666: What Does It REALLY Mean?

666. The Devil's Number. The Mark of the Beast. But what does it REALLY mean? It actually is a secret code...

Follow me on Twitter: @andrewmarkhenry

Bibliography:

Lincoln Blumell, "Lettered Christians: Christians, Letters, and Late Antique Oxyrhynchus," 2012

Christopher Frilingos, "Spectacles of Empire: Monsters, Martyrs, and the Book of Revelation," 2013.

Elaine Pagels, Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation," 2013.

[NotHPotter]

Given that the emperor's name was on the currency, not being able to buy or sell without his mark makes a lot more sense. Great video!

[Drudenfusz]

There is a reason why I think this is the best channel on YouTube about religious content, it actually looks at the texts and doesn't go with the crazy conspiracies.

[Scaboid]

Thanks for spreading the truth, brother. I’m a Christian but I’m sick of conspiracy theorists twisting this book for their malicious agendas. The fact that John says the number of the beast must be calculated (just like gematria), and that you cannot buy or sell without it (Nero stamped on the coins, without which you cannot buy or sell) seals the deal even further for me. It’s just so obvious that the Book of Revelation, as awesome and epic as it is, is simply an indictment of the Roman Empire. Remember when bar codes were supposed to be the Mark of the Beast? Lol.

[hutchpbbc]

And to support this - the “beast with seven heads” correlates to the 7 hills of Rome. It’s amazing people take this as literal and not the political allegory / criticism that it is

[LayneCobain]

I like that you pointed out how Christians typically study Revelations. As someone who is a Christian, it annoys me that so many Christians ignore so much historical, textual and archeological study because it doesn’t fit with their pre supposed understanding of what the Bible is supposed to mean. I love your channel, man and I’ve been following for a while. I think all Christians should study the Bible to this degree.

[davidgusquiloor]

"I love the woman whose number is 545."
That is so romantic.

[sicilianeye]

Though the idea of Nero "fiddling" has long been debunked, there are a great many who say he did play bagpipes. This would also explain a lot of the hatred and animosity historically directed at him.

[Mitchth]

As someone who enjoys open religious discussions, I am especially impressed at the way Dr. Henry is able to build his arguments from contemporary culture of the people that wrote the scriptures being discussed. I've watched many cultural event in the last 50+ years be taken completely out of context by people who where were not born yet or who just were not paying attention. I've even been part of some of those historic events and had people argue with me about the history. So, why would anyone believe that centuries old text could be explained in modern terms? From what I remember of my college history classes on Nero, it hardly comes as a surprise that the ancient Hebrews would have viewed him as evil incarnate. Besides, who ever heard of someone with a neck-beard being a saint?

[rerobertson]

I wish I could’ve seen this as an 11 year old. Terrified of apocalyptic loony Christian prophecy I grew up on, that gave me loads of nightmares. Keep up the good work!

[tonithenightowl]

Here's something funny... I remember the 700 Club making the same claims about credit cards ... until they decided it was much easier to process donations this way. They no longer mentioned it after that. lol Love your vids and am learning so much about the historical part of religion. :o)

[Nguroa]

668: The next door neighbour of the beast.

[Leiferuphugus]

Gematria is Hebrew specific. The Greek version is called isopsephy and predates gematria.

[Lost-Lilim]

Before it was RFID chips, people claimed that barcodes, or even credit cards were the mark.

[DevilStix]

As a non believer, I am fascinated with the human proclivity towards religious ideas and beliefs. I am fascinated with the history of religion and religious ideas. Thank you and please continue these amazingly informative videos!!

[ashesfalldown]

And now I am singing Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden. The song starts with an awesome translation of that verse

[davidroddick]

Thank you. I long ago stopped viewing Revelation as a prediction of future events; but I never knew what the 666 meant. Finding out that John was referring to Nero, as it seems clear he was, clarifies that this was not a prediction, but one man's view of events happening in his lifetime.

[charlesphilips]

One of the reasons I love this channel, is that it is very well grounded in reason. When you view things in historical context, it makes a lot of sense.

[michaelkrull]

"Six, six six...the Number of the Beeeaaast!" Iron Maiden \m/

[HerveLouis]

Wow that's crazy. I'm actually pretty interested in learning more as this traumatized me throughout my entire teens.

[erichodge]

The best thing about this presentation is that the speaker shows EXAMPLES. So few do this, probably because it takes research, which is work. Thank you, Sir. I just subscribed.