The Number of the Beast

“And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I was amazed — amazed beyond measure. And the angel said to me, ‘Why were you astonished? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, the one with the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who live on the earth — whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world — will be amazed when they see the beast, that it was, and is not, and will be here again.’” [a]

“‘And here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, and the woman sits on them. And they are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes he must stay only a short while. And the beast that was and is not — he himself is an eighth, and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. And the ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand their power and authority over to the beast. These will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.’” [c]

“And he says to me, ‘The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and crowds and nations and languages. And the ten horns you saw, and the beast — these will hate the prostitute, and will leave her deserted and naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her up with fire. For God put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman you saw is the great city that holds the kingship over the kings of the earth.’” [d]

“After this I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, holding great authority, and the earth was lit up by his glory. And he cried out with a strong voice and said, ‘Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen! She has become a home for demons, a prison for every unclean spirit, a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the anger of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich out of the power of her luxury.’ And I heard another voice out of heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you do not share in her sins, and so that you do not receive any of her plagues; for her sins have stuck fast, as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wrongdoing.’” [e]

“‘Pay her back as she also paid out, and give her double, twice over, for what she has done; in the cup she mixed, mix her a double portion. As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and I will never see grief. That is why her plagues will come in a single day — death and mourning and famine — and she will be burned up with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judges her.’” “‘And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality with her and lived in luxury with her, will weep and beat their breasts over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off for fear of her torment and say, “Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, the mighty city! In a single hour your judgment has come.”’” “‘And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one will buy their cargo any more: cargo of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet; every kind of citron wood, every article of ivory, every article of costly wood and of bronze and iron and marble; cinnamon and spice and incense and ointment and frankincense; wine and oil and fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep and goats; horses and carriages; and slaves, and human lives. And the fruit your soul craved has gone from you, and everything rich and glittering has been lost to you, and you will never find it again.’” “‘The merchants of these things, who grew rich from her, will stand far off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning and saying, “Alas, alas, the great city, dressed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and covered with gold and precious stones and pearls! In a single hour such great wealth came to nothing.” And every ship’s captain, and everyone who sails anywhere, and sailors and all who work the sea, stood far off and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, and said, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning, and said, “Alas, alas, the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich out of her fat living! In a single hour she has been laid waste.”’” [g]

“‘Rejoice over her, heaven, and you angels and apostles and prophets, because God has given judgment for you against her.’” “And a strong angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, and said, ‘This is how the great city Babylon will be thrown down, with violence, and will never be found again. The sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again; no craftsman of any craft will ever be found in you again; the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again; the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; the voice of a bridegroom and a bride will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, and by your sorcery all the nations were led astray. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones, and of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.’” [l]

In these passages, then, the clearest statement has been given about the particular judgment — the torments that are to come on that city in the last times, at the hands of the tyrants who will rise up then. But we ought to go further, and examine carefully and set out the time at which these things will happen, and how the little horn springs up among them. For when the legs of iron run out into the feet and the toes — following both the figure of the image and that of the terrible beast, as has been shown above — that will be the time when the iron and the clay are mixed together. Daniel will lay this subject out for us. He says, “And for one week he will make a covenant with many, and it will be that in the middle of the week my sacrifice and offering will cease.” By one week, then, he meant the last week, the one that is to come at the end of the whole world; and half of that week the two prophets Enoch and Elijah will take up. For they will preach 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the nations. [n]

For the Scriptures point to two comings of our Lord and Savior. The first was his coming in the flesh, and it took place without honor, since he was treated as nothing — as Isaiah said of him long beforehand: “We saw him, and he had no form or beauty; his form was despised, and fell short of all men — a man under blows, and used to bearing weakness. For his face was turned away. He was despised, and we counted him for nothing.” But his second coming is announced as glorious, when he will come from heaven with the army of angels and the glory of his Father, as the prophet says: “You will see the King in glory”; and, “I saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came as far as the Ancient of Days, and was brought before him. And there were given to him rule and honor and glory and the kingdom; all tribes and languages will serve him. His rule is a rule that lasts forever, and it will not pass away.” Two forerunners were pointed to as well. The first was John the son of Zechariah, who in everything appeared as the forerunner and herald of our Savior, preaching the heavenly light that had appeared in the world. He was the first to run the forerunner’s course, and he ran it from his mother’s womb, having been conceived by Elizabeth — so that to those who are children in the womb as well, he might announce the new birth that was going to take place for their sakes, by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin. [q]

When he heard the greeting spoken to Elizabeth, he leaped for joy in his mother’s womb, recognizing God the Word conceived in the Virgin’s womb. Afterward he came forward preaching in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance to the people, and in that way announcing salvation, as a prophet would, to the nations living in the wilderness of the world. After this, at the Jordan, seeing the Savior with his own eyes, he points him out and says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” He was also the first to preach to those in Hades, becoming a forerunner there too when he was put to death by Herod — so that there as well he might make it known that the Savior was going to come down and ransom the souls of the holy ones out of the hand of death. [t]

