Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia: Fear of the number 666, because of its connection to the Beast in Revelation 13:18.

I avoid the number 666 about two-thirds of the time (that’s a mathematical pun).

I file this tidbit under the “Strange World” category, not because some people fear the number 666. That’s silly, but not necessarily strange. What’s strange is that somebody strung together a name for this fear. I feel a case of hippopotomonstrosesquippedalio coming on.

Here’s some more Beastly Mathematics for the brave of heart:

665: Number of the Beast’s older brother
333: Number of the Beast’s half-brother
668: Next-door neighbor of the Beast
66.6: Number of the Mini-Beast
0.666: Number of the Millibeast
999: Number of the Australian Beast
Phillips 666: Gasoline of the Beast
Windows 666: Bill Gates’ personal Beast
666 Minutes: Popular weekly news show of the Beast
$665.95: Retail price of the Beast
$669.25: Price of the Beast plus 5% sales tax
$766.25: Price of the Beast with 6-year, 66,000-mile extended warranty
Route 666: Highway of the Beast
666º F: Oven temperature for Roast Beast
666@hell.org: E-mail address of the Beast
$666/hr: Billing rate of the Beast (Oops, that’s wrong. That’s the billing rate of one of the attorneys down the hall).

There’s more: http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/666.htm – if you’re not afraid to click on such a terrifying URL.

There are numerous prophecies regarding the end times, known in the Scriptures as the Day of the Lord. For nearly two thousand years, theological discussion had to include explanations accounting for Scriptures that made promises and predictions about Israel, when there was no state of Israel. One explanation popular among evangelicals was that “Israel” was now the church, and that the church was the “new Israel.”

While that was an interesting tautology, it made a shambles of consistent interpretation. The promises and predictions about Israel were a poor fit and Scriptures like Revelation 12, simply no longer fit anywhere. In Revelation 12, both the church and Israel appeared simultaneously and side by side in the prophetic record, and no other explanation would leave the text intact. Then, with the rebirth of the nation of Israel, the tautology was no longer necessary, but that did not mean that some were not slow to abandon it.

My first introduction to Revelation 12 was a sermon by Terry that I have cloned to the best of my ability several times. The sermon intrigued me so much about Revelation 12 that it launched me on an on and off quest to understand the entire Revelation, and then onto prophecy in general, that has endured for over 35 years. Of course, I am captivated by these Scriptures to the extent of my limited formal training in theology and probably contaminated by my Restoration Movement orientation, which starts from the text, treats the text as self – interpreting to the extent it is rationale to do so, and disdains interpretation by analogy or by use of extrinsic sources, unless no other alternative makes sense.

The challenge prior to 1948 for Bible scholars was how to get from prophecies about the state of Israel and promises to Israel to the fulfillment of those promises and prophecies, when, for nineteen hundred years, there was no Israel. The other challenge was to interpret the Scriptures in light of the re-establishment of Israel and then its destruction by the Roman Empire, and still make sense of Revelation 12. It was clearly unreasonable to take a prophecy most likely written by John after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Herodian Temple, and bend it backwards to fit prior events. Now, it is no longer necessary to do so.

Moreover, the prophecies that seemed to describe precursor events did not necessarily refer to interim historical events, but more likely to the time described in or near Revelation 12:

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, 2 and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8 You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, 10 if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 30:1-10 (NIV). It would not be unreasonable to “date” the “effective date” of this prophecy to a time when the Diaspora was more than just from Jerusalem to Babylon. Indeed, the Diaspora described would most likely refer to conditions immediately after World War II, when Jews were running from Nazis, Communists, and other despotic rulers.

Other texts seem to permit a similar view:

31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV). This text refers to a time of “spiritual enlightenment” when teaching and evangelism will no longer be necessary. It must be a time when the Great Commission will, from any objective view, stand fulfilled. That time is not yet and it is not a time that has ever been.

That time must be much closer than it was because the condition precedent, a house of Israel with which a new covenant can be made, came about in 1948. Thus, it appears that the Second Coming, or at least the events preceding, commenced in 1948.

