This calls for wisdom.
Let the person who has insight calculate the
number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.
That number is 666.
(Revelation 13:18 NIV)
Have you ever used
the abbreviation: TGIF? Be careful of
what “day” you are thankful for! Friday
may seem pleasant to you, because the weekend—Day 7, meaning “rest”—is
approaching. But, if we are approaching
Day 7 in God’s Cosmic Week—if we are indeed living in Day 6 (Friday)—we are on
the brink of the “end” of the week. Day 6 can be comforting or it can be scary! Two numbers are extremely powerful in the
Jewish mind: Twelve and Seven. I mention these two numbers because they are
both powerfully significant for understanding what happens between the opening
of the sixth and seventh seals.
Seven (and its
multiples) represent Completeness/telos. There are the 7 churches of Asia Minor (Rev.
1:4), the 7 golden lampstands/candlesticks (Rev. 1:12), and the 7 stars (Rev.
1:16) which are the 7 angels of the 7 churches (Rev. 1:20). There are the 7 letters to the 7 churches
(Rev. 2-3) and the 7 spirits of God (Rev. 2:1) which are the 7 lamps of fire
burning before the throne of God (Rev. 4:5).
There are, of course, the 7 seals of the scroll (divorce book) which we
discussed in the previous post (Rev. 5:1), and to the end of which (Seal #7) we
are now approaching. The Lamb had 7
horns and 7 eyes, which were the 7 spirits of God (Rev. 5:6) sent forth into
all of the earth. There were 7 trumpets
sounded by 7 angels (Rev. 8:2) and 7 thunders (Rev. 10:3). There were the 7 years (week of years) that
were divided in half (=3½ years=42
months=1260 days) that I discussed in my post “Apocalyptic?
#3: The Mirror Image of the Week.” The Dragon had 7 heads (Rev. 12:3) as did the
Beast with 7 heads (Rev. 13:1) before adding an 8th (Rev.
13:3). There were the 7 last plagues
(Rev. 15:1) and the 7 angels who administered them (Rev. 15:8) by pouring out
the 7 bowls of the wrath of God (Rev. 16:1).
There are the 7 mountains on which the Harlot Babylon sits (Rev. 17:9)
Twelve (and its
multiples) represented God’s Chosen.
There were 12 tribes of Israel, chosen by God (Rev. 21:12). There were 12 apostles, chosen by Christ
(Rev. 21:14). There were 24 (12X2)
elders sitting on 24 thrones, surrounding God’s throne in Heaven in Revelation
4:4 (just as there were 70 elders, chosen by Moses to assist in ruling
Israel in Numbers 11 and Exodus 24). There
were 12 foundation stones of the walls of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14), plus 12
gates to the city (Rev. 21:12), plus 12 angels—one at each gate (Rev.
21:12). The woman in Revelation 12:1 had
a crown of 12 stars on her head. 144,000
(12X12X1000) were sealed out of every one of the 12 tribes of Israel (Rev.
7:4): 12,000 from each tribe
(Rev. 7:5-8). The length and breadth and
height of the New Jerusalem were each 12,000 furlongs (Rev.
21:16). The walls of the New Jerusalem
were 144 cubits of an angel (Rev. 21:17). The 12 foundations were each a special
precious stone (Rev. 21:20) and the 12 gates were 12 pearls (Rev. 21:21). In the midst of the city was a river of the
water of life with a tree of life on either side, bearing 12 different kinds of
fruit every one of the (12) months (Rev. 22:2).
The Importance of
the Number 6
I began this post by
asking: Have you ever used the
abbreviation: TGIF? In considering
Revelation 1:1, the scholar G. B. Caird asked: "What did John think was
'bound to happen soon'?" (Caird, p. 236).
