666: What is it?

Continued from previous page . . .

 

Apostasy has been slowly growing through the long centuries until at present it is of al­most unbelievable scope and intensity in the western nations.  I could cite statistics, but I think the reader is fully aware of the rising tide of pastors, bishops, and seminarians who reject the fun­damentals of the gospel, such as the virgin birth, the miracles, the de­ity of Christ, the resurrection, and the inspiration of the Scriptures.  Many of the largest and most staid denominations are ordaining homo­sexuals of both sexes into the clergy.  Premarital sex is openly counte­nanced; situation ethics is espoused; and Marxist style revolution is supported.

Strictly speaking, I suppose, by definition apostasy is possible only for those who have professed themselves at one time to be believers.  However, I use the term in a broader sense to embrace all unbelievers, for the spirit of apostasy is present among many who have never con­fessed Christ.  In America, for example, there exists a philosophy, which some call “secular humanism,” that is basically atheistic and materialistic, that denies Christ, God, and immortality.  Its basis is scientific pragma­tism, a philosophy which has “proven” the faith of the fathers to be mere superstition.  Modernists seek to establish matter and the forces of nature as the only eternal entities whose interactions according to the laws of chance have accidentally produced the earth with its living be­ings, the highest of which is man.  Thus twentieth-century man, to use Paul’s phrase, “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped.”   That makes contemporary mate­rialists idolaters, but more debased than the ancients ever were.  At least the ancients en­dued their gods with intelligence and personality, but modern philoso­phers leave the crea­tion up to blind and unreasoning natural process working according to the laws of prob­ability.  I can hardly believe they believe this!

False Prophets

As mentioned previously, it is generally true that the personages in the Revelation, whether animal, human, or angelic, refer not to single individuals but are metaphorical representations of whole classes of in­dividuals.  Babylon, for instance, is universally inter­preted as the whole class of apostates and false religions.  Likewise, the seven-headed beast represents at least ten kings, the universal world government to be de­stroyed at Christ’s second advent.

The same is true of the beast coming up out of the earth, with two horns like a lamb (Rev. 13:11); he is subsequently called the false prophet (Rev. 16:13; 19:20; 20:10).  However, like the other beast, he is not a single individual.  Rather than being one person, the Apocalyptic False Prophet is a personification of all false prophets of which there are many.  Jesus likened them to wolves and serpents (Matt. 10:16)⁸and wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15).  Paul spoke of wolves en­tering the church bent on devouring the flock of saints (Acts 20:29).  Peter likened false prophets to “natural brute beasts” (2 Pet. 2:12).  So did Jude who said, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves” (Jude 10).  Taking all of these refer­ences together, an apt symbol for false prophets is seen to be a dan­gerous beast disguised as a harmless lamb.

All false Christs and false prophets share common traits.  Paul de­scribes them in several places, notably  in 1 Timothy 4:1-3, 2 Timothy 3:1-7, and Romans 1:29-32.  In these de­scriptions, two traits seem to predominate: covetousness and sexual immorality.  The same traits are noted by others, particularly by Jesus in his denunciation of the spir­itual leaders of Israel and by Peter’s description of false teachers.

Peter describes false prophets and teachers as men who pervert the truth for gain (the spiritual equivalence of prostitution), denying the Lord that bought them:  “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (2 Pet. 2:3).  Does this not re­mind us of that Queen of merchants, Babylon, whose merchandise in­cludes “slaves and souls of men” (Rev. 18:13)?  Peter calls them

spots and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own de­ceivings while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling un­stable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet. 2:13-15).

Once again we encounter those who cannot blush for shame, “sporting themselves” among the holy saints, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.  Peter further de­lineates their character as men who, though slaves in captivity to their own lusts, entice unwary souls—ironically, through offers of freedom—back into the same captivity from which they had escaped.  One is inexorably reminded of today’s sexual laxity and how the people are constantly told how they have been “liberated from the repressive standards” of former generations.

There are no doubt several causes for apostasy, with Jesus mention­ing three in his par­able of the sower: unbelief caused by hearkening to the lies of Satan’s minister; persecution and tribulation; and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.  It is the last of these which seems to be given the most prominence in the New Testament.  Notice how covetousness plays the central role in Peter’s exhortation.  Jesus warned, “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34).

In the parable of the sower, Jesus symbolized riches by thorns and thistles.  As is well known, thorns are sharp and piercing and very painful. I have seen thorn trees so densely covered with deadly sharp, six-inch spikes that one could not place a hand anywhere on them with­out injury.  A fall against such a tree could be fatal.  Jesus likened false prophets to thorn trees, thistles, and bramble bushes (Matt. 7:16; Luke 6:44).  With these thoughts in mind, let us read Paul’s famous in­dictment of covetousness:

For the love of money is the root of all evil:  which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim. 6:10).

