Superior Numbers

Here’s one last look at that ominous number from Revelation 13:18; This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.
 
Since John penned these words, people have generated hundreds, if not thousands, of obviously mistaken identities for the Antichrist.Speculators have employed many spurious methods to make their calculations work; using numbering schemes that weren’t in existence in the time of John; translating the Greek text into other languages, etc. As I mentioned previously, the easiest name to arrive at is Nero Caesar … but only after you translate his Latin name into Hebrew. That might have occurred to John’s audience … but most other attempts push the bounds of incredulity.
 
Some Bible scholars have suggested that arriving at the actual name of the beast was not the point. Instead, John’s emphasis was that for all his power and pretension, the Antichrist’s number is just the number of “a man.” The Greek reads, “because it is man’s number and the number of his is 666.” The world dominating ruler is just a man! He does everything he can to pretend to deity, but he’s simply flesh and blood.
 
Here’s how that might have encouraged John’s first readers. There is one surprising number that requires no manipulation. The comparison between the number of the beast and this number would have sent an instant and uplifting message. This inset graphic from the Holman New Testament Commentary series reveals a superior number. ἸΗΣΟῦΣ … the Greek spelling of Jesus equals 888. In any language, even mathematics, the name of Jesus is superior to all His foes … to all our foes. As Philippians 2:10-11 proclaims: God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!

 


^