The answer to that question is found by watching out for the number six
in Revelation. The supreme archetype in
the entire book of Genesis is the creation week. When day number seven arrives, telos/the end has already been achieved. Creation has been completed (perfected) by
the end of day six in Genesis. The word
"sabbath" even carries the perfected denotation of "rest"
in Hebrew. Since John (intuitively)
knows that his seven structure has aroused an expectation of telos in the number seven for his
audience, John consistently places himself and his audience at the number six,
thus indicating almost by the sheer psychological weight of the number six that
he and his readers are on the brink of telos--but
they are still in the process of entelechy (telos
has not yet come).
The
Sixth Emperor
The most
poignant verses in the book of Revelation for those looking for evidence of the
date of Revelation are 17:10-11 (KJV): “10 And
there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet
come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And
the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and
goeth into perdition.” Scholars have
agreed that the "seven heads = seven kings" refer to Roman
emperors. Hence, calculations ensue in
an effort to determine the emperor's reign under which the book is being
written. While the answer to the
calculation is of vast importance, the psychological significance of the verses
has been missed. John states that
"five fell, one is, and the other has not yet come." That places John and his audience precisely
in the reign of emperor number six. They
are on the brink of telos.
The
Number 666
Furthermore, the number of the beast "who has the
wound of the sword and lived" (13.14) is the infamous number "six
hundred sixty-six." My parents,
when they were about to discipline me, used a technique of counting to three. However, they would not count 1, 2, 3. Instead they would count 1, 2, 2 and ½, 2 and
¾, etc., extending this final number for a longer time, thus, giving me more
opportunity to behave and comply. The infamous number 6-6-6 seems to signify the
last brink of the last brink of the last brink of telos. Gematria is
the technical term for the activity of codifying someone's name into a number,
a very popular practice in the first century.
Unlike English, which uses an alphabet for letters and an Arabic number
system, ancient languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin made the
alphabet serve a dual purpose. The use
of Roman Numerals in English, today, illustrates such a dual use of letters, so
that the name LIV (a nickname for Olivia; see Liv Tyler and Liv Ullmann) also
equals in Roman Numerals the number 54.
An Aramaic document of Nero's reign from the Wadi Murabba'at, in Jordan,
contains the required spelling for Nero Caesar which would equal 666 in either
Aramaic or Hebrew. But the psychological
significance comes not from identifying the individual to whom the number
referred (John's primary audience surely knew!). The sense of being on the ultimate brink of telos comes from the sheer
"expectation" that, with the number six in place, the number seven (the
end/the telos) is almost on the
scene.
The
Sixth Seal and Sixth Trumpet
John has proceeded
rapid-fire through the first 6 seals. He
uses only one chapter (Revelation chapter 6) to go through all 6 seals. Nevertheless, he does not discuss seal number
7 until he has sealed the foreheads of the 144,000 from the 12
tribes of Israel (Revelation chapter 7), presumably to protect them from the
final disaster (the divorce of Israel).
Also, in chapter 7, he identifies a group that is called an “uncountable
number.” Then, he spreads out his
description of the opening of the 7th seal through chapters 8, 9,
10, and 11. The opening of the 7th
seal in chapter 8 introduces 7 more half-steps—the blowing of 7 trumpets. This use of the number six (in chapter 7) is
similar to the positioning of an interlude between the sixth and seventh
trumpets, in which John introduces 7 more half-steps: the 7 thunders, but does
not write the messages down; he eats the scroll that was sweet in his mouth but
bitter in his stomach (i.e., he must prophesy); he measures the temple; and the
two Witnesses prophesy. Since the seven
trumpets are an expansion of the seventh seal, John and his audience members
realize (at this point, chronologically) that they are on the last brink of the
last brink of telos. An interlude of eating a scroll and hearing
seven thunders does not tell much about the temporal standpoint of John and his
audience. There are some clues in the
measuring of the temple and in the prophecy of the two Witnesses, however. If it is the Jerusalem "temple"
which John is told to measure, the date should probably be placed before 70 AD,
the year in which the temple was destroyed, so there would no longer be a
temple to measure.
