Question

I am very concerned about the Apocalypse. I happen to know separated Adventist brothers on the internet, and they keep saying that in their interpretations of the Beast of 666 is the Pope and that he is the antichrist. This is because, in various ways of saying “the Pope” in Latin, the sum of the letters adds up to 666, and they say the Catholic Church is the Beast. But I don’t know what to tell them, because they are giving me proof and I have nothing. I am sure there must be another interpretation, and I hope you can give it to me, so I can explain it to them and defend my position. Thank you anyway, and I await your response.

Answer

Dear Friend,

I am responding by sending you the following article. You will see the references in the header.

Preamble

The second beast of the Apocalypse, better known by its number 666, has been a source of confusion fueled by biblical ignorance, further encouraged by spectacular film productions that freely explore this theme.Some are eager to find some ‘antichrist’ in our times to whom they can attribute the traits described in the Apocalypse, and with restless curiosity, they speculate endlessly with bold daring, but without substantiating the supposed coincidences they find. And not only about the beast, but about all the symbols used in this book, they seek to find ‘the truth’ in the signs of our times, when the authentic meaning is located in a precise historical time and context, foreign to our own.

My interest in writing this article is to develop a brief exegesis on the pericope of ‘The False Prophet in Service of the Beast,’  to clarify from an exegetical point of view the true meaning of this biblical passage. The exercise presented in this article was done personally, always remaining within the scope of the ‘sound doctrine’ of our Catholic Church and in line with our contemporary exegesis.

Theoretical Considerations

To begin this exegetical work, I consider it important to explain the elements that serve as solid (and correct) material for interpreting this passage. The biblical text is taken entirely from the Spanish Edition of the Jerusalem Bible.

Literary Genre

The Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse of John, corresponds precisely to the ‘apocalyptic’ literary genre.  This genre flourished in Hebrew literature for four centuries, from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. Apocalyptic literature depends on prophetic and wisdom literature. But unlike prophetic literature, where the essential element is ‘the word,’ in apocalyptic literature the essential element is ‘the vision.’ Another characteristic of the apocalyptic genre is the abundant use of symbols.

The structure of an Apocalypse always occurs in these three phases:

• A stage of oppression for the People of God.
• A stage of punishment and destruction of the enemy.
• A stage of liberation, victory, and dominion for the People of God.

It is important to distinguish the teaching behind ‘the vision’ from the narrative that tells ‘the vision’ in the Apocalypse. The apocalyptic content is both eschatological and historical, so its teaching endures until the end of time. However, being historical, its narrative always refers to a specific, immediate time, as it is written in a time of strong oppression. The Apocalypse must be interpreted with this perspective (and consequently the pericope interpreted in this article) if one wants to have an accurate understanding of its meaning. Nevertheless, with good hermeneutics, its doctrinal content can be updated.

In the Old Testament, we find apocalyptic literature in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, and Daniel.  In the New Testament, we find apocalyptic texts in Mark, Matthew, and Luke when they narrate Jesus’s eschatological discourse; in some Pauline passages in the epistles to the Thessalonians and the First to the Corinthians; and evidently, in the Apocalypse.

Keys to Interpretation

To understand not only the content of the pericope I analyze in this article but the entire content of the Apocalypse of John, it is essential to know first the content and symbols of the Apocalypse contained in the book of the prophet Daniel. In turn, to understand the symbols of Daniel, it is necessary to know and understand the symbols used by the prophet Ezekiel. This is of capital importance because, by understanding the symbolism of Ezekiel and Daniel, the exegesis of the Apocalypse of John becomes a simpler and more natural process. Recounting and interpreting this symbolism is beyond the scope of this work. However, I mention it for the scholar who wishes to delve deeper on their own.

Likewise, in the case of this pericope, it is essential to understand the meaning of the First Beast,  described in the previous pericope. I will detail this in the section ‘The Immediate Context.’

Apocalypses are developed in a time of oppression.In the specific case of the Apocalypse of John, it was written in the year 95, as is generally thought. At that time, Domitian demanded ‘imperial cult’ even more than his predecessors Vespasian and Titus. It is in this historical context that we must seek the true meaning of the symbolism used by John.