Note the choice of the word “pierced,” as with a thorn.

Covetousness, it thus appears, plays the leading role in apostasy.  We see this in the many warnings against it.  For example, Paul said, “mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry:  for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience” (Col. 3:5-6).  Covetousness, Paul declares, is idolatry and a covetous man an idolater (Eph. 5:5).  I do not think this is an obvious truth, and, having wondered about it for a long time, have concluded the following:  the gods which the Ca­naanites worshiped were primarily fertility gods—Ashtoreth, for instance, was a female per­sonification of the productive principle of nature.  In order to ensure prosperity, these “deities” were appeased by both animal and human sacrifices and by gross sexual rites in­volving temple prostitutes of both sexes.  A list of the sexual perversions practiced by the Canaanites is found in Leviticus 20, and we all know the vice of Sodom and neigh­boring cities.  Recent archaeological evidence reveals a particularly gruesome practice among some of the Canaanites.  The firstborn child was sacrificed to the local Baal and its corpse interred in a special chamber in the corner of the foundation of the house to guarantee fer­tility.

Thus, covetousness, the inordinate desire for material wealth, was the driving motive for idolatry.  Sexual impropriety had an obvious appeal to the lust of the flesh; it is easy to see how it could be used by hea­then priests as a further inducement to worship their evil gods.  By such means they gained control of the people.

Covetousness then is the spirit of idolatry and was the primary rea­son why an enlight­ened Israel shamefully bowed herself down to man-made images, practicing gross immor­ality and human sacrifice.  At the height of her idolatry and just before the hordes of Babylon destroyed her land, city, and temple, slaying millions of her citizens and leading thousands captive for many years, Jeremiah cried,

Therefore will the Lord give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even to the greatest is given to covetous­ness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely (Jer. 8:10).

Then, two verses later, Jeremiah adds, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?  nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush” (v. 12).  As a matter of fact, they had the audacity to ascribe their recent prosperity to their idols instead of to God (Jer. 44:17).

Covetousness was the sin par excellence of ancient Israel and also those of Jesus’ day (Luke 16:14).  It is, as should be plain by now, only one side of a coin whose other side is fornication.  It is remarkable how many times reference to covetousness is included in a list with adultery, fornication, and other sexual crimes.  Like, for example, Paul’s descrip­tion of idolaters in Romans:  “For this cause [idolatry] God gave them up unto vile affections [homosexuality] . . . .Being filled with all un­righteousness, fornication, wickedness, covet­ousness . . . . ”(1:26, 29).  Or, “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you” (Eph. 5:3); “for ye know that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any in­heritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (v. 5).  See also Colos­sians 3:5, Mark 7:22, and the entire second chapter of 2 Peter.  Indeed, the last of the ten commandments forbids one to covet his neighbor’s wife—though the seventh commandment had already forbidden adultery—and Paul said, “I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7).

The psychology of apostasy seems to be thus:  a spiritual leader, say a bishop or a TV evangelist, begins to covet riches.  Seeing the people’s gullibility and susceptibility, he slants his doctrines just enough away from the truth so as to become popular with the crowd.  He minimizes or disparages God’s judgments for transgressions.  The people, only too eager to be let off the hook for vices they secretly yearn to practice, pay him well for his efforts.  They are also covetous, glad to be free from all moral restraints to indulge in shady business tactics, or fraud­ulent schemes, or illicit sex.  They

will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn their ears away from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

Jeremiah said it long ago:

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land:  the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so:  and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jer. 5:30-31).

Before proceeding, I want to make a point concerning this verse.  Babylon is said to be “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18).  Jeremiah said that the priests bore rule by the means of the lies proclaimed by the false prophets.  The kings were under the dominion of the priests, and when Babylon is restored to glory, it will still be true;  her true rulers will be a priesthood that will have been “restored.”  I think this is the answer to those who have disagreed with my thesis over the question of who is ruling Babylon and the world.  In ancient times, the kings of the earth were simply the kings of Israel who committed spiritual fornication with the false prophets and the priests to keep their position.  In the last day, the kings of the earth will be the kings of every nation.  All will be subject to the dictates of Israel’s priesthood.

To continue: it takes two to strike a bargain;  the liars who fabricate the lies to sell and the consumers who love the lies enough to buy them.  The an­swer to Jeremiahs’s question, “what will ye do in the end thereof?” is found in the Revelation: “For without the holy city are dogs, and sor­cerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoso­ever loveth and maketh a lie” (Rev. 22:15).  It is a mystery of profound pro­portions why anyone would love a lie more than a truth—Paul called it the mystery of iniquity.

