666 and the coming of Messiah

666 and the coming of Messiah

This word has come to us out of the Bible ... 'Messiah'. People know what it means ... someone who comes to rescue.

Jews are waiting for the Messiah. Christians are waiting for the Messiah to return. There is no more Jewish, and Christian, concept regarding salvation than the coming of the Messiah. But, do you know, the word Messiah occurs only twice in the original Greek text of the New Testament. In John chapter 1 and in John chapter 4.

Andrew to Peter: "We have found the Messiah" (John 1:41). A woman in Samaria: “I know that Messiah is coming” (John 4:25).

The Greek word in the original text is ΜΕΣΣΙΑΣ. Such a key concept ... such a key word … and yet this word occurs only two times in the original Greek text of the New Testament.

Furthermore, in the original text of the Old Testament, the word for the Messiah (ח יש ם … Mashiach) in Hebrew, occurs in only two passages: in the second Psalm, where the nations rage against the Messiah, and in Daniel chapter 9, where there is a prophecy of when the Messiah would appear.

The fact that this word Messiah occurs so infrequently in the Bible shines a spotlight on it. And when one of those very few occurrences is in a prophecy, identifying the timing of the coming of the Messiah, it prompts me to examine it's placement closely.

The men who wrote the Bible were “moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). God directed them.

I have come to see that every word in the original text of the Bible is precisely placed. There is a mathematical structure to the Bible. God has arranged it this way. Why?

One reason may be that now, in our day, at the end of the age, and with computer assistance, we can identify features like this and use the result to verify the original writings. Why is that important?

Because, while questions remain over whether this book or this verse should be in the Bible or not, spiritual authority too often seems to rest only with clergy, with priests, or even with religious entertainers.

Each of us who believes in Jesus is a child of God. God does not have grandchildren. He has children. And He wants us to come directly to Him, in the knowledge of the Word of God, with full confidence, and quickened by the Spirit. Jesus wants His followers to be engaged with Him, not deriving their life of faith from occasional attendance at a religious performance.

At a time when there is a loss of trust in so many institutions of society, including some churches, it is essential that believers in Jesus can turn to a Bible that they are fully persuaded is the proper source of spiritual authority. Before the work of Bible translation even begins it is vital to identify the original text. For proof we cannot rely on opinions or tradition. We need something measurable.

So, back to our key word ... Messiah. Here is the start of the passage in Daniel chapter 9: verse 24 “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and your holy city, to restrain transgression, and to seal up sins, and to cover iniquity, and to bring everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. Verse 25 “So you may know and consider that from the going forth of a decree to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks...” It's this word “Messiah” (Mashiach in Hebrew) ... it is the 4,736th word in the original text of Daniel, and it is the 289,958th word in the original text of the Old Testament.

Word order and word count may be checked on this website: LivingGreekNT.org.

Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus came, in accordance with the prophecy, and Jesus is coming again, as laid out in the continuation of the passage in Daniel.

The revelation that Jesus is the Messiah was delivered to us by His disciples. They wrote the books of the New Testament. The New Testament is the testimony of the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises of the Messiah. There are 137,720 words in the original Greek text of the New Testament. Because it is the fulfilment, add the 137,720 words of the New Testament to the 289,958 words of the Old Testament up to our key word Mashiach in Daniel, and we get 427,678 .... and this may be expressed as 86 x 4,973.

It is not a random result. If even one word was added to the Hebrew of the Old Testament, or to the Greek of the New Testament, or if even one word was deleted from the Hebrew or Greek texts, we wouldn't have this result ... 427,678 which is 86 x 4,973. 4,973 is a prime number. It is indivisible. 4,973 is the 666th prime number. So, 86 x the 666th prime number.

Wait! Messiah? 6 6 6 !? In Revelation chapter 13 it says that 666 is the number of the name of “the beast”. In Revelation 13, 666 represents something dark.

But, let's read the verse carefully ... verse 18: “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man: and his number is six hundred and sixty six.”

The context is a warning. Someone demonic will do harm to God's people. We will have an opportunity to know who he is “... if we are wise ...” We should do something “... if we have understanding ...” We should calculate the numeric value of his name. It is six hundred and sixty six. But note: 666 is “... the number of a man ...” What man ? Answer: Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, but Jesus also called Himself the Son of Man. Jesus is fully God, but He also lived as a man, fully human. When Pontius Pilate presented Jesus to the crowd he proclaimed: “Behold, the Man!” (John 19:5) That's how the Bible records it. God is the Author of the Bible. The phrase “Behold, the Man !” is there for a reason.

This is what we see in Revelation chapter 13. The devil will present a counterfeit. A beast will masquerade as a messiah. That is the context of the chapter. A dragon gives his authority to a beast (verses 1 to 2). The beast has a wound, as if slain (verse 3). And another beast (verse 11) makes people “worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.” (verse 12). Three are on view ... a false trinity, with a false messiah. It's symbolic imagery. These will be real people, but behind them are demonic forces.