Apocalyptic Numerology

All the numbers used in the Apocalypse have a specific meaning. Knowing them helps to understand the symbols of the text. To interpret the pericope in question, it is useful to know the following:

The Pericope

The False Prophet in Service of the Beast

Rev 13:11-18

(11) Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. (12) It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf,  and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. (13) It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all;(14) and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived; (15) and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (16) Also it causes all, both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, (17) so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. (18) This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Delimitation

Immediate Context

The pericope of ‘The False Prophet in Service of the Beast’ is delimited by the pericopes ‘The Dragon Transmits His Power to the Beast’ (12:18-13:10) and ‘The Lamb’s Companions’ (14:1-13).

The Dragon Transmits His Power to the Beast (12:18-13:10):

In this pericope, John sees a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. The beast from the sea was like a leopard, with bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth, , and it received its power, throne, and great authority from the Dragon (cf. 13:1-3). People prostrate themselves to the Dragon and the beast, whom they praise (cf. 13:4-8). John concludes by warning, “Let anyone who has ears listen: If you are to be taken captive, into captivity you go; if you are to be slain with the sword, with the sword you must be slain.” Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints (13:9-10).

‘The sea’ in Eastern literature is an element associated with chaos, the abyss, and rebellion. The description of the beast is similar to the vision of the four beasts in Dan 7:3-8. Placing the text in its historical context, the most coherent thing is to relate this beast rising from the sea to the Roman Empire, of great power and overwhelming extent, the prototype of all powers that will rise against the Church throughout the centuries.

The ten horns and ten diadems represent ten Roman kings. The seven heads with blasphemous names symbolize seven emperors. Note that the figures used are symbols of totality.

The Beast’s power extends over every race, people, language, and nation and comes from the Dragon. Similarly, the Roman Empire was expanding more and more. Verse three mentions a head with a mortal wound that was healed, which may allude to a specific moment when the Roman Empire was in danger but survived. Other authors prefer to understand here a simile with the legend that Nero, after committing suicide, would return to take power over Rome.

The Beast utters blasphemies against God with its mouth, makes war on the saints, and is worshiped by all the inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb. The Roman Empire ardently persecuted Christians precisely because they, due to their faith in Christ Jesus alone, refused to worship both the Empire and Caesar.

This situation of rejection of God and cruel persecution requires ‘the endurance and faith of the saints.’

Understanding that this beast from the sea represents the Roman Empire is perhaps the most solid clue to understanding the second beast, rising from the earth, as I will explain in due course.

The Lamb’s Companions (14:1-13):

In this pericope, John finds a lamb on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 who have his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

A fundamentalist and erroneous interpretation of this number, as proposed by Jehovah’s Witnesses, claims that only 144,000 souls will go to heaven. Nothing could be more wrong.

To the followers of the Beast, marked with its name, John opposes the followers of the Lamb, grouped symbolically in Zion, Jerusalem, the Holy City chosen by God. They represent the new Israel. The number 144,000 equals 12 x 12 x 1000, which signifies the exaggeration of a number representing totality, not a specific quantity. It speaks of the redeemed, that is, those who have attained salvation. The qualities of these redeemed according to the pericope are: men who have not defiled themselves with women, they are virgins; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been redeemed from among mankind; they are first fruits for God and the Lamb; no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless (cf. Ps 30). The fact that they are ‘first fruits’ is significant, so it can be thought that this is not all the redeemed, but a representative group. Probably, those who have already given their lives for the faith.

Immediate Context

The pericope in question is contained in the first part, ‘The Preliminaries of the Great Day of God’ of the second title of the Apocalypse, ‘The Prophetic Visions,’ which is made up of the following pericopes:

• God Entrusts the World’s Destiny to the Lamb (4-5)
• The Lamb Breaks the Seven Seals (6)
• The Servants of God Will Be Preserved (7:1-8)
• The Triumph of the Chosen in Heaven (7:9-17)
• The Seventh Seal (8:1)
• The Prayers of the Saints Hasten the Arrival of the Great Day (8:2-5)
• The First Four Trumpets (8:6-13)
• The Fifth Trumpet (9:1-12)
• The Sixth Trumpet (9:13-21)
• Imminence of the Final Punishment (10:1-7)
• The Little Scroll Eaten (10:8-10)
• The Two Witnesses (11:1-13)
• The Seventh Trumpet (11:14-19)
• Vision of the Woman and the Dragon (12:1-17)
• The Dragon Transmits His Power to the Beast (12:18-13:10)
• The False Prophet in Service of the Beast (13:11-18)
• The Lamb’s Companions (14:1-13)
• The Harvest and Vintage of the Nations (14:14-20)
• The Song of Moses and the Lamb (15:1-4)
• The Seven Plagues of the Seven Bowls (15:5 – 16:21)