Many have speculated that Antichrist will duplicate the miracles of Je­sus—healing the sick, raising the dead, walking on water, stilling tem­pests, etc.—to deceive the people into accepting him as God and as the Messiah.  Perhaps.  But Jesus failed by these miracles to win a large following, so why should Antichrist be any more successful, especially in our own time when skepticism is so prevalent?  True, Paul said the Wicked One  would come with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all “deceivableness of unrighteous­ness” in them that perish because they received not the love for the truth.  He may indeed dupli­cate some of the miracles of Jesus, but I am persuaded that by these alone he will be unable to win a wide following.  There is one thing, however, that will be convincing, a thing Jesus failed to do, and the very reason he was rejected by his people.  He failed to promise them riches, himself walk­ing about lowly and impoverished, not at all their image of a king.  It is just this lack that Antichrist shall supply.  He shall, I believe, show the world how to become fabulously and wildly prosperous.  He shall bribe the saints to follow him by offers of enor­mous wealth.  No doubt the world will “blossom as a rose” literally, as under his leadership all of man’s resources are for once efficiently uti­lized for the common good.  Many will no doubt believe that Armageddon is in the past and the kingdom of God has come, at least those who expect a literal kingdom such as prevailed under Solomon.

Satan has had huge success with bribery ever since he bribed Eve to disobedience.  He believes every man has a price.  He thought he could turn Job away from God by taking away Job’s possessions and health, for, he said, Job only served God for material gain.  Trying what had proved so successful, he offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world to gain his worship.  Though he failed with both Job and Jesus, he is still trying, and sadly enough, he succeeds more often than not.  Many a good man has fallen because of easy wealth.  It was the cause of Sodom’s woes (Ezek. 16:49) and it was Israel’s downfall (Deut. 32:15).  It shall continue to be the cause of the fall of many, both in and out of the church.  Women sell their virtue; men commit perjury and murder; robbers steal and embezzle; and swin­dlers defraud the helpless—all for the love of money.  Truly it is the root of all evil.

It was not for nothing that Jesus called riches deceitful and warned of the mammon of unrighteousness.  Joining these two phrases, we have the expression used by Paul, “the de­ceivableness of unrighteousness.”  Though many things deceive, nothing has quite the power of deception as wealth and riches.  One prophet, heedful of the danger, prayed, “Remove me far from vanity and lies:  give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain” (Prov. 30:8-9).

Summary

There is coming an apostasy, already in the making, which shall so deplete the living church that Jesus asked, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).  Though many causes can be discovered, the principal one seems to be covet­ousness, an inordinate lust for material things.  A modern English word for it is “materialism.”  It finds expression not only in common greed but in the illicit desire of a man for a woman or another man; it is the spirit be­hind hedonism; and it is even found in science whose passion for mate­rialistic explanations of the cosmos has meant rejection of the notion of God as man’s creator and judge.  Many covetous leaders shall arise, false christs and false prophets, to bilk their covetous disciples.  The result will be a complete rejection of Christ and his doctrines.  Onetime disci­ples will do the unthinkable, hating and betraying their brothers, per­secuting the church, and committing every gross immorality, all with­out shame and without a conscience.  For, as Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters; for he will either hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.  Ye cannot serve God and Mammon” (Matt. 6:24).  It is impossible to remain neutral.  Once a man begins to succumb to the lure of riches, preferring them to a holy walk with the Lord, he will eventually begin to hate his first love, and to de­spise the Lord that bought him.  Harsh words, but true.

The whole idea of apostasy is often compared to the unfaithfulness of a wife to her husband.  The church is the bride of Christ collectively speaking, and Christians are indi­vidually compared to virgins.  To turn from Christ is described in phrases such as “leaving one’s first love,” “love grown cold,” “giving heed to seducing spirits,” “silly women led captive, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,” and the like.  We must “walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us . . . but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you” (Eph. 5:2-3).  Again, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).  Incidentally, John ends this epistle with, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” as if to say that he was actually talking about idolatry.

Note the contrasts:  the love of Christ versus the love of money; the love of the Father versus the love of the world; the love of truth ver­sus the love of the lie.  The loyalty of the espoused virgin of Christ is constantly being tested by the lure of riches and cares of this life—if she yields, she becomes a harlot or worse, marked by an unblushing countenance, having seared her conscience with a hot iron—she has al­lowed the seal placed upon her forehead to become broken.  Such a dis­ciple has crucified the Son of God afresh, putting him to an open shame, trodding him under foot, and has counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing and has done despite unto the spirit of grace (Heb. 6:6; 10:29).

