Revelation 13:18

18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The number of the Beast will be 666. If you study numeric patterns in the Bible, six is the prime number for man while God’s number is seven. The number 666 might mean man claiming to be the triune God (777).

There are notions that the number of the Beast’s name will add up in Hebrew and/or Greek to 666 (in these languages each letter also has a numerical value). That is probably a correct assumption but I would not get carried away with speculation about who the man is before Satan is cast out of heaven and the Beast from the pit incarnates a body. The man chosen is likely to change his name after being incarnated by Satan anyway, so what anyone’s name adds up to before this takes place is probably totally meaningless.

Satan offered to enter Jesus and to give him a shortcut to all the kingdoms of the world but Jesus rejected Satan’s offer (Matthew 4:8). This man will welcome Satan but until that happens, he is not yet the Beast and his identity is sheer speculation at best. When all these events happen, people who are worshiping his image and taking his mark will know the man they are worshiping (although they will not know him by the name of the Beast).

This verse is probably not saying that it “takes wisdom to find out who the guy is” because at this point everyone will already know the identity of this person who claims to be God.

The verse is probably saying that those with “understanding” will know all about these mysteries of a man claiming to be God (666) and about the counterfeit kingdom he will set up. Those with wisdom will not be deceived; they will know that this counterfeit is not God.

HYPERLINK "http://www.thepropheticyears.com/The%20book%20of%20Revelation/index.htm"