Characters

John: The author of the Apocalypse introduces himself as John (1:1,4,9; 22:8), a man who, because of his Christian faith, was exiled on the island of Patmos, a Roman penal colony. Despite his name, it is difficult to think that the author of this book is John the Apostle, or the same author(s) of the fourth Gospel or the Johannine letters. He does not speak of himself as the apostle or as the author of those texts. Some Church Fathers identified him with the apostle, surely due to the affinity of the name, including Justin, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Hippolytus. However, others like Eusebius of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem, and even Gregory Nazianzen and John Chrysostom, denied this. The vocabulary, grammar, and style make it doubtful that the Apocalypse was composed by the same people responsible for the other New Testament texts signed by ‘John.’ On the other hand, there are linguistic similarities and theological affinities with the fourth gospel that suggest the author of the last book of the Bible could well have been a disciple of John the Apostle.

In this pericope, John appears as the recipient of a new vision where he contemplates the second Beast.

The First Beast: As I explained earlier, the author of the Apocalypse represents with the symbol of the Beast rising from the sea the Roman Empire.

The Second Beast: Rising from the earth, from this pericope onward, the Apocalypse will refer to it as ‘The False Prophet,’ who is in the service of the first Beast, that is, the Roman Empire.

The Inhabitants of the Earth: All the inhabitants of the earth are seduced by the Beast.

Those Who Do Not Worship the First Beast:

Understanding that the first beast is the Roman Empire, it is evident that those who do not worship the first beast are the Christians, who disobeyed the mandate of the Imperial Cult, which involved worshiping the ‘Divus Caesar’ and the ‘Dea Roma’.

The Intelligent Person: This is how John describes the one who manages to calculate the number of the Beast.

Interpretation of the Pericope

(11) Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

The horn is a symbol of authority in the Apocalypse. We see that the one symbolized by the Beast from the earth had two horns, meaning it was someone with supreme authority.

(12) It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.

Understanding that the first Beast is the Roman Empire, it is easy to understand that the second Beast is the apocalyptic symbol of a minister of Rome, and as I recently explained, it was someone who had supreme authority. We can therefore think that it is an emperor. An emperor who had the mission from the Empire to ensure its legendary territorial extension ‘making the earth and all its inhabitants worship the first Beast.’

(13) It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all;

We note here a warning signal against the seductions of idolatry, according to the second redaction of the Law of Moses. Deuteronomy orders that if a prophet arises who proposes a sign or wonder and asks to go after other unknown gods to serve them, this prophet must not be listened to (cf. Deut 13:2-4).

Christ himself warns about the coming of these false prophets who drag their followers to perdition (cf. Mt 24:24). It is interesting to note that this warning (and prediction) of Christ is contained in his Eschatological Discourse, that is, in an eminently apocalyptic text.

The same is true in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, where Paul anticipates that the coming of the ‘Lawless One’ will be signaled by Satan’s influence, with all kinds of miracles and wonders. All kinds of evil deeds will ultimately seduce those who have not accepted the love of the saving truth (cf. 2 Thes 2:9-10). Another apocalyptic passage.

The parallel between these three passages and this verse of the Apocalypse is evident.

(14) and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived;

The Spirit of God was the one performed wonders in the Church to provoke faith in Christ; the second Beast imitates the Spirit, just as the Serpent and the first Beast imitate the Father and the Son. Thus, the Dragon, the first, and the second Beast are an antithetical caricature of the Trinity: Father-Son-Holy Spirit and Dragon-First Beast-Second Beast.

(15) and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Christians always rejected the cult of the Empire and Caesar. We see here that the second Beast exterminated Christians; it was a fierce persecutor of them. This sheds light on the deduction of its name. It is, therefore, a Roman emperor who fiercely persecuted Christians.