One who apostatizes is one who allows himself to become recaptured by Satan, becom­ing his slave (2 Tim. 2:26), a captive to his own lusts and sins (2 Tim. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:19-20).  This leads us to the following definition:

The mark of the beast is the mark given to the slave to identify him as the property of Satan.

The stage is now set.  Let us raise the curtain on the final act.  The scenario, dramatis personae, and action are found in Revelation 13.

666:  The Number of His Name

Synopsis of Revelation 13:  A seven-headed beast rises out of the sea, a horrible mon­strosity composed of parts of a bear, a leopard, a lion, and a horned beast.  One of his heads has received a mortal wound which has been healed.  He receives great power and authority from the dragon, makes war with the saints, and causes the whole world to wor­ship him.  A second beast rises out of the earth having two lamb-like horns.  He exercises the same authority as the first beast and performs great miracles, deceiving all men.  He causes an image of the first beast to be made to which he gives life, the power of speech, and the privi­lege to receive worship.  The image, in turn, kills all who will not wor­ship him, placing a mark on the forehead or hand of those who do.  Without the mark, none can buy or sell.  The mark, the name of the beast, and the number of his name (evidently equivalent terms), are the number of a man, being 666.  The second earth-beast is later called the false prophet.

John was told explicitly that the seven-headed beast had a prior ex­istence, and, though it did not exist then, it was to arise out of the bottomless pit in the future.  It is interesting to note that many cen­turies previous, Hosea refers to this beast.  Because Israel had forgot­ten the Lord, he says:

Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:  I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion:  the wild beast shall tear them (Hos. 13:7-8).

Hosea thus mentions the lion and its devouring mouth, the leopard, the bear, and the “wild beast,” the same components that make up the seven-headed monster.

The second beast, the personification of all false prophets and false Christs, has great powers, being able to deceive men by the miracles he performs “in the sight of the first beast.”  He causes the people to “make an image” to which he gives life and the power of speech.  As was explained in a previous chapter, to “make an image” should be un­der­stood in the same sense that the prophet Samuel “made a king” for the people.  There is little doubt in my mind that this image is a man, not a robot or a statue that miraculously comes to life as some would have it, but one who is elected to be chief spokesman for the seven-headed beast-kingdom.  He is an image of the beast like Christ is the image of the Father, and speaks for the beast just as Christ speaks for the Father.

Our main concern, however, is with the mark, the name of the beast, and the number of his name to be impressed on the forehead or hand of everyone who is not already sealed with the Father’s name.  After sur­veying the literature, I became convinced years ago that every attempt to discover in the cryptogram 666 the identity of the Antichrist is doomed to failure.  Nor can I accept the puerile interpretation of an actual number tattooed on one’s body.  It finally occurred to me to check the concordance for other possible instances of the number.  I discovered two:  Ezra 2:13 and 1 Kings 10:14.  We may dispense with the first of these immediately, for it merely gives the number of descen­dants of Adonikam, one of the Jews carried captive into Babylon, as 666 (the parallel reference in Nehemiah 7:18 gives 667).  The other reference in Kings—and its parallel in 2 Chronicles 9:13—is of more significance.

The context of the tenth chapter of 1 Kings is a description of the glories of Solomon’s kingdom, its great prosperity, and the enormous wealth, honor, and wisdom of Solomon himself as witnessed by the Queen of Sheba.  Verses 14 and 23 read as follows:

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon is one year was six hundred three­score and six talents of gold  .  .  .  .

So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom (1 Kings 10:14, 23)

Can we not hear in these words an echo of Revelation 13:18?  “Here is wisdom.  Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man [Solomon?]; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

At last here is a tangible clue—the number is linked to gold, riches, wisdom, and politi­cal power.  Solomon’s kingdom represents to the Jew the zenith of human government and worldly glory; they practically identify it with the promised and long awaited kingdom of God.  So do many Christians.  What kind of kingdom was it?  First of all, it was a peace­able kingdom; the very name of Solomon means “peaceable.”  He was able to quell the quarrelsome Canaanitish tribes early in his reign, while his many politi­cal marriages un­doubtedly helped to gain peace with the nations about him; consequently, his reign was not troubled by war for forty years.  Secondly, it was a rich kingdom.  The narrative in 1 Kings describes Solomon’s palace as one of great opulence—for example, there was a great ivory throne overlaid with the best gold, mounted on a pyramid of six steps, and guarded by twelve lions—“there was not the like made in any kingdom.  And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solo­mon” (10:20-21).  Verse 27 says, “And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.”  In addition to the sumptu­ous palace (thirteen years under construction), a grand cedar lodge, and nu­merous other edifices, Solomon built the first temple.  If Jewish tradition can be be­lieved, it was spectacular beyond anything of its kind at­tempted before or after.  The mate­rials alone would be worth bil­lions on today’s market.

