
linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet and all thyine wood, &100:" (Rev. 18: 12, 13).
From the battle of Actium (B.100: 31) to the Saracen conquest (A.D. 636) the period of
Rome's domination of Jerusalem is 666 years. Again, we still speak of 360 degrees of
the circle, 60 minutes, 60 seconds. This is a survival of the Assyrian system of
reckoning, which has 6 as its main factor. Strangely enough Rome's numerals, which we
still use on our clock dials, inscriptions, etc., are six in number, 1: 5: 10: 50: 100: D. (the M for
thousand is a composite figure), and their numerical value is 666. Six is the number of
man. Man was created on the sixth day; for six years Athaliah usurped the throne of
David (II Kings 11:; II Chron. 23:), six words are used of Man in the Bible. Goliath,
one of the many foreshadowings of the beast, was 6 cubits high, had 6 pieces of armour,
his spear's head weighed 600 shekels. Nebuchadnezzar's image which he set up was
60 cubits high and 6 cubits broad, introduced by 6 instruments of music. Dr. Bullinger
tells us that the gematria of the Hebrew words of Dan. 3: 1, which describe the setting
up of the image, is 4,662, the facts of which are 7*666.
One further remark before closing. We do not use the word Antichrist when speaking
of the beast of Rev. 13: The word does not occur in the Revelation. The Antichrist is
spoken of by John in his first epistle. The beast will be the great world power at the end,
the Antichrist will be the great apostate false Messiah. The beast of Rev. 13: is not a
false Messiah, it is a political power, Nero well foreshadows the Beast, Herod the
Antichrist. The Antichrist will sell the people of Israel and help on the time of trouble, he
will be a renegade Jew; Judas the betrayer was called "the son of perdition". By
confusing these two titles (Antichrist and Beast) we are apt to mystify ourselves and
misunderstand the Scriptures. The number of man, the number of the name of the beast,
apart from the cryptic reference to the individual himself, tell us that he will be the
climax MAN, deified, worshipped--and destroyed with the brightness of the appearing
of the Son of God. The League of Nations is preparatory to the development of the
ten Kings, the ten toes of the image.
Praise God for the blessed hope that is even nearer than that awful time.