(16) Also it causes all, both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,

The tattoo on the hand and forehead brings to mind the ‘imperial cult.’

Later, an angel will warn that whoever gets the mark on the forehead or hand will have to drink the wine of God’s fury (cf. 14:9). Likewise, a malignant ulcer will afflict those who have received the mark (cf. 16:2). And when the Beast is captured, it will be thrown alive along with those who were marked into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur (cf. 19:20). Undoubtedly, these are all symbolisms, but the deplorable nature of the attitude of those who choose to follow the Beast is obvious.

On the contrary, all who did not worship the Beast or receive the mark on their hand or forehead, that is, those who did not perform works in accordance with the Beast, nor accepted it with their mind or attitude, came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years (cf. 20:4).

(17) so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

Not bearing the mark of the Beast is grounds for deprivation of daily activities in the Roman Empire, and worse still, it is grounds for deprivation of legal and civil rights.

(18) This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Instead of giving the Beast’s name, John uses a number, 666, and explains that it must be calculated. To add up to 666, there are a great many combinations. The basis for this calculation is the fact that in Greek and Hebrew, the letters of the alphabet have numerical value, as these languages lacked numerals. The most accepted opinion among exegetes, and with which I personally agree, is that John refers to Nero, since his name in Hebrew is NRWN QSR (Neron Caesar), remembering that in Hebrew vowels are not written between consonants (and the vowel points, which in any case have no numerical value, were adapted several centuries after the writing of the Apocalypse), and the numerical equivalences are:

In Greek, the sum gives 616, which is why some very few Bible versions use this other figure. In that case, 616 does not mean ‘Nero Caesar,’ but ‘God Caesar.’ Either way, everything seems to strongly coincide to trust that the passage refers to Nero, one of the most bitter persecutors of Christians, who we know among his ‘ingenious’ torments, had Christians tied to posts (crux simplex surely) on the paths of his palace gardens and set them ablaze to serve as torches.

We must also remember that 6 is a number used to represent imperfection, as it falls short of 7, plenitude. Repeating 6 three times is significant because 3 is a symbol of perfection. Repeating an adjective three times is equivalent to the maximum possible superlative. Thus, repeating 6 three times, 666, the ‘three times Imperfect,’ the ‘totally imperfect,’ is antithetically equivalent to the ‘three times Holy,’ ‘Holy, holy, holy’ used to maximize the exaltation of God’s holiness, the ‘All Holy.’

Actualization

False prophets, persecutors of Christianity, and material and pagan seductions will always harass all the inhabitants of the world. However, faithful Christians who remain patient in faith will overcome these trials.

Conclusion

Anyone who read this article looking for clues or even concrete names of supposed contemporary antichrists was surely disappointed. Apocalyptic literature is a genre difficult to understand due to the large number of symbols it employs. However, knowing the correct keys for updating and familiarity with the texts of Ezekiel and Daniel facilitate the understanding of the Apocalypse.

Hebrew, lacking numerals, uses its own letters for arithmetic purposes. Thus, the name Nero Caesar written with Hebrew characters coincides in numerical value with the number 666.

The Apocalypse, being written in the context of the Christian persecution by the Roman Empire, finds the true meaning of its symbols in that specific historical situation. Nevertheless, the sense and teaching of the text are eschatological. For this reason, if we must apply something from this book in our times, which so often test our Christian sanity, it is the teaching of faith and hope developed in the text, rather than trying to use the symbols employed in the text as references to cataclysmic events we are to suffer.

Fr. Miguel A. Fuentes, IVE

Bibliographic References

SPANISH EDITION OF THE JERUSALEM BIBLE. Desclée de Brouwer, Bilbao, 1998.

THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE. Catholic Bible Press, Nashville, 1987.

Carrillo, S., EL APOCALIPSIS. Instituto de Pastoral Bíblica, México, 1998.

Nutting, M., AND GOD SAY WHAT?. Paulist Press, New York, 1986.

Yates, K. NOCIONES ESENCIALES DEL HEBREO BIBLICO. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1984.

(c) Mauricio Israel Pérez López, 2000

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