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12 The Antichrist Most Definitely Is Not a Person!

The Book of Revelation and the New Testament are written in Greek, and the Old Testa-
ment is written in Hebrew or Aramaic. In Greek the name Roman is LATEINOS; it has the number
666. In Hebrew the name Roman, when modifying empire or beast is feminine, RO-MI-ITH (em-
pire and beast are feminine in Hebrew). The Hebrew form also has the number 666! What are the
odds of finding any other name which would have the same number in both Biblical languages?
This is more than coincidence.

But why is the fourth beast named in a mystery code? Why didn’t the apostle John come
right out and name it for what it was? Because the Roman Empire fulfilled the prophecies concern-
ing its persecution of the woman (Revelation 12), and “make war with the saints and overcome
them” (Revelation 13:7). The Roman Empire waged ten official persecutions against the church for
almost 300 years. These were legally sanctioned by the senate and carried out under the Roman le-
gal system. The Christians were tortured, scourged, burned, torn apart, beheaded, thrown to the
lions, and crucified by official Roman authority according to law. Church leaders were killed,
Bibles confiscated and burned, church buildings destroyed -- and the flocks scattered.

How much worse might the Roman persecution have been if they found their empire named
by name as a beast in the Holy writings of those they persecuted? The conditions were bad enough
without adding more fuel to the fire. So YEHOVAH God couched the name in a mystery. He called
the fourth beast 666 -- so that no one could know it except those who have wisdom as a result of
YEHOVAH’s holy spirit. The first three beasts of Daniel are named by name in the Bible. The
fourth beast of Daniel ought to be named in the Bible. It is; its name is 666.

Did the early Christians so understand it? Yes, they most certainly did. Paul clearly ex-
plained it to the churches he visited -- they read the Book of Daniel and could count and know that
Rome was the fourth Empire to come on the world scene. They could see in Daniel that it would
pass away by being divided into ten kingdoms and Antichrist would rise from among the ten king-
doms of a divided Roman Empire. You can see this understanding in II Thessalonians 2 -- which is
commonly understood to refer to the same Antichrist as the other passages. In this passage Paul is
correcting an impression that the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah was imminent. It was not
imminent, and he was telling them why.

II Thessalonians Chapter 2

When the Christians at Thessalonika supposed the day of Yeshua’s coming was right at
hand, Paul explained to them that there were certain events that would happen before that time.
There would come “a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed.” And before the man of sin
could be revealed, something else would need to happen. There was something restraining, holding
back his appearance -- something that would need to be taken out of the way:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together
to him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter,
as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

The Berean Voice July-August 2002