The Friday (6th
Day) Interlude
If you find that
there is an interlude of relative peace following the two World Wars, or
following the end of the Cold War, or following the Islamic terror attacks
around the world, or following the COVID19 pandemic and the subsequent reign of
protests, looting, and chaos, don’t relax.
It may be just the interlude before last trumpet. If you are thanking God that it is Friday,
know that a cataclysm could occur on Saturday.
So, what was the
purpose of the Friday interlude in Revelation?
In Revelation 11, the interlude between the 6th trumpet and
the 7th trumpet was to provide a time to “measure the temple” in
Jerusalem. In the academic world, we
know that “measurements” are evaluations. A common one is the Midterm Exam. We
seek, as professors, to evaluate whether our students have mastered the
important elements of our courses. When
God asked John to measure the Temple, he was asking him to evaluate whether the
Priesthood and Temple Cult in Jerusalem had mastered the important elements of
Judaism and Israel’s role with regard to God.
Did they repent, as God’s divorce scroll intended? The answer was generally: No.
The High Priestly party continued to resist God. If you begin to experience an interlude, be
careful! You could be in the process of
being measured by God.
In Revelation 8:1,
the interlude is pictured as “silence in heaven about the space of half an
hour,” before the 7 last trumpets were sounded.
In Revelation 7, the interlude is pictured as four angels standing at
the four corners of the “land” of Israel, holding back the four winds, so that
they should not blow on the land, while the 144,000 were being sealed.
The Importance of
the Number 12
The 144,000
Who are these 144,000 whom God is now protecting from
the coming violent divorce, just as he protected the Israelites who had sealed
their doorposts with the blood of a Lamb from the Tenth Plague in Egypt? They are Jews who came from the 12
tribes of Israel (Rev. 7:4-8). So, it’s
true, many Jews DID REPENT and were NOT DIVORCED by God. Why were they not divorced? Because, in contrast with the Harlot Babylon
(the High Priests and their followers in Jerusalem), these were “virgins” (Rev.
14:4), not “defiled” among women as was the Harlot Babylon. The term John uses—defiled/molunô—is
a cognate of the word Daniel 1:8 uses—defiled/summolunô—when he
suggests that Daniel and his three companions (later renamed Shadrach, Meshach,
and Aved Nego [Abednego]) who were captured by the Babylonians and commanded by
Babylonian authorities to conform to Babylonian cultural and religious
practices. The heroes of Daniel are these
young men who refused to be defiled; they resist conforming to the Babylonian
cultural and religious practices. The very names Shadrach, Meshach, and
Aved Nego (Abednego) are the NEW names which their captors gave them,
corresponding to Babylonian gods. Their
original (Hebrew) names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Daniel himself was given a new Babylonian name
by his captors, corresponding to Babylonian god Bel: Belteshazzar.
Nevertheless, Daniel is the name of the book, not Belteshazzar. Daniel refused to be “defiled” by the
new Babylonian culture! Daniel and his companions
refused to eat Babylonian food (Dan. 1:8) on the grounds that they would be defiled
(summolunô in LXX) by the act of
eating the king's food. This is possibly
the verse that John had in mind when he spoke in 14:4 of the
"virgins" who were not defiled. John uses the cognate molunô (defiled).
Syncretism
The technical word for what Daniel called defiled
(summolunô in LXX) is “syncretism.” It
means that the Jews incorporated portions of the heathen culture into their own
religion and culture. Syncretistic
tendencies have been identified by Revelation scholars as the porneia (fornication) of which John accuses
Jezebel (Rev. 2:20-22) and Babylon (Rev. 14:8).
(Notice that the reference to Babylon as a harlot/pornē in
Revelation 14:8 is just four verses removed from the reference to “women”
and “virgins” in Revelation 14:4. This is significant.) Perhaps, syncretistic tendencies are an
important rationale in John's choosing "Babylon" as the name of the
harlot. John appears to be greatly
influenced by the book of Daniel. The
heroes of Daniel are the young men who resist syncretism, once they have been
carried away into "Babylon."