The Queen of Sheba came from a distant land to see for herself his magnificence and to hear his wisdom.  When she viewed the scene,

there was no more spirit in her.  And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and thy wisdom.  Howbeit, I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it:  and, behold, the half was not told me:  thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard (10:5-7).

Solomon’s wisdom was extolled far and wide.  It is written that he composed 1,005 songs, 3,000 proverbs, and lectured on natural history, zoology, and ornithology.  He is re­garded as the father of the wisdom literature, contributing most of the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, and perhaps two or three of the Psalms.

The essential thought which I wish to emphasize is the conflation of three elements:  peace, wisdom, and prosperity.  Solomon’s enormous riches may be indicated by his over­land revenue for one year:  666 tal­ents of gold.⁹  Precisely these three elements are present in Revelation 13.  The people wonder at the beast and say, “Who is like unto the beast?  who is able to make war with him?”  Verse 18 says, “Here is wisdom . . . six hundred threescore and six.”  No one can trade without it.  It is the number of a man.

I don’t want to leave the reader with the impression that I believe Solomon will be resurrected to be the beast, or image to the beast, or have any part of those times.  I don’t believe God will permit a man to be raised from the dead to participate in Satan’s schemes.  What I want to leave in the mind of the reader is the connection between John’s lan­guage in Revelation 13 and that of 1 Kings 10.  I believe John was sim­ply trying to convey to us that the kingdom of the beast will emulate the one under Solomon in these three ways: peace, prosperity, and wis­dom.

Such a kingdom is eagerly sought by the world today, including many Jews and Chris­tians.  I can understand the former, and I believe it was largely because Jesus failed to give them such a kingdom that they re­jected him.  But Christians ought to know better.  They should realize what Christ meant when, speaking of himself, he said, “Behold, a greater than Solomon is here,” and, “My kingdom is not of this world.” They should understand Paul’s words, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).  To hold up Solomon’s kingdom as the ideal for the kingdom of God is to belittle the promises made to us by the apostles and prophets.  Great though Solomon’s king­dom was, it will be as nothing compared to what awaits the faithful.

I believe then that Antichrist will display a wisdom like Solomon’s, and his administra­tion will usher in a golden age—as the world counts it—like Solomon’s but more splendid.  Antichrist will be able to accom­plish this through the power of Satan, for it is he who con­trols the world’s fi­nances (to the extent permitted by Christ, of course); it is evident that God will use Satan in this capacity to fulfill his own will (Rev. 17:17).  Did not Satan claim ownership of all kingdoms and their glory?  Nor did Jesus dispute the point (Luke 4:6).

We have established that apostasy, already present, will but grow un­til it pervades the whole of Christendom.  How this will be accomplished by Satan is suggested by the par­able of the sower:  (1) birds pluck up the seed before it sprouts; (2) the sun’s heat causes plants poorly rooted on stony soil to wilt and die; and (3) thorns and thistles crowd out some plants so they are not fruitful.  These three ways may be summarized as intellectual offenses, persecution and tribulation, and covetousness and other lusts.  Jesus said the birds represent the Devil.  The sun represents tribulation and persecution.  Thorns and thistles represent covetousness and the cares of this world.

The first way—where birds pluck up the seed before it sprouts—re­sults in men who are offended intellectually, men who are dissuaded from be­lieving the gospel from the very first.  Modern science and its related philosophies are of the greatest influence in destroying be­lief in the word of God.  Nor is this spirit of unbelief limited to sci­ence:  con­temporary seminars train thousands of professional clergymen to em­brace all the skepticism inherent in the scientific disciplines of evolu­tion, anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics, to name but a few.  Survey after survey shows that well over half of all clergymen gradu­ating from schools where these things are taught deny the very foun­dation of Christianity:  the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, the physi­cal resurrection, the miracles, angels, spirits, and the di­vine inspiration of the Bible.  I have labeled this facet of apostatizing “intellectual of­fenses.”

The second way—the sun’s great heat destroying plants with shallow roots growing in stony soil—is persecution and tribulation.  Many Christians will give up their faith in the face of stiff opposition, espe­cially when their lives are at stake.  In the parable, persecution and tribulation are symbolized by the heat of the sun.¹⁰ Indeed, one of the seven last plagues, the fourth, is about the sun:

And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues:  and they repented not to give him glory (Rev. 16:8-9).

