Revelation 13:18

"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man (or a man's number); and his number is six hundred three score and six," This number 666 is called the "number of the beast," and also "the number of a man." It is quite plausible that as the beast is the Roman empire, the man that is thus co-ordinated with the beast is the man who stands at the head of the empire as ruler or emperor. That would be the most likely ground of identification. The emperor stands for the empire and his number is 666.

Now it is a well known fact that both in Greek and Hebrew the letters of the alphabet stand for certain numbers, or have certain numerical values. In Hebrew the first letter, Aleph, is one; the second, Beth, is two; and the tenth is ten. But the eleventh is twenty, the nineteenth is one hundred, and the twentieth is two hundred, etc. See "A Grammar of the Hebrew Language" by William Henry Green, page 3.

Thus a man's name in Hebrew would result in a certain number by adding together the values of the letters composing the name. Now it is very significant that if we take the name of Nero in Hebrew, in the form in which it is often found in Hebrew writings, Neron Caesar, and add the value of the letters we get 666.

This is as reasonable proof as we could expect that the beast that came up out of the sea was the Roman empire; and that the reigning monarch was Nero; and that Nero was the emperor when this book was written. This is one of the great land-marks of the book, furnished by the book itself to tell us when the book was written; and what is far more important, to tell us what the book was written about. If we give any heed at all to the reading of this section, Chapter s 12-19, we will see that it pertains to the times of the Roman empire, and not to some future period that has not yet dawned. This does not make it any less valuable to us; rather more so; for we have the light of God's past rule and providence to guide us where we need guidance, to warn us where we need warning, and to encourage us when we need encouragement.