But, do we live as if that is true? So many churches are so busy presenting variety shows instead of worship services, preaching self-help and New Age philosophy rather than the Gospel, and advancing the cause of materialism rather than evangelism, that references to the Second Coming are missing but not missed. Because of the time pressure, and the dead air pressure, that so many churches fear, the time to consider the events in the world and how they might relate to the Scriptures is not available.

Strangely, that sounds very familiar. See, Matthew 24:37-38.

AN ARGUMENT FOR A MID-TRIBULATION RAPTURE

Even though there are 8,352 verses in the Bible, or 27%, that are prophetic, most Christians seem quite willing to forego exposure to them, much less master them. In the New Testament, 1,711 verses are considered prophetic, or 21.5% of the New Testament, and yet 21% of all sermons do not seem to be concerned with the New Testament prophecies. I have often wondered why. 1 Thessalonians 5:20, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt…” does not get much “air play” from pulpits.

Sometimes I have wondered aloud about the lack of attention to Bible prophecy and have been told the most preposterous things. The Big Lie that seems to keep so many people warm and fuzzy in their self-imposed detention in the outer darkness is that the Rapture will occur so soon in the Second Coming chronology that Christians will not need to face any part of those tumultuous times. Frankly, however, the Scriptures do not say that. While it is true that 1 Thessalonians 5:promises that Christians will not “suffer wrath (NIV),” the Scriptures are also clear that Christians should be surprised by “this day.” See, 1 Thessalonians 5:4. Christians should look into NT prophecy and ask which day is “this day?” The point is not the date of “this day,” but rather the unique character of “this day” that will allow it to be identified.

For example, the Revelation (yes, that book) seems to divide the events it predicts into those events before “the great day,” Revelation 6:12, and every other day. Is “the great day” the same day as “this day?” If so, then “the day” upon which the Rapture is promised might be “the great day” the Sixth Seal is opened. If so, Christians participating in the Rapture would be the survivors of the opening of the first five seals. The Rapture would then, under this view of the Scriptures, take place before the pouring out of the seven bowls of God’s wrath, described in Revelation 16. Thus, it could be concluded that Christians, because the Rapture preceded the emptying of the bowls of wrath, would not “suffer wrath.”

The fact that Christians might have to bear up under some bad things released upon the opening of the six seals would not contradict the possible promise that God’s wrath will not be ladled upon Christians. To the contrary, it might indicate that the seemingly bad things erupting from the opened seals might not be nearly so bad as God’s wrath. Those who suffer wrath poured from those bowls might think that a few “food wars,” see Revelation 6:6, as well as wars, plagues and “wild beasts,” seem tame by comparison.

There are several Scriptures that dwell on exactly this question. Read them altogether, and a picture of “this day,” “the great day,” and the “Day of the Lord” seems to congeal. See, e.g., Malachi 4:5, I Corinthians 5:5, 2 Corinthians 1:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, John 12:48, Romans 2:5, 2 Timothy 1:12, Hebrews 10:25, and Jude 6.

But many Christians seem to believe that the Rapture will occur not on “the day,” and certainly not on the “the great day” or the “Day of the Lord,” but on some other day, before anything in Revelation has a chance to percolate into motion. Christians would rather die in their sleep, it seems, han die while pointing and yelling, “See, I told you so!” as the four riders come thundering out of the first four seals.

Will there be no Christians to applaud the return of the martyrs when the fifth seal is opened? Will the only witnesses to the triumphant clothing of the martyrs in their white robes be those who rejected Christ? Who will do the yelling if Christians are “off the table?” Matthew 10:27 (“…proclaim from the housetops” NIV). My neighbors would have me committed if I started “proclaiming” from the housetop, unless I was proclaiming about something everyone could see but of which not everyone could make sense.

This warm fuzzy ignorance of Bible prophecy results in a lack of issue recognition regarding how world events implicate prophecies, ignorance regarding the importance of prophecy to Christian maturity, and inability to differentiate reasonable fears from faithlessness. Scripturally ignorant Christians are among the most tortured people, and Christians who avoid the prophecies are among the most ignorant.

Such Christians think Jesus meant to bring peace to the world. But, Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.” Matthew 10:34. Therefore, why would Christians leap to the conclusion that they will be left completely out of the events of the Revelation that lead to “this day?”