Simply stated, when persecution and tribulation grow intense, men will apostatize and blas­pheme God.¹¹

But perhaps the greatest threat to the church comes from the third way:  covetousness and other lusts crowding out the growing plants so that they do not bring forth mature and ripened fruit.  This seems to be what is implied in the opening of the sixth seal.  The stars fall from heaven like the untimely figs from a fig tree when it is shaken in the wind.  The stars here represent Christians; the wind represents unclean spirits and their doctrines (“every wind of doctrine”—Eph. 4:14).  The untimely figs are fruit not brought to per­fection” in the parable.  As our previous comments have shown, covetousness was the principal sin of ancient Israel, and, from all the warnings about it found in the New Testa­ment, will probably be the principal failing of Christians of our day.  I believe it is already true in America as current events aptly il­lustrate.

I have no doubt Antichrist, and the government he will represent, will use all three of these methods to accomplish his purpose.  He will, of course, demonstrate a great Satanic wisdom that will deceive many.  He will launch a universal persecution against all who do not acknowledge him as God, especially the Christians.  Finally, he will offer bribes to the rest in the form of great prosperity for accepting him or starvation for those who refuse.  All three methods will be used in whatever com­bination is deemed necessary; many in­stances are on record of saints having their property confiscated and of their being tortured, impris­oned, and abused with offers of bribes if they would renounce their faith.

Using Solomon’s reign as a model, we think Antichrist will first of all usher in world peace.  The people will marvel, saying, “Who is able to make war with him?”  Paul said, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them.”  For these reasons, I take no stock in the current alarms of Armageddon—as it is normally understood—or the supposition that wars are a sign of the nearness of the end.  As a mat­ter of fact, Jesus said wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilences were not the end, but the “beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:6-8).  On the contrary, he likened his coming to the days of Noah, wherein the populace were enjoying the normal activities of a peaceful so­ciety.  Although it is true that violence filled the land, it was proba­bly crimes of violence, not wars between nations.  Jesus emphasized their being completely caught off guard by the flood; so shall it happen to the world when he comes, for “of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36).  Again he said, “for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40).  This ought to rule out completely the notion that great wars are heralds of his soon coming.  It is exactly because of universal peace (meaning, no overt wars between nations) that a false sense of security will be created; complacency and unconcern will lull the world to sleep and the coming of the Lord will no longer be expected by any­one except the loyal few.  With wars apparently a thing of the past and the long awaited golden age finally realized, the world, including many onetime Christians, will be intoxicated on riches and asleep in a drunken stupor.  Like the populace in Noah’s day, they will be completely taken by sur­prise when the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:1-7).

I can hear some readers shouting it now:  what of Armageddon?  Won’t that be a signal of the end?  It may be, but the first thing to remember is that the battle of Armageddon is not what has been popu­larly described in the Christian press.  As we have hinted at earlier and will expand upon more fully in another chapter, the Battle of Ar­mageddon is a spiritual battle fought by Christians against the forces of evil.  It is a battle that has been waged since the cross and will culmi­nate when Antichrist overcomes the Christian world by quiet perse­cu­tion, particularly through the means of economic deprivation.  Thus, this battle will be largely invisible to the general population; only those closely involved in engineering and executing the attack and the Chris­tians themselves will be keenly aware of what is going on.  The general populace will have already been lulled into complacency by their own comfort and riches.¹²

With a universal peace prevailing, Antichrist will be able to marshall the total resources of man to bring about a prosperity that will stagger the imagination.  Suppose, for example, the long sought goal of cheap and limitless energy were realized, say, in perfecting hydro­gen fusion reactors, or a room-temperature super conductor was invented.  Man could irri­gate the world’s great deserts, making them literally blossom as a rose; society would be instantly transformed as millions now per­ishing with famine would be fed and clothed.  No nation, no people, and no ethnic group (except anyone stubborn enough to re­sist worship­ing Antichrist or the beast) would remain in poverty.  All would flourish and prosper.  I have no doubt this will be the most con­vincing sign to the world that Antichrist is “God.”  With all wars behind them and the golden age realized, it will be very easy to accept his reign as Mes­sianic (especially for anyone looking for a Messiah  such as the Jews and in­cluding many one-time Christians) and his kingdom as the kingdom of God and as the mil­lennium.¹³ With love grown cold, weak Christians will gladly re­nounce Christ, his Holy Spirit, and his doctrines, to embrace those who are from beneath and who are of the earth—the two-horned beast—who speak earthly things.  In so doing, their seal of the Spirit will be bro­ken; their conscience will be seared with a hot iron, and they will be­come marked by the beast as his slaves—slaves to lusts, riches, and the love of this world.  Hav­ing sold their virtue for money, they become harlots and spiritual “deviates,” having no more shame than a whore or a sodomite.

