Welcome to the Kingdom Family Podcast, where
we rediscover our identity as sons and daughters
of Yahweh and learn to live the life of the Kingdom.
Let's jump in to today's episode. All right,
we are back. This week we get to jump into the
discussion about 666. the Mark of the Beast.
I'm going to talk about that. Last week we covered
the Antichrist, so this week just fitting that
we would discuss this. Just a FYI for my listeners,
we're going to finish this series and then I'm
going to take a couple months off, probably take
off the months of July and August. That way I
can prep and record and do all that kind of fun
stuff as we dive into the next season. That'll
give me some plenty of time to work on some things,
get some stuff pre -recorded, get some notes
together. Plus August is a busy month for me.
That is my wife and I's anniversary. um as well
as her birthday is that month July is just you
know you got summertime I have three kids so
instead of me pushing trying to get all of this
um I'm going to take that time and still record
and move from that point but just to give you
a heads up uh what's going to be happening during
that time frame um just so you would know so
Let me get my notes together here. So again,
talking about, I want you to think about, because
when you think about the Mark of the Beast, I
want you to go back and think about what we've
discussed already as far as the beast in Revelation
representing an oppressive empire, an oppressive
empire power, most clearly the Roman Empire.
The number 666, as we're going to discuss today,
likely points to the Emperor Nero, and I will
explain that here in just a moment. So, when
you hear, I want you to just take a minute and
think about, when you hear 666, what comes to
your mind? Is it fear? Is it... Chips is it not
potato chips, but like microchips. Is it the
devil is it in times? Well, you know what comes
to mind when you hear the number six six six
or when you see the number six six six me I've
worked and then customer service before and it
used to I just get tickled Because people would
come up and ring something up and it would come
out to the total six dollars and sixty six cents
of which most people would say need to add something
to that we've got to change that number that
number is bad luck and I want to help you understand
that's just a number I actually took a picture
of my car at the time I was pulling in the driveway
one day and it had the mileage on it sixty six
thousand six hundred and sixty six so I snapped
a picture of it because I was tickled and sent
it to my wife but most people have been taught
to fear um the number 666 but again i want you
to remember something remember was written to
strengthen believers not to terrify them also
remember that revelation is filled with symbolism
completely filled with symbolism we take one
of the most symbolic books with all sorts of
symbolism and all sorts of mysteries and there's
things that we take very literal So again, let's
look at the beast, and we discussed it last week,
but again, repetition to me, I feel like is important.
So we're gonna read Revelation chapter 13, verses
one through 10. It says this, then I saw a wild
beast rising from the sea with 10 horns and seven
heads. On its horns were 10 royal crowns and
on its heads were blasphemous names. Now, Dr.
Simmons has a footnote on this verse and it says
the word beast, which is therawin, is used in
the Bible for an evil person or in describing
the sinful nature of man. It is found extensively
in classical Greek describing wicked or pathetic
people. A flatterer, excuse me, sorry, Plato
applies it to people and says a flatterer is
a horrid creature, therawin who does great harm.
I'm just scrolling through some of these notes.
I'm not gonna read them all. I think that's enough
for that verse. But continuing on to verse two,
it says, it was like a leopard with feet like
a bear's. It was like a leopard with feet like
a bear's and its mouth like the mouth of a lion.
The dragon shared his power, throne, and great
authority with the wild beast. One of the heads
of the wild beast seemed to have received a deathly
wound, but the wound had been healed. After this,
the whole world was filled with fascination and
followed the wild beast. They worshiped the dragon
because he had given the beast its ruling authority.
They also worshiped the wild beast, saying who
is like the wild beast and who is able to make
war against him. The wild beast was given the
mouth to speak boastful and blasphemous words,
and he was permitted to exercise authority for
42 months. So the wild beast began to blaspheme
against God, blaspheming his holy name and his
dwelling place, that is those who dwell in heaven.
The beast was given the authority to wage war
against the holy believers and he was given authority
over every tribe, people, language, and nation.
Everyone on earth will worship the wild beast,
those whose names have not been written from
the foundation of the world in the book of life
of the lamb who was slain. If anyone has ears
to hear, he better listen. For the one who leads
others into captivity, into captivity he goes.
The one who kills others by the sword, by the
sword he will be put to death. This is a call
for the endurance and faithfulness of holy believers.
And I want you to think about something again
when you hear things like sea and beast. I want
you to remember a lot of imagery is happening.
So what does a sea represent? Typically in the
scripture it would represent chaos and nations.
A beast would represent a kingdom or empire.
This is not talking about when it's using the
word beast. It's not monsters. It's talking about
empires. It's not talking about sci -fi movies.
