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People always make jokes about the number 666 and how it's evil and such. What is the basis of this?

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Yeah, there was kind of a race to get #666. It jumped (within one minute or so) from #665 to #668. – Richard Sep 16 '11 at 1:59

8 Answers 8

up vote 6 down vote accepted

It is the number of the Beast in Revelation:

Revelation 13:18 (ESV)




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I'm disappointed. This doesn't explain why it is considered "evil." – Steve Jul 26 at 4:05




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Mike talked about this, but let me clarify a little:










Update in Response to Steve

As others noted, the number 666 is associated with a very evil person, the Beast of Revelation. Of course this doesn't make the number itself evil. When the number 666 comes up coincidentally, like if your change comes out to be $6.66 or a question is the 666th question posted on a web site, people will joke about this being evil. Perhaps some take this seriously. But nowhere does the Bible say that a number is good or evil per se or that such random numbers have any significance. In this case, all that the Bible says about this number is that it is the number of the Beast's name, as I discussed above.

Some people make much of "numerology", attaching some sort of mystic significance to numbers -- in the Bible or in life in general. I am not aware of any place in the Bible that endorses making a superstition out of it. Occasionally the Bible does link two numbers in a symbolic way. Like Exodus 20:11 says that, because God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, that therefore people should work six days and rest on the seventh. Or, Matthew 12:40 says that, as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale or great fish, so Jesus would spend three days buried in the Earth before his resurrection. Perhaps this indicates some special significance to the numbers seven and three. Personally I think God is just making a point about a comparison between two things by re-using a number, not indicating that the number itself has significance.

I suppose a number can acquire symbolic significance just because it is the number associated with something important. Like because grass and leaves are green, the color green has become symbolic of environmentalism, we talk about "green energy" and so on. But I think few see the color green as having any sort of magical properties per se. It's just a color chosen to represent an idea.

Does it matter that the number of the Beast is 666 and not, say 523? The Bible doesn't attach a meaning to the number. Maybe that's simply what the number comes out to. Like if the police warn that a dangerous felon has escaped from prison and that he is wearing a green shirt, I don't ask what the symbolic significance of the color green is. I just take it that that is what color shirt he happens to be wearing. I've heard some discussions of why the number 666 is significant. One I recall is that 6 represents man because man was created on the 6th day, and 3 represents God because God is a Trinity, so 666 is man making himself God. Maybe, it's plausible in a way, but the Bible doesn't say this anywhere.

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I'm disappointed. This doesn't explain why it is considered "evil." It just gives information about the number itself. – Steve Jul 26 at 4:05
I updated my answer to perhaps address your comment. – Jay Jul 26 at 5:10

Maybe nothing.




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One of the reasons people believe the number 666 is evil because of how it is to be forced on humanity against its will in the future (if this incident takes place in the future as a literal event, which not every Christian group believes).

In Revelation 13:15-18, we find an individual leader who makes all people to take the mark in their right hand or forearm, and no one would be able to buy or sell but he who has the mark. This is commonly called the mark of the Antichrist. Modern Christian literature has made much of the fact that this marking is now possible in our digital age, when all the banks and financial centers of the world are interconnected. It is possible to have a mark, or chip of some kind, embedded under the skin that could conceivably replace physical money and cards like credit cards.

So the fear comes from the hysteria that this may happen in our day. Why? Because of the warning in Revelation 14:9-11:


So people are afraid to take the mark, and equally afraid that if they don't, then they will lose their homes and jobs, for they won't be able to get paid and wouldn't be able to support themselves without the mark.

This is the reason for thinking it is evil, because of the great misfortune of those who take it, and those who don't.

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The triple 6 basically signifies that the person is sealed/marked unto condemnation by the unholy trinity (i.e. the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet), just as the believers are sealed with the stamp (Rev. 3:12), which has on it written the name of God (Jehovah), the name of the city of God (New Jerusalem, the metaphor for the Holy Spirit) and the new name of God (Jesus, since He is the same Jehovah, but now just come in flesh, 1 John 4:2).