If, then, our previous remarks are at all to the point, what will be the next step?  I, for one, believe the last stage in the apostasy is de­monic control—or demon possession, if you will.  I realize this is not a very popular conception and many will take issue—but I can see no way out of this conclusion.  It is right here where the number 666 seems to have some deeper significance than already demonstrated.

First, note that 666 is “the number of his name,” a curious expression to say the least.  When the Gadarene demoniac was asked his name, the devils replied, “Legion: for we are many.”  The devils gave not their name but the number of their name (about 6000); there must have been at least 2,000, for they entered a herd of swine of that number.

Next, we note Paul’s dissertation on the various gifts and manifesta­tions of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12).  He begins by pointing out to the Gentiles how they once were “carried away unto these dumb idols” and how that no right spirit will call Jesus accursed.  (The beast blasphemes God and Christ.)  Nor can an idolater call Jesus Lord—until he turns from them to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Though there are differ­ences of manifesta­tions, it is the same God working in all (vv. 4-6), for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body (v. 13).  Paul thus em­phasizes the unity of the Lord and his Spirit, though many manifesta­tions of that Spirit may be seen.

Then we note a verse from Zechariah:  “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one” (14:9).  Note well the last phrase—his name is one.  Compare this to the beast whose name is 666, and who is “full of names of blas­phemy.”  Moreover, the beast has seven heads, the very antithesis of Christ who is the single head of the church.  Hosea prophesies of the day when the Lord shall “take away the names of Balaam out of [Israel’s] mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name” (Hos. 2:17).

The number 666 is a symbolic number that serves to point us to, first of all, Solomon’s kingdom, its peaceful existence, and its great prosper­ity, then secondly, to the troop of de­monic spirits accompanying the reign of Antichrist.  All who worship Antichrist and his god are “baptized” as it were with the many spirits, the antiparallel to the dis­ciples of Christ who are baptized with ONE Spirit.  The names of the devils are many, in fact Le­gion or 666, whereas the Lord’s name is one.  If the baptism of the Holy spirit seals the disciple for Christ, then the baptism of evil spirits marks the disciple for the beast.

Paul warns us against eating and drinking at the Lord’s table un­worthily, for to do so is to be guilty of the body and blood of Jesus.  Such a one “eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body” (1 Cor. 11:27-29).  It should be also considered what Paul meant by unworthily; he had been discussing the rumors he had heard of divi­sions among the Corinthians, the heresies and false doc­trines they were assimilating.¹⁴  One of the direct consequences was their partiality toward their brothers; they segregated them­selves at the Lord’s table according to their ability to bring food—the poor were left hun­gry while the rich became drunken.  In so failing to recognize their poor brothers, they were “not discerning the Lord’s body,” for every disciple, rich or poor, great or small, Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, is a member of Christ’s body, and Christ is not di­vided (1 Cor. 1:13).

To eat unworthily a­­t the Lord’s table—which is tantamount to eating at the wrong table—is to invite division among the brothers.  Division is caused by heresies, which, Paul and John agree, are necessary to dis­tinguish who the true brethren are (1 Cor. 11:18-19; 1 John 2:19).  Some leave the Lord’s table and “go out from” the brethren, like Judas did, and become those who, in the words of Isaiah, “forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number” (Isa. 65-11).  “That troop and that number” can be none other than the se­ducing spirits that gain their entrance into the hearts of God’s people when they give heed to doctrines of devils.  The whole thing is sym­bolized by Legion, or by “the number of his name, which is 666.”  One could even say that 666 symbolizes division, a division caused by a multitude of evil spirits, in turn the result of many heresies.  Jesus hinted strongly that Satan was indeed divided when he said “every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”  For example, Babylon, a stronghold of devils and unclean spirits, was divided into three parts and fell (Rev. 16:19).  Finally, anyone who does not gather with Christ, scatters, and scattering is a proc­ess of division (Matt. 12:30).

I can think of no more fitting illustration of these thoughts than to cite the case of Judas Iscariot.  Here was one who was called to be an apostle of Jesus.  No higher honor can be imagined.  Because of his covetousness, he threw his office away with all its rewards and promises.  He ate unworthily at the Lord’s table on the last passover, bringing damnation to himself.  His table became a snare, a trap, and a stumbling block, and his eyes were blinded (Rom. 1:9-10, cited from Psa. 69:22-23).  Satan entered him and he went out into the night from the presence of the apostles to betray the Lord for 30 pieces of silver.  It is surely no coincidence that the title “the son of perdition” is applied to only two per­sons—Judas Iscariot (John 17:12) and the one Paul de­scribed who is generally regarded as the coming Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:3).

