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.

Most of those who have attempted to solve this "Rubik's Cube" of prophecy have looked for a single specific person or office to which to attach the number "666." They take the obvious reference to gematria and find names or titles that add up to 666. One school of interpretation takes the Caesar Nero as the fulfillment. An alternate form of his name (Neron Caesar) is transliterated into Hebrew, and then evaluated according to the rules for Hebrew gematria, yielding 666. Nero is then declared the beast. (See section on Nero below.)

Another school suggests (incorrectly) that the Pope's miter has the inscription "Vicarius Filii Dei". Using the Latin rules of gematria, this adds up to 666. These interpreters observe that the miter belongs to the office, not the person, and identify the papacy as the beast. While this seems to satisfy the longer view of apocalyptic prophecy, it stands in conflict with "Neron Caesar" and other theories (there are several other candidates proposed). We should be able to find scriptural evidence that will allow us to wade through the various options and determine John's intention.

Gematria:

The short description of gematria is "the numerical evaluation of words." It has its origin in ancient civilizations where a written alphabet was available, but separate numerals were not. The various alphabetic characters did double duty as letters and numbers. The natural inclination of man to look for hidden meanings led to the determination of numerical values for names. But by themselves, numerical names held no discernable meaning.

In order for there to be a meaning for a given number, rules for determining that number had to be established. It became understood that if two names equaled the same numeric value, then they also were of identical spiritual value or importance. This is the principle of isopsephos or "equal pebbles." (This word is derived from the use of small stones to teach arithmetic. Another word for pebbles, kalkuli, is the root of our word "calculate.") In practice, isopsephy relied on the original enumeration of a name of known spiritual value for the evaluation of the spiritual worth of persons. For example, the value of "Hermes," the Greek god, is 353. If someone's name totals 353, his spiritual value is also great. Underlying this is the fundamental assumption that names are not accidental, but are a result of the speech of the gods.

Similarly, the various constants of the physical world are assumed to be a result of the direction of the gods. Therefore, exploration of the mathematical relationships in musical notes, physical constants and geometric relationships is expected to yield not only physical information, but also spiritual secrets. To a Christian, such efforts are readily identified as a form of divination, which is a forbidden art (Deut 18:14). 

The early Christian church had many converts who had been actively involved in the various ancient pagan religions. Of particular interest is Gnosticism. This branch of Greek philosophy regarded its adherents as being possessed of special religious knowledge. This knowledge was derived from the investigation of natural phenomena as mentioned above. When these converts joined the church, they brought with them their pagan thought patterns. Perhaps the most blatant example is that of Justin Martyr, who, in chapter 138 of Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, identifies the fact that eight people were saved in the ark as a figure of celebrating Christ's resurrection "on the eighth day." This, of course, is Sunday, counting from the prior week. Later Justin Martyr argues for Sunday observance "on the eighth day."

The practice of numerology was uniquely Greek. Alexander the Great conquered Palestine in 332 BC. The Greek language became the language of commerce and law, and with the translation of the Septuagint (LXX), the scriptures. So, it is not surprising that the Jews eventually picked up this Greek practice as well. But this did not happen quickly. Philo Judaeus (ca. 30BC-45AD) was the first recorded Jew to apply gematria to the interpretation of scripture. Since he lived in Egypt, his methods would have taken some time to travel to Palestine. This is confirmed by the fact that the earliest recorded rabbinical use of gematria is found in the second century AD. The melding of Jewish mysticism and Greek Neoplatonism eventually became the form of Jewish paganism known as Qabalah.

Our first conclusion may be drawn from this fact. Any application of gematria to the Hebrew language in interpreting the Apocalypse is anachronistic. John most likely recorded his vision during the reign of Nero, and gematria had not become accepted in Judaism at that time. Since we would expect that John's readers should have been able to understand his message (They are told to "hear and understand."), asking them to use a method of interpretation that they had not become acquainted with must be incorrect. But they probably were acquainted with the Greek application of gematria, since they lived among Greek influences.