Every person gets sealed with the spirit of faith in what he/she believes for salvation (Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 4:13). So, for example, if I believe that an idol will save me from hell, my heart would be filled with a spirit of faith in things that cannot save me. Every myth or false doctrine can be symbolized by a 6, because they are creations and because God created everything in 6 days, so that everything created can be symbolized by a 6. Only truth, which is God, cannot be symbolized by this number 6, since God was never created (He always "was"). Faith in truth for salvation, on the other hand, would seal me with 777 on my forehead/arm, i.e. the Holy Trinity. God/truth (John 14:6) can be symbolized by a 7 because God is Eternal Life/eternal rest (John 14:6), and because the Sabbath, which is the 7th day, is a day of rest.

Note also that the same spirit (of faith) which seals us, will likewise rest in our hearts, because it is written that people "believe" by means of their heart (Rom. 10:10). So, if I am not a Christian, for example, I will have 666 in my heart. If, however, I am a Christian, I would have 677 in my heart. Not the full 777 (that's what seals me, but it's not completely what will be in my heart), but only double 7, because one place is occupied by our sin-nature. Not the sin-deeds but the sin-nature. Our sin-deeds get washed away, but our sin-nature can only be washed (not washed "away") and disinfected, like the broken skin of the beaten man by the roadside, to whom ministered the Samaritan.

Our sin-nature, however, gets washed and atoned for when Christ fills our heart to the brim (Romans 8:10). Our sin-nature is with us until we die, and all we can do now is to wash our soul from all past sin-deeds, and get clothed with the double garments of the Spirit, i.e. get filled with the Spirit to the brim. Christ will fully heal us from it only when we meet Him on the other side. It is here to keep us humble by preventing us from exalting ourselves into thinking that we are the sinless God (1 John 1:8; 2 Corinthians 12:7-8).

Note that guilt is like hot coals, it quickly burns holes in our wineskin (Lev. 5:3), causing the wine to spill out and not be able to fill us anymore. This is what we should be aware of most, because if we keep our conscience clear, it is very easy to get refilled, since everything we ever do or say comes from our heart (Matthew 15:11; John 10:38), yet nothing can come out from our heart unless it fills it to the brim first (Luke 6:45; Psalm 23:5)! That means that whenever we do or say something from the Gospel, which can be only done by the Spirit (Luke 6:35-36; 1 Corinthians 12:3; John 15:5; 1 Peter 1:21), we get filled with the Spirit!

As for what the beast is, or the dragon, or the false prophet, the false prophet is everyone who represents those who preach false salvation doctrine (this includes atheism, for example, which is a form of faith, except faith here is faith in the absence of deity, as well as the non-existence of "salvation", in the after-life sense). The beast is every government that outlaws the "saved" kind Christianity (e.g. Europe of Middle Ages, many of today's moslem countries, North Korea, Soviet Russia, etc.). And the dragon is just the devil. The collective false prophet looks like the lamb because he offers his own doctrines as true, just as Christ would offer His, causing people to worship his religion/faith/"image"/idol, just as Christ tried to get people to worship truth/God. He would share ethics with the beast, and would try to get people to obey certain laws of the beast that God would just never give us faith to do, like burning incense to an idol or facing death (Rome the first few centuries A.D.), for example. Often the false prophet would be in charge of the beast altogether. For example in ancient Rome the caesar would also be the high priest. Another example is king Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon erecting for himself a statue and making a decree to cause everyone worship his image. A recent example is Hitler when he outlawed sheltering the Jews.

Please note, that by "saved" Christianity I do not mean Catholic church, because they also believe they'll be saved, but this faith is based on the doctrine of Purgatory, which says everyone will be saved eventually. The kind I meant is the one that preaches that we shall be saved as long as we keep our souls washed of sins (even the unforgivable can be forgiven, since God's mercy triumphs over all of His condemnations, James 2:13), and clothed with the robe of the abundance of the Holy Spirit (lukewarm heart does not count, Rev. 3:16). Hope this helps.

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Hi and welcome to the site! Are you presenting the interpretation from a particular group's (Tradition/denomination/doctrincal stance etc.) point of view or is it your own interpretation? If the former, could you please provide a link/reference to support it (if the latter, it is actually off-topic here - see how we are different from other sites). – bruised reed Jul 21 at 6:17
My views are based on the Word of God and I did provide reference to the Scripture about everything I said. As for your rules, its structure is unergonomic and its content is offensive to Christians. For example you say: "I/you are a Christian, but 'we' are not". This statement contradicts itself. I praise that Kingdom of God is in every place, so that I am free to preach here despite of what you say. You are free to delete me. I shall count it all joy. – Dmitri Diaguilev Jul 21 at 17:07

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