To those who may hold up Solomon’s kingdom as the ideal of the mil­lennial kingdom, we direct their attention to Solomon’s apostasy.  Not many realize he had broken the law in at least four ways.  The law had forbidden the king to multiply horses to himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt (for military protection), or multiply to himself wives, or greatly multiply to himself silver and gold (Deut. 17:16-17).  Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses and 12,000 horsemen (1 Kings 4:26); he mar­ried Pharaoh’s daughter, apparently to secure peace with Egypt (3:1); he eventually had a harem of 700 wives and 300 concu­bines, mostly drawn from among the forbidden Gentiles; and we have already seen how he multiplied silver and gold.  One might get the impression that the author of this record was bragging just a little about Israel’s greatest king.  More likely, however, he was trying to show us how deceptive those practices were, for he goes on to tell us how Solomon failed God.

No more tragic words are written than these:  “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God . . . . And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 11:4,6).  His sin?  He began worshiping idols and erecting their images and temples, he of whom it was said that no wiser king ever lived.  Need we further proof of the deceitfulness of riches?

It only seems proper to end on an encouraging note.  No true disciple of Jesus ever need fear the mark of the beast, not because of a sup­posed “secret rapture” which will snatch him away before it makes its appearance, but because he has the power to resist tempta­tion.  It is only those who have not a love for the truth who will be given over to a strong delusion, believing a lie to their damnation.  No power in heaven or on earth—neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principali­ties, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature—shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:36).  If An­tichrist does use a physical mark, say an identification using 666 in some manner, it would be only physical, not spiritual.  One need not be alarmed, for Jesus told us not to fear what man could do to the body.  A physical mark could be stamped on us by force—surely God would not con­sider that so terrible as to eternally damn us, would he?  One ought to use a little common sense about these things.  The Scriptures have always taught that the real sins are of the spirit and originate within a man’s heart, not from without his body.

There will be loyal disciples of Jesus right up to the very end.  Je­sus said that those days would be cut short because of the elect’s sake, that some flesh should be saved.  Paul said not all would sleep, but there would be some still alive when Jesus descends with a shout.  These are they who had a love for the truth and who resisted the beast, his mark, and the number of his name.

The Mark of the Beast:  a Summary

These last two chapters are lengthy.  It may be good to summarize their contents here in a form the reader can more easily remember.

The mark is the antithesis of the seal of the Spirit.  It represents a broken seal.  Since the seal is placed on the forehead of the disciples, that is where the mark appears.  “Forehead” represents one’s con­science.  To violate one’s conscience repeatedly is to sear it with a hot iron, leaving a scar that is visible to those who are spiritually endowed. Since to be sealed is to be virginal, to break one’s seal is to lose one’s virginity.  A violation of that nature is visible like a whore’s forehead or one who cannot blush for shame, and therefore like Babylon the Great.

Covetousness is the main motivation for one to desert Christ for Sa­tan.  Covetousness is not only idolatry, but is spiritual adultery and is linked to physical adultery, fornication, and uncleanness.

The Lord’s table represents the communion of the saints, of those who have been sealed.  “Eating his flesh” is the New Testament equivalent of the Passover feast.  It repre­sents the disciples’ obedience to his doc­trines and teachings.  His words then become spirit and life to the be­liever.  To drink the Lord’s cup is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  It binds the Lord’s words on one’s forehead just as Moses commanded the Israelites to do with his words.

The Satanic parallel concerns those who eat at the table of devils and drink of their cup.  Hearkening unto seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, they become filled with the spirits of devils, a diabolical equiva­lent of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Demon possession can there­fore be called the mark of the beast.  However, it is not necessarily true of those who may be possessed at first, but to those who willingly partake of the table of devils, who become possessed again, and whose end is worse than the beginning.

Finally, the number 666 points to divisions among the disciples that were prophe­sied by the apostles, divisions caused by hearkening unto heresies and doctrines of devils.  They “drink the Lord’s cup unworthily” and “go out from the brethren that it might be made manifest who they are.”

Judas Iscariot is the archetype of those marked by the beast.  On that fateful night, after eating and drinking unworthily at the Lord’s table, he went out from the brethren into the night and to eternal damnation.  Because of covetousness, he was filled with Satan and be­trayed an innocent man.

Only one thing remains to be discussed: Armageddon.  That will be the subject of the remainder of this book.

 

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