Our second conclusion is related to the first. Since Latin was not a language spoken widely in the Middle East, it is unlikely that Latin gematria would have been in view. Even the church fathers in Rome wrote in Greek, and the areas heavily evangelized were all native Greek speaking. This again suggests that John's intention relates to Greek gematria.

Finally, since gematria only applies to languages without separate numbering systems, modern languages such as English are not in view. So, while it may be entertaining to play with proposed numerical equivalents to modern names, this is simply not a proper way to explore the number of the beast. We should search within the Greek language and culture for the proper answer. And this agrees with the comment of Irenaeus (below) that the "number of the name of the beast occurs according to the numeration of the Greeks be the letters in it."

There are certain other conditions to be met for a "solution" to be correct rather than coincidental. Any interpretation which focuses on geopolitical events rather than the great (spiritual) controversy is incorrect since all prophecy exists to reveal Christ (John 5:39; 13:19; 14:29, Amos 3:7). Another concern is that any interpretation must be inherently suited to its original audience as well as for us. This requires that we consider the original audience. We must also find an answer which is supported by substantial scriptural evidence, and which is not merely a coincidental match to one obvious criterion. The simple expedient of accepting a name or title that adds up to 666 will therefore be inadequate.

More Background:

A consideration of John's target audience requires an examination of the other portions of John's writing. We begin with that most famous passage, John 1:1-3, 14 from the KJV.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

There is a very large problem with this translation. While it is perfectly accurate, it ignores one fact: John is not calling Jesus the "Word". John is addressing Gnosticism. In that belief, the highest deity was the "Logos". The Greek word logos translates as "word", giving us the translation we know so well. Unfortunately, this translation ignores John's thrust. The text should read as follows:

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

And the Logos was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The Gnostics believed that the god of this world was really a material impostor known as the Demiurge. The Logos (the true god) was a purely spirit being who did not have a physical body. He had made a lesser deities called "Aeons," who had some materiality. They continued to make lesser deities until one of them made the Demiurge, who was primarily material in nature. Therefore, when John said that the Logos was God, this attacked the fundamental Gnostic differentiation between the Logos and the Demiurge. He repeats this attack by saying that the Logos created the world, a task attributed by the Gnostics to the Demiurge.

John continues this attack in verse 14 where he says that the Logos became a physical person and lived among men. This takes on a Gnostic belief known as "docetism" which states that Jesus was an apparition without a physical body. We should note that John repeats this specific attack in 1 John 1:1.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word [Logos] of life;

The Logos and gematria were "secret" knowledge. Only the true spiritual Gnostic could understand them. This knowledge (Greek "gnosis") gave the name to the sect. It was in fact the defining element of Gnosticism. Only the "pneumatakoi" "knew" that they were truly spirit beings created by the Logos and displaced into the material world, and only the "pneumatakoi" "knew" the secrets of gematria and its associated mathematics. This conceit gave John his opportunity to present the truth of God.

In the story of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6), John presents a simple event that is full of spiritual lessons for all readers. But for the pneumatakoi, this story is a seismic shock to their belief system. In this story, by his choice of words and details John presents a Gnostic gematria puzzle of phenomenal complexity. It includes so many secret elements of Gnostic spiritual mathematics that no Gnostic could avoid the fact that they were there by intention.

The next blow comes in the story of the 153 fish in the unbroken net (John 21). Again, John uses a complex gematria puzzle to present spiritual lessons. And again, he shocks the Gnostics with a knowledge he is not supposed to be able to have. God uses his penman to tell the Gnostics that the concept of the Logos is a fraud. The "secret" knowledge is not secret at all. The true God, who knows everything, has taken the foundation of Gnosticism and torn it apart.

Solving the Problem:

Now we are prepared to examine the number of the beast.

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. Rev 13:18

John begins by issuing a challenge. He says that what will come is "wisdom". Since wisdom is the proper use of knowledge, it requires knowledge (gnosis). Then he specifies a challenge to those with "understanding". This can be none other than the Gnostics, whom he has challenged before. He then asks them to "calculate" the number. This is a curious command, since moments later John tells the number. There is no reason for anyone to be told to calculate a number that is supplied unless the act of calculation is a specific reference to the primary target audience. Since the Gnostics are the only group in John's contemporary audience for whom the act of calculation offered specific significance (it was how they learned the sacred mathematical secrets), this statement is pointed directly at them. They are to use their skills and secrets to derive the number of the beast.