It's talking about empires. So again, the beast
represents empire power, not a literal monster,
and I think that's really just important for
us to understand and get inside of our system,
that there's so much symbolism and how they would
have heard this scripture or these words then,
they would have known the symbolism of what was
being said. So let's remember just a couple of
things. Christians lived under Roman rule. Rome
would have demanded loyalty. They would have
demanded submission, emperor honor, and some
emperors even demanded worship. Rome would have
looked powerful, Rome would have looked unstoppable,
dominant, but Revelation reveals that Rome is
not ultimate, Christ is. So, now that we've talked
a little bit more about the beast, I wanna talk
about the number 666. Revelation 13, 18 says
this, this will require wisdom to understand.
Let the one with insight interpret the numbers.
the number of the wild beast, for it is humanity's
number 666. I'm gonna read Dr. Simmons' footnote
here. It says, or man's number. The Aramaic can
be translated the son of Adam's number. There's
no reference to the Antichrist in the book of
Revelation. We went over that last week. The
beast is equated to the nature of humanity. The
number 666 is the number of man, not an incarnation
of the devil, but human. nature and that's important
for us to remember and grab hold of the number
666 is the number of man not an incarnation of
the devil the number six is always equated sorry
the number six is always equated with man for
man was created on which day the sixth day the
wild beast rising out from the ground which Man
was made from is the sin of man that wars against
our souls and prevents the image of Christ from
emerging in fullness within believers Now this
is important. I want you to catch this the number
666 cannot be literal for a literal number would
need no wisdom to interpret Both the mark of
the beast and the mark of the foreheads of God's
faithful followers is a metaphor of the character
of the beast revealed by thoughts and by actions.
Thoughts would represent your forehead, actions
would represent your hands. So by associating
the wild beast with 666, John is pointing us
to the dimensions of Nebuchadnezzar's idol and
to Solomon's fall into sin. Daniel 3, 1, 1 Kings
10, 14 is some of your reference points there.
Now, let me give you some more information that
I think is helpful. because in the ancient world
letters had number values. Words could equal
numbers, like a code for instance. It was called
gematria. Gematria is an Assyrian Babylonian
later Jewish method of interpreting Hebrew scriptures
by assigning a numerical value to each letter.
adding them up to find connections between words
with identical sums. This was a widespread ancient
practice of assigning numerical values to letters.
It was used for secret communication such as
666 code for Nero Caesar in Revelation designed
to be interpreted by locals while avoiding detection.
So the Nero Caesar, if you take his Hebrew Letters
and you can Google this and research this yourself
If you take his Hebrew letters Each letter is
given a numerical value and if you add up his
name You have the number 666 this has been recognized
by many scholars that 666 would typically represent
Emperor Nero Nero's Caesar What was he known
for? Nero was known for persecution. He's known
for violence. He's known for oppression of Christians.
He became a symbol of imperial cruelty. So again,
666 likely pointed to Nero, a ruler who persecuted
believers. This is important for us to grab hold
of. Some ancient manuscripts say that it could
mean 616 which also equals Nero Caesar. It would
have a slightly different spelling to make that.
So I want you to think about the mark of the
beast. We have the whole 666 idea under our belt
and again I'm not asking you to agree with me.
I'm trying to give you a different thought to
cause you to rethink and have some better thoughts
and hope for the future and not looking for doom
and gloom. That is the hope here. So, again,
I mentioned it a while ago in Dr. Simmons' footnote.
If you look at the mark of the beast as far as
the forehead, forehead is a representation of
what? What happens in that area? It's thinking.
It's your thoughts, where your thoughts come
from. Then you have hand, which would be reference
to action. So what is the mark of the beast?
It means allegiance or loyalty, not microchips
and not technology. What? If you think about
the foreheads, where your decisions are made,
it's your mindsets, it's your convictions, the
hand, it's your deeds, it's your obedience. So
it's a mark of allegiance, it's a sign of loyalty.
This is not talking about 2026 technology and
a whole bunch of microchips. That is not what
it's asking for. Citizens in Rome were expected
to declare loyalty to Caesar. They would have
been expected to offer incense to honor the emperor.
That pressure would have created division. So
again, the mark represents loyalty, not technology.
Why does this matter? Because it's not Rome today,
but there are still systems of power, oppression,
false loyalty, all that stuff still exists. I
want you to ask yourself, What today demands
loyalty from you? Government? Money? Culture?
Power? Think about this. What in your life is
demanding loyalty that affects your thoughts
and your thoughts would affect your deeds with
your hands? So the danger is not number, just
not the number 666 appearing. And that's just
a number. The danger is misplaced allegiance.
