|
ON THIS PAGE
Emphasis Mine In Bible Verses
The Significance of Names in Ancient Times
In the modern world, we usually choose names for our children based on what we like. However, in Jewish thought (especially in the ancient world) a person's name had deep significance. As said by the Jewish Virtual Library, names were not
"... merely an arbitrary designation, a random combination of sounds. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named. [01]
This is not as strange or unfamiliar a concept as it may seem at first glance. In English, we often refer to a person's reputation as his "good name." When a company is sold, one thing that may be sold is the company's "good will" that, in business is "an intangible asset that's recorded when one company is purchased by another". It can include the value of a" company's name, brand reputation, loyal customer base, solid customer service, good employee relations, and proprietary technology " [02]
Thus when in Exodus 3:13-22 Moses asked God how he should answer the Israelites were they to ask him what the name of the 'the God of their fathers' was - who had sent Moses to them. In answer, God did not give Moses a name but said
"I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also told Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation. (Exodus 3:14-15 BSB)
These words pointed out the eternity and self-existence of God. As said by Bible analysis, "He is portrayed as timeless, unchanging, and ever-present" and,
In the context of Exodus, the declaration "I am who I am" serves as a declaration of God's commitment to fulfilling His promises. God's identity is integrally linked to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and His promise to deliver their descendants from slavery in Egypt. [03]
Imagery
Imagery is widely used in both the Old and New Testaments. For example...
As I live, declares the Lord God, "surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"; (Ezekiel 34:8 NASB)
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16 NASB)
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NASB)
Quite obviously, Ezekiel was not talking about literal sheep, pagan nations are not literally wolves, and Satan is not a literal lion.
The book of Revelation takes this figurative language to a whole other level with a bewildering array of symbols.... beasts emerging from the sea, a 'bottomless pit', a dragon with seven heads, a woman sitting on a scarlet beast etc. However, it is highly unlikely that real monsters are going to rise out of the sea and equally unlikely that we are going to see a literal beast with horns like a lamb that speaks like a dragon.
Similarly, although Revelation 17:5 talks about the Harlot with Mystery Babylon, Mother of Harlots written on her forehead, it would be foolishness to look for a literal woman with literal writing on her forehead. See The Great Harlot Chapter 17
It would be equally foolish to think we are going to see a whole planet of people walking around with a tattoo or implanted computer chip.
God's Name Or The Beast's Name?
God's Name
Scripture makes several references to God's marks or seals none of which were literal...
Deuteronomy
"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. "You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NASB)
Ezekiel
The Lord said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst." But to the others He said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. "Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders who were before the temple. (Ezekiel 9:4-6 NASB)
Revelation
In Revelation 3:12 the Lord told the church at Sardis: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem...".
Revelation 7:3 has God instructing the four angels not to "harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads".
Revelation 14:1 says the one hundred and forty-four thousand, have His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. See The 144,000
Revelation 22:3-4, referring to the time after the second coming, says His bond-servants will serve Him, they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.
Since God doesn't pull out His pen and write Scripture on someone's heart, nor use His pocket knife to carve laws on our foreheads or in our minds, having the name of Christ or the Father written on one's forehead simply indicates allegiance and commitment to the Father
Similarly, the mark of the beast that has so gripped public imagination is not a literal mark. Because the name of the beast conveys his nature, spiritual character, history and reputation, receiving his name associates the person with everything the beast stands for.
The Name And Number of The Beast
John wrote that the second beast
... required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark - the name of the beast or the number of its name. Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man (Gk. anthropos) , and that number is 666. (Revelation 13:16-18 BSB)
I wonder if anything else in the book of Revelation has stirred up as much diverse opinion and public interest as this infamous mark. From the time that John penned the book of Revelation (probably around A.D 95) men have been trying to figure out who the number six hundred and sixty-six could refer to. See Dating Revelation
As a by the way as seen above the Berean Study Bible reads " the number is that of a man" - your Bible may do so as well. However, the verse actually reads the "the number of man" - the 'a' absent from the original manuscripts. Although in this case all the evidence does point to a single male, the Greek does not necessarily indicate this. In Scripture the Greek word anthropos meant man, human, person, mankind (the human race; people, including women and men). [04] For example,
Men
So also it is written, "The first man (Gk. anthropos), Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45 NASB)
"Two men (Gk. anthropos) went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke 18:10 NASB)
Humankind
But He answered and said, "It is written, 'man (Gk. anthropos) shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" (Matthew 4:4 NASB)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men (Gk. anthropos) (Titus 2:11 NASB)
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men (Gk. anthropos) to die once and after this comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27 NASB)
Also See Footnote I
On the other hand, others see the mark of the beast as a literal financial identification such as an implanted computer chip. Considering that the population of the world currently stands at a staggering 7 billion, this theory is not only untenable, but well beyond the bounds of possibility.