We also see that the first beast comes up “out of the sea” (verse 1) and the second beast comes up “out of the earth” (verse 11). Whatever that means, we can know that they are not from heaven. But we await the Messiah, Jesus, who will make His appearance on the clouds. ( Acts 1:11 and Rev 1:7 and Mt 24:30 ). We look up.

666, the numeric value of the name of the beast, is one way we will be able to identify this beast, but the number 666 is something spiritually significant that dark forces will copy.

Consider this ... Arguably the most important chapter in the Old Testament is Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 foretells the work and person of the Messiah, the Suffering Servant. The prophecy was fulfilled in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. There are exactly 666 Hebrew letters in the original text of Isaiah 53. That seems to be by design.

In Hebrew the word for a letter of the alphabet is ת וא. The same word, same spelling, is also the word for a miraculous sign from God. On this website: thelivingword.org.au ... there is a seminar which shows how each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is a sign from God, pointing to Jesus and the way of salvation.

For there to be exactly 666 Hebrew letters in the original text of Isaiah 53 says something important. 666 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in Isaiah 53, and each one is a sign pointing to Jesus.

Do you see that this result of 86 x the 666th prime number is significant, because each of these numbers, 86 and 666, point to Jesus. And Jesus is the Messiah.

The first verse of the Bible, in Hebrew, presents us with a pattern ... בראשיתבראאלהיםאתהשמיםואת הארץ “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

Every letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numeric value. Apply the numeric value to each letter in Genesis 1:1 and we come up with a value for each word. Here are the word values: 296; 407; 395; 401; 86; 203; 913.

We note is that the first word in the Bible for God is this word "Elohim". It has a numeric value of 86. Three times the New Testament tells us that Jesus is the Creator. (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). Therefore, the first verse of the Bible tells us that Jesus is God, and Jesus is the Creator. And the numeric value of the word for God in Genesis 1:1 is 86. And we are alerted to the fact that the word placement of Messiah in Daniel 9:25, fulfilled in the New Testament text, works out to be 86 x the 666th prime number, and this is speaking of Jesus.

By the way, the phrase “hallelujah” in Hebrew has a numeric value of 86. “Hallelujah” means “praise the LORD”. Jesus is the Lord.

Also note in Genesis 1:1 ... the value of these two words is 999 ... the value of these three words is 999 ... the value of these three words is 888 ... and the value of these three words is 777. That's remarkable ... 777, 888 and 999 twice.

It's a pattern. And the number 666 leads into this. In fact, the sequence starts with 111, and then 222, and then 333, and then 444, and then 555, and then 666, 777, 888 and 999.

111 may be expressed as 37 x 3; 222 as 37 x 3 x 2; 333 as 37 x 3 x 3; 444 as 37 x 3 x 4; 555 as 37 x 3 x 5; 666 as 37 x 3 x 6; 777 as 37 x 3 x 7; 888 as 37 x 3 x 8; 999 as 37 x 3 x 9.

37 ... 3 ... and then times 2, times 3, times 4, times 5, times 6, times 7, times 8, and times 9. The common factors that start the sequence are 37 and 3.

Now let's turn to the New Testament. John 1:1 says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”.

Verse 14 tells us that “the Word became flesh”. The Word is Jesus. "Word", in the Greek text, is LOGOS. Every letter of the Greek alphabet has a numeric value. The numeric value of LOGOS is 373.

111 is 37 times 3, and the following numbers in the sequence all start with 37 and 3.

“In the beginning was “the Word”.

222 is the next in the sequence. “and He (the Lord) spoke” is "vayedaber" in Hebrew. It has a numeric value of 222.

We find this occurs as the very first word at the start of 40 of the chapters from Exodus 20 to the end of Numbers where the Lord gives the Law to Israel. That seems to be by design.

“In the beginning was the Word ...”

“and He spoke”.

At the end of the sequence is 777 and 888 and 999. We get the name of Jesus from the Greek IESOUS. The numeric value of Iesus is 888.

And, by the way, in Isaiah 11, which is the chapter that speaks of Jesus and the Spirit resting on Him, there are exactly 888 Hebrew letters in the original text. That seems to be by design.

So much more could be said about the indicators of Jesus in each of the numbers leading to 888 and then 999, and His twice appearing, but is it too hard to accept that 666 in this mathematical pattern speaks of Him as the Messiah ?

Messiah is the 289,958th word in the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The prophecy of His coming is declared fulfilled in the 137,720 words of the original Greek text of the New Testament. Add these two numbers together and we get 427,678 and this is 86 times the 666th prime number.

If you accept our premise that the number 86, the numeric value of the first word in the Bible for God the Creator, and 666, speak of Jesus, then you have to consider that we have the correct word count and word placement for the original texts of the Old and New Testaments, and you can examine the texts, a translation into English, and other mathematical proofs on this website: LivingGreekNT.org