John then delivers the final blow. The number to be calculated is 666, one of the most important of the Gnostic numerical secrets. Space does not permit a full expansion on the details of Gnostic gematria (see "Jesus Christ, Sun of Righteousness", by David Fideler and "The Greek Qabalah," by Kieren Barry for detail).

A few key aspects of 666 in Gnosticism should be noted. The most obvious is that it is the sum of the magic square of the sun, a six by six square of numbers. This square is a mystical representation of the "power" of the sun, the highest celestial deity in the Greek pantheon. Through various elementary manipulations, the number 888 also arises from the square. This number is the gematria value of IESOUS, the Greek name of Jesus. In this system, Jesus is regarded as the "Spiritual Sun" or "Solar Logos."  

 

By elementary geometric manipulation of these two numbers, IESOUS is closely related to 666 by way of 769, the value of PYTHIOS, the name of Apollo at Delphi, the Greek god of harmony. Thus, Jesus becomes the harmony of the sun.  

A further aspect of 666 is found at Syene, a city on the Nile in Egypt (the site of modern Aswan). This city was located on the Tropic of Cancer, so that at noon on the summer solstice, the sun stood directly over the city, shining directly to the bottom of wells, and casting no shadow around buildings. This led to the belief that Syene was a place of celestial alignment - a harmonic nodal point where the laws of heaven are reflected on earth. Syene was a center of sun worship.

It should be apparent at this point that there is a unifying characteristic of all these illustrations: sun worship. And since John relies heavily on Ezekiel throughout the Apocalypse, it is there that we should turn. In chapter 8, God takes Ezekiel on a tour of the Temple to show him the various abominations of the idolatrous Jews. He sees idols (vv. 5-12), which are being worshiped. Then, (v. 14) he sees women weeping for Tammuz. But the greatest abomination (vv. 16-18) is sun worship. In order to do this, the people have to turn their backs on the temple and God. And this is the first clue as to the identity of the beast. He will promote sun worship. Since we recognize that the ancient church observed the Sabbath, and that the "venerable day of the Sun" was adopted initially because of its solar imagery, the observance of Sunday will be a key character of the beast.

A few more equivalents should be considered. Θεος ειμι επι γαιης, or "I am a god on earth" equals 666. This is the claim of Satan when he rebelled against God (Isa 14:14). It is also the implicit claim of Satan when he demands worship by the imposition of the mark of the beast. Η Φρην, or "the heart" equals 666. This reminds of Jeremiah's statement "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer 17:9) This points us again to those who rely on themselves for wisdom. And finally, το μεγα θηριον, or "the Great Beast" equals 666!

We must now ask, "To whom does this number apply?" John says that it applies to "a man". It is easy to take the English language and say that it applies to a specific man as in "one man". This is the foundational thought in the attempts to find a single person or office to which the number might be applied, such as Nero or the Papacy. But the indefinite article "a" does not need to indicate "one" man. Another understanding is found by expanding the thought. We do this to satisfy the moral purpose of prophecy: to reveal Christ. John's statement may be better understood as follows:

"it is the number of man (as opposed to the number of God)".

            This brings in a totally different focus than the common interpretations. Unlike them, it is consistent with the audience John is addressing. John's intent is to say that the number 666 is representative of man's knowledge, as opposed to God's knowledge. Those who will receive the mark of the beast (and his number) are those who have allied themselves with man. Those who receive the seal of God ally themselves with God. At the time of the end, there will be no bystanders. Everyone will be either for God or against Him. No abstentions will be allowed. Gnosticism, which relies on man's knowledge, is the prototype of antichrist, because of its reliance on man, not God.

This brings to mind a statement of Christ.

And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 'But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." He was also saying to them, "You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. Mark 7