Not only do the Babylonians attempt to assimilate the
young men into their religion by renaming the young men with Babylonian names,
often associated with Babylonian deities, Daniel is determined to resist the
law outlawing prayer to his God, even if it means incarceration with
lions. The other three young heroes are
determined to resist pagan worship, even if it means death in a fiery furnace. These heroes are models of
anti-syncretism. Even John's literary
style in many ways imitates this thoroughly anti-syncretistic book.
"Why," John's favorite Psalm (the 2nd) asks,
"do the heathen [Gentiles/goiim]
rage and the people [Jews] imagine vain things?" "They [the Jews and the Gentiles] have
plotted together against the Lord and His Messiah," it answers. It was the syncretistic alliance between the
High Priestly party of Judaism with the Gentile leader Pontius Pilate to
crucify Jesus that amounted to ultimate syncretism/harlotry/porneia. All other nationalities are expected to
oppose the Lord and His Messiah.
Therefore, syncretism does not matter for the heathen. They are all united against the Lord and His
Messiah, anyway. Any alliance with these
heathen is porneia, for John. The dragon is not syncretistic, because the
union of heathen gods, religions, and cultures is not porneia. Only when Jews or
Christians are united with heathen elements is there the type of syncretism
which is equivalent to porneia. The Old Testament harlot, Israel/Zion, is
guilty of harlotry only to the extent she seduces and enters into alliances
with her heathen neighbors. The specific
identity of the neighbor is insignificant--so long as it is heathen. Therefore, John, in guarding against porneia, is interested only in this type
of syncretism--Jewish (and Christian) alliances with heathen cultures.
Is There Syncretism in Christianity Today?
What about modern-day syncretism? Have 21st Century Christians united
with ancient Greco-Roman culture to form new cultural and religious values and
practices? Paul warned against uniting
with Greco-Roman culture in I Corinthians 5:1: “It is actually reported that
there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the
Gentiles.” 5:11: “I wrote to you not to
keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous,
or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one
no, not to eat.” 6:9-10: “Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the kingdom of God.” Paul
describes the Greco-Roman practices in Romans 1:26-27: ”26 Because of this, God gave them over to
shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for
unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned
natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men
committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due
penalty for their error.”
The
issue of syncretism is not whether other cultures sin. The issue of syncretism is whether Christians
and Jews participate in the heathen cultural practices and/or support them in
these practices.
Who Are the 144,000 Virgins?
I commented earlier that the reference to Babylon as a
harlot/pornē in Revelation 14:8 is just four verses removed from
the reference to “women” and “virgins” in Revelation 14:4: “These are they which were not defiled
with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the
firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb (KJV).” I noted that this is significant. Why? Because
this Revelation 14:4 passage has been used to argue that Catholic priests
should be celibate (=virgins). This is a
misunderstanding of the passage. We have
already pointed out that “defiled” refers to syncretism. We have already shown the contrast between
the harlot/pornē Babylon just 4 verses later and the 144,000 Israelites
who are “virgins.” The final piece of this puzzle is the little word “with/meta.”
Meta
Meta is the first part of the
word metaphor. John has
been using a “woman” metaphor throughout Revelation. Israel was the metaphorical wife of
God. Hence, Israel assumes the metaphorical
Eve role. Thus, she has an archetypal
conflict with the serpent. Just as Paul
saw Israel/Jerusalem as two virwomen (in a positive sense and a negative
sense) in Galatians 4:25-26, John seems to split the "woman"
here into "virgin" and "harlot." The woman who (in Eden) was torn between her
two choices has, by the end of Revelation, completely split into two women--a
good woman (or virgin) who yields her life in faithfulness to
God, and a bad woman (or harlot) who perfects her unfaithfulness
so fully that she commits porneia
with the serpent's representative.
The task of the readers of John’s Revelation is to
remain metaphorical “virgins,” as did the 144,000 Israelites—to not succumb to
the syncretistic temptation of joining the heathen culture in their practices. After all, if it is now Friday, the dreadful
7th day is just around the corner!