What is the meaning of 666? II

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What’s Your Question? for July 23

What is the meaning of 666?

There is much speculation and superstition about this number. All the Bible says about it can be read in Rev. 13:15-18. The context is the persecuting power of the Roman empire, which forced people to worship the image of the Emperor or be persecuted or killed. Ray Summers (a Baptist author of the commentary - Worthy Is The Lamb) said "the safest method of determining the identity of the beast is to study the symbolism in the day in which the book (of Revelation) was written" (p. 174). A social security number would have meant nothing to those people! Summers concluded "the number 7 represented perfect, or complete and the number 6 fell short of perfection…(so) 666 is evil raised to its highest power." It probably represented evil government and evil religion combining to persecute God’s people.