And I want you to think about Think about this,
many things have been labeled the mark of the
beast. Credit cards, social security numbers,
vaccines, barcodes, UPC symbols, microchips,
RFID chips, COVID vaccine, passport, smartphones,
digital currency, government IDs, the internet.
All of this stuff was labeled at somewhere along
the line by different groups of people. This
is the mark of the beast. I specifically remember
hearing stuff like this during COVID. So it's
just really important for us to grab hold of.
These were predictions just like the whole Antichrist.
What has been referenced to the Antichrist? What
has been referenced to the mark of the beast?
And all these things have failed repeatedly.
And there's a contrast. Understand, there is
a difference between the beast mark and God's
mark. So Revelation shows two marks, not just
one. I'm gonna read it to you in Revelation chapter
seven, verses one through three. After this,
I saw four angels standing at the four corners
of the earth, and they were restraining the four
winds so that no wind would blow on the land,
on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another
angel ascending from the east who had the seal
of the living God He shouted out with a loud
voice to the four angels who had been given power
to damage earth and sea saying Do not damage
the earth the sea or the trees until we have
marked the loving servants of our God with our
seal on their foreheads So the seal is the mind
of dr. Simmons footnotes here The seal is the
mind of Christ for it goes on the forehead which
where your thoughts are Until we have the mind
of Christ, we are incapable of discerning properly.
Let me help you understand that you have been
given the mind of Christ. Tap into that. We are
incapable of discerning properly. Partaking of
Christ's mind empowers us to be righteous judges,
righteous kings, and righteous priests. This
seal is more than a seal of protection from the
coming judgments, but it's a seal that qualifies
them to bring the righteous judgments of God
to the earth then where is God's judgment always
aimed? It's aimed at whatever interferes between
us and the love of the love of the Father towards
us. This is the nature of God being written upon
the foreheads and minds of his holy ones. The
seal on their forehead is the mind of Christ
which is the mark of Christ. The wind of judgments
are held back until the sons of God have the
thoughts and mind of Christ. If you look at the
seal of the Lamb's blood on the doors of the
Israelites, protected them from the death angel,
the new covenant seal is the Holy Spirit, the
mind of Christ that opens our hearts to the restoration
of heaven. We are the seven sealed scroll that
is broken open so that the all conquering life
of Christ will subdue all things. I want you
to hear this, that we are living letters written
not with ink, but by the Spirit of God writing
truth upon our hearts. the volume of the book,
Scroll, it is written about Christ. So I want
you to think about this. You are a living epistle.
You are a scripture. You are a Bible for others
to read. They're reading your life. They're reading
your story. They're reading your reactions. um
that's why it's important to understand what
the seal of god means it means protection belonging
identity this is not literal ink it's not stamps
it's it's not symbolic it's it's symbolic ownership
that's what it is symbolic ownership you are
owned by the father so stop trying to get somewhere
that you actually already are what does the beast
mark represent opposition false allegiance submission
to empires the key is this every everyone is
marked by something the question is who do you
belong to that is the question that you and i
need to consider the problem is my friend and
this goes with anything fear grows when scripture
is disconnected from history and moments like
this. So I want you to hear three truths as we
begin to close this one out. And I hope this
helps you go back and listen to this, really
just allow this to give you a different point
of view. Number one, the beast represents empire
power. Number two, 666, it's just another my
friend. Don't freak out when you see it pop up
on the register. It points to human authority
opposing God like Emperor Nero in this time frame.
Number three, the mark is about loyalty, not
technology. Okay? The beast in Revelation was
not written to make believers afraid of numbers.
It was written to help believers. recognize oppressive
power and to remain faithful to Christ. The number
666 was not a mystery that was meant to terrify.
It was a symbol meant to expose empire and to
remind believers that even the most powerful
rulers are still under the authority of Jesus.
Think about that, my friend. It wasn't meant
to be. terror it wasn't meant to be something
afraid of he was they was communicating something
real to these people so think about this I hope
this helps give you some background on it Again
you can do a really deep dive into all this and
I encourage you to do that on your own free time
when you have that moment. This is just a teaching
to help give you different viewpoints, a different
point of view, a more hopeful outlook for the
future. Remember Romans 8 tells us that the earth
is groaning and traveling for the manifestation
of the sons and daughters of Yahweh. The world
around you is waiting for you to understand who
you are as a son. and daughter and for you to
become a word for the world around you. Think
about that and until next time be blessed. Thanks
for spending some time with me today on the Kingdom
Family Podcast. If this episode spoke to you
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through Kingdom Family Ministries. Until next
time, live love, live free, and live from the
life of the Kingdom.