I would love to know how anyone imagines how a country like India with its 1.35 billion people (A fifth of the world's population) would even begin to afford a program like this. And that is not all. Even the polio vaccine drive had strong opposition with the Pakistani Taliban who killed nine health care workers
Gematria
Taking their cue from "let him count (calculate) the number of the beast" many interpreters have used the ancient Hebrew Gematria - the system of assigning numerical value to an alphabet. For example, an Alpha could be the number 1 and a Beta the number two etc. Thus a series of letters could form a word and indicate a number at the same time.
Drawing from Paul Boyer's book, When Time Shall Be No More, Don Closson wrote..
The advent of the computer has caused some to see it as the Beast. One writer noted that if the letter "A"= 6 and "B"= 12 and "C"= 18, and so on, the word computer adds up to 666. The same writer also observed that the words "New York" added up to 666. Some pointed to John Kennedy because he had received 666 votes for the vice-presidency in 1956. Others pointed to Henry Kissinger because his name in Hebrew added up to 111 or 666 divided by 6. Even Ronald Reagan was considered because his first, middle, and last names all had six letters.
The striking number of attempts to identify the Antichrist and the significance of the number 666 should at least give us a sense of humility before adding another name to the list. Perhaps we should follow the example of Irenaus in the second century. Seeing the many efforts to identify the Antichrist in his day, he cautioned against the practice and believed that the name was deliberately concealed until it would be obvious in the day of the Antichrists's arrival. [ 05]
Irenaus did however, have a theory
Lateinos
Unlike most of the others that connect the number to a specific individual, this one is different inasmuch as it relates to the Roman empire as a whole. This could possibly fit in with the whole revived Roman Empire, fourth kingdom, seven kings scenario.
Note: Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue made from various metals (Daniel 2), Daniel's vision of the four beasts that came up from the sea. (Daniel 7), John's vision of a beast that came up from the sea. (Revelation 13), and the seven kings in Revelation 17:9-10 (Link at the top of the page) Are ALL Related.
See Comparison Chart
Compiled from The Following articles
Daniel’s Amazing Prophecies
A Dragon And Two Beasts
Seven Kings
Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp who in turn was said to be a disciple of John, suggested that since the beast is the sum of all apostasy committed over the course of six thousand years, the 666 might refer to Lateinos (the Greek form of the Latin word 'Latinos’ by which the Romans designated themselves). He said
Then also Lateinos has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is a very probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom (of the four seen by Daniel). For the Latins are they who at present bear rule: I will not, however, make any boast over this (coincidence). [06]
Additionally, added together the numerical equivalents of the letters in the word Lateinos results in the number 666. Together they cover both the name of the beast and the number of his name. Irenaeus was very reserved about his interpretation, content to believe that the meaning of the number would be revealed when the antichrist made his appearance.
And so should we be.
Although speculation and theories abound what is imperative is that we recognize the antichrist when he makes his appearance and fully understand that he is empowered by Satan, not the savior on the antichristos he will pretend to be.
See The Antichrist
And
A Comparison of The Seals And Matthew 24:4-9 - The Riders On White Horses
(Scroll down slightly to The First Seal
Footnote II - "A" Man?
As I understand it, NT Greek has no indefinite article 'form' (English a, an) but instead uses an indefinite pronoun (tis) - anyone, someone, or the number one (eis, mia, heis). For example,
But He said to him, "A man (Gk. tis) was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; (Luke 14:16 NASB)
Seeing a lone (Gk. mia) fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered. (Matthew 21:19 NASB)
"Whoever receives one (Gk. heis) child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." (Mark 9:37 NASB) Note: In English this would have been better rendered "a child".
and the face cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a (Gk. heis) place by itself. (John 20:7 NASB)
Then I looked, and I heard an (Gk. heis) eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!" (Revelation 8:13 NASB)
Then a (Gk. heis) strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. (Revelation 18:21 NASB)
End Notes
[01] Jewish Concepts: The Name of God. Copyright © 2016 American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise;
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-name-of-god
[02] Marshall Hargrave. Investopedia. Goodwill (Accounting): What It Is, How It Works, and How To Calculate. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/goodwill.asp
[03] https://www.bibleanalysis.org/what-is-the-significance-of-the-i-am-who-i-am-
bible-verse-in-the-context-of-the-old-testament-2/
[04] https://www.biblehub.com/greek/444.htm
[05] Don Closson. Millennial Cautions. http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/millennl.html
[06] Irenaeus. Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 30. Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL).
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.vii.xxxi.html
|
