Questions From Readers
● Revelation 13:18 (NW) states: “Here is where wisdom comes in: Let the one that has intelligence calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is a man’s number; and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.” What is meant by this number?—E. J., United States.
The suggestion that this number refers to the pope of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy is not Scriptural. It could not apply to the office of pope. It is the number of a beast. The Bible uses beasts to symbolize beastly human governments, as is the case in Daniel, chapter 7. In Revelation chapter 13 “wild beast” is used to symbolize Satan’s visible organization, so it is this organization whose number is said to be 666.
From the first human political government at Babylon down to our day, governments by men have had three principal elements: religious, political and commercial. Now the number 666, three orders of six together, names or represents these three elements of Satan’s beastly visible organization. Why six? Because the Bible uses six to represent imperfection. Seven designates spiritual completeness or perfection, and six is short of that and therefore is incomplete or imperfect. The number 666 in the original language is denoted by three different alphabetic letters or symbols in the Greek text, namely, χ (600), ξ (60) and ς (6).
Six symbolizes imperfection, which is abominable in God’s sight, and therefore reprehensible. Six hundred would attach to the most reprehensible element, which is false religion. It is the false religions of the world that hypocritically pose as worshiping God but actually misrepresent him and either lead people away from God or turn them against him by their falsehoods and blasphemies. Rather than looking to God and Christ and the heavenly kingdom, these religions love money and extol political substitutes for that kingdom. Moreover, it is the religious clergy that bitterly oppose the preaching of the good news of Christ’s kingdom by Jehovah’s witnesses, and stir the other two elements of Satan’s visible system to oppose also.
The commercial element is more reprehensible than the political element, because it wields more power behind the scenes, whereas the political class are the willing, loud-talking tools in the public eye. Therefore the 60 well represents the commercial element and 6 the political element. All together the three elements make up Satan’s visible organization and the number 666 represents these combined elements that are imperfect and reprehensible in God’s sight.
The number suggests selfish gain because in olden times King Solomon’s annual revenue was 666 talents. Also, the dimensions of Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol-image, which the three faithful Hebrews refused to salute and adore, were sixty cubits high and six cubits broad. And wicked Goliath, who fought against God’s nation Israel, had a brother giant with six digits on each hand and on each foot, and pictured Satan’s visible dictatorial organization that claims to be the “higher powers” instead of acknowledging Jehovah and Christ as such. So six represents a completeness only in man’s sight and falls short of the completeness or perfection that God designates by the number seven.—1 Ki. 10:14; Dan. 3:1; 1 Chron. 20:6; Rom. 13:1.
Because six falls short of God’s perfect number seven, it is called a man’s number and attaches to the visible organization of men under Satan, the god of this world, and which organization is symbolized by the wild beast. So it is with this meaning in mind that this number of the wild beast is said to be “a man’s number.” It is not God’s perfect number of spiritual completeness.