| In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Ken Hasenmueller says he | | | | times, so we would have to project those present |
| plans to trade in the license plate assigned to him at | | | | tenses more than 2000 years into the future. I know |
| random for his Oldsmobile Cutlass: "666-KEN." He says | | | | you assume that, but are you sure? This reasoning |
| at first he thought it was interesting. Now he fears | | | | might be true within a vision, where the tenses are |
| people will think he's a Satanist.The association | | | | relative, but Revelation 13:18 is not part of the vision |
| between the number 666 and Satan comes from | | | | but part of the explanation. It's the part where the |
| Revelation 13:18: "This calls for wisdom. If anyone has | | | | author says, "That's what I saw. Now let me tell you |
| insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for | | | | what it means." Tenses are vital in understanding the |
| it is a man's number. His number is 666." Through the | | | | explanation parts of Revelation.For more confirmation |
| centuries, a great deal of superstition--let's call it what | | | | that we are taking the right approach, take a look at |
| it really is--has attached itself to the numeral, so that | | | | the opening verses of Revelation, and take seriously |
| people are as uneasy about being associated with it | | | | what you find there: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, |
| as they are about working in an office building on the | | | | which God gave him to show his servants what must |
| 13th floor.This superstition reached what was perhaps | | | | soon take place.... The time is near" (Revelation 1:1, 3). |
| its high-water mark with the 1981 publication of | | | | The book is not in the vision part but is busy |
| When Your Money Fails by Mary Steward Relfe | | | | explaining what the time frame is for the prophecy. |
| (Montgomery, AL: Ministries, Inc.). Relfe documents | | | | We should take it quite literally: at the time |
| dozens of occurrences of the number 666 attached | | | | Revelation was written its events were just about to |
| to a seemingly random list of objects, including dress | | | | happen.So that there could be no mistake, Revelation |
| shirts, credit cards, license plates, Egyptian warships, | | | | closes by stating the same time-frame: "...to show his |
| Treasury Department badges, Israeli telephone | | | | servants what must soon take place... the time is |
| prefixes, charge accounts, and so on. Relfe states | | | | near" (Revelation 22:6, 10). These statements form |
| (59): "I unreservedly view the international usage of | | | | bookends, two at the beginning of the Apocalypse |
| the number '666' by the present World System, to | | | | and two at the end. They should not be ignored, as |
| be presided over soon by Mr. 666, the False Messiah, | | | | they usually are, but should be taken seriously. |
| as the Third Most Significant Fulfillment of Bible | | | | Perhaps, not all of Revelation's predictions are past to |
| Prophecy in the Church Age (the past 2000 | | | | us, but certainly most of them are. The "bookends" |
| years)."This is one example of what passes for | | | | convince me that we should assume a prediction in |
| biblical exegesis, and it makes me shudder. Just think | | | | Revelation has a fulfillment that is in our past unless |
| about it! If you were reading an old newspaper and | | | | we have a strong reason from the text to believe |
| came across this statement, "I won't mention any | | | | otherwise.That suggests that the original readers, |
| names, but the man who is tearing our nation apart | | | | those with wisdom, should have been able to |
| has the initials of A.L.," would you immediately | | | | calculate the meaning of who 666 referred to. When |
| conclude that someone with the same initials is about | | | | we remember that in both Hebrew and Greek the |
| to tear America asunder in our day? Would the place | | | | letters had numerical value and that people could |
| the newspaper was published make any difference? | | | | refer to an event or a person's name by stating the |
| What about the year of publication?No doubt similar | | | | number that was the sum of its letters, we are |
| kinds of statements appeared in newspapers across | | | | probably moving toward a first-century solution to |
| the southern states of the U.S. in the fall of 1860 and | | | | 666.The problem, as you might imagine, is that any |
| the early spring of 1861. The initials, of course, | | | | number of names, descriptions, or series of |
| belonged to Abraham Lincoln. If someone thought | | | | abbreviations equal the same sum, identifying, for |
| the statement was about to be fulfilled now, you | | | | example, Gaius Caligula, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian |
| might point out the circumstances under which it was | | | | if an emperor is intended (the two most likely are |
| written, just before the Civil War (what the | | | | Nero and Domitian). Descriptions include "titan" and |
| editorialist would have called the "War of Northern | | | | "latin," among others. Just because we cannot say |
| Agression").You might also point out the grammar of | | | | for certain which is correct does not mean we should |
| the sentence in question. He "is tearing" (present | | | | turn to any of the modern solutions, which include |
| tense), and "he has" (also present tense). Now, more | | | | Adolf Hitler, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Bill |
| than 100 years later, those present tenses do not still | | | | Gates, and Barney the Purple Dinosaur, among many |
| stand.Now look again at Revelation 13:18, "This calls | | | | others.I find Mr. Hasenmueller's objection to his license |
| for wisdom"--present tense, not "This will call for | | | | plate perfectly understandable. It's not a matter of |
| wisdom." "If anyone has insight"--present tense, not | | | | superstition. He's just trying to avoid |
| "...will have insight." The phrases, "Let him calculate," | | | | miscommunicating. It seems wrong exegesis, |
| and "it is man's number," and "His number is 666," are | | | | combined with 2000 years of association with the |
| all in present tense. I ask, present for whom? The | | | | diabolical that has made triple-6 taboo. Reject it if you |
| answer would have to be the same in interpreting | | | | wish, but understand that it has no power over |
| Revelation 13:18 as in interpreting the 1859 Richmond | | | | you--magical, diabolical, or otherwise. It is a label |
| editorial: present for the original readers. We have to | | | | belonging to a man who once long ago persecuted |
| interpret it as past tense for modern readers.But, | | | | the faithful people of God, but who learned that he, |
| you say, Revelation is a prophecy about the end | | | | too, was only a mortal. |