But since the Savior was the beginning of the resurrection of all men, it was fitting that the Lord alone should rise from the dead, since it is through him that the judgment is to come in for the whole world — so that those who have wrestled worthily may also be crowned worthily by him, by that illustrious Judge of the contest who himself first finished the course, and was received into the heavens, and took his seat at the right hand of God the Father, and is to appear again at the end of the world as Judge. It follows, then, that his forerunners must appear first, as he says through Malachi and the angel: “I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the day of the Lord comes, the great and glorious day; and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, so that I do not come and strike the earth to the ground.” These, then, will come and proclaim the appearing of Christ that is to be from heaven; and they will also perform signs and wonders, so that people may be put to shame and turned to repentance for their extraordinary wickedness and godlessness. [v]

For John says, “And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” That is the half of the week Daniel spoke of. “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if anyone wants to harm them, that is how he must be killed. These have authority to shut up heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophesying; and they have authority over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they want. And when they have finished their course and their testimony” — what does the prophet say? — “the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war on them, and will defeat them, and kill them” — because they will not give glory to Antichrist. For that is what is meant by the little horn that grows up. Lifted up in heart by now, he begins to exalt himself and to glorify himself as God, persecuting the holy ones and blaspheming Christ, just as Daniel says: “I was watching the horn, and look: in the horn were eyes like a man’s eyes, and a mouth speaking great things; and he opened his mouth to blaspheme God. And that horn made war on the holy ones and prevailed against them, until the beast was killed and destroyed, and its body was given over to be burned.” [x]

But since we have to discuss this matter of the beast more exactly — and in particular the question how the Holy Spirit has also pointed out his name in a hidden way, by means of a number — we will go on and state more plainly what has to do with him. John speaks this way: “And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. And it exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and it makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose death-wound was healed. And it does great wonders, so that it even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in front of everyone; and it deceives those who live on the earth by the signs it was given power to do in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast that had the wound of the sword and lived. And it was given power to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should even speak, and should have everyone killed who would not worship the image of the beast. And it makes everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — take a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one can buy or sell except the one who has the mark: the name of the beast, or the number of its name. Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is a man’s number, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.” [z]

By the beast coming up out of the earth, then, he means the kingdom of Antichrist; and by the two horns he means him and the false prophet who comes after him. In saying that “the horns were like a lamb” he means that he will make himself like the Son of God and put himself forward as king. And the words “it spoke like a dragon” mean that he is a deceiver and not truthful. And the words “it exercised all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and made the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose death-wound was healed” mean that he will rule and govern after the manner of the law of Augustus, by whom the Roman empire was established — ratifying everything by that law, and taking greater glory for himself. For this is the fourth beast, whose head was wounded and healed again: wounded in that the beast was broken up and even disgraced, and partitioned into four crowns; and he — Antichrist — will heal it, so to speak, by a piece of trickery, and restore it. That is what the prophet means when he says, “He will give breath to the image, and the image of the beast will speak.” For he will act with force again, and will prove strong through the laws he establishes; and he will have everyone put to death who will not worship the image of the beast. Here the faith and the endurance of the holy ones will show. For he says, “And he will make everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, take a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one can buy or sell except the one who has the mark: the name of the beast, or the number of its name.” Being full of guile, and exalting himself against the servants of God, wanting to afflict them and drive them out of the world by persecution because they will not give glory to him, he will order incense pans to be set up by everybody everywhere, so that none of the holy ones will be able to buy or sell without sacrificing first. That is what is meant by the mark received on the right hand. And the words “on their forehead” show that they are all crowned, and put on a crown of fire — not a crown of life, but of death. This is just how Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria, who came of the line of Alexander of Macedon, contrived his measures against the Jews. He too, in the pride of his heart, issued a decree in those days that everyone should set up shrines in front of their doors and sacrifice, and should march in procession in honor of Dionysus waving wreaths of ivy; and that those who refused to obey should be put to death by strangling and torture. But he too received what was owed him at the hand of the Lord — the righteous Judge, the God who searches everything: he died eaten up by worms. Anyone who wants to look into that more closely will find it recorded in the books of the Maccabees. [ab]

But now let us speak of what lies ahead of us. For he too will contrive measures like these, seeking to afflict the holy ones in every way. For the prophet and apostle says, “Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is a man’s number, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.” As for his name, it is not in our power to explain it exactly, the way the blessed John understood it and was taught about it. We can only make a guess at it; for when he appears, the blessed one will show us what we are trying to learn. Still, as far as our uncertain grasp of the matter goes, we may speak. We do find many names whose letters come to this same total — the word Titan, for instance, an ancient and notable name; or Evanthas, since it too adds up to the same number; and many others could be found. But as we said before, the wound of the first beast was healed, and the second beast was to make the image speak — that is, he will be powerful. And it is plain to everyone that the ones who still hold the power at present are Latins. So if we take the name as the name of a single man, it comes out Latinus. All the same, we ought not to put it out as though this were certainly his name, nor on the other hand ignore the possibility that he may be called something else. But keeping the mystery of God in our heart, we ought to hold faithfully, and with fear, to what the blessed prophets have told us, so that when these things come about we may be ready for them and not be deceived. For when the times move on, he too, the one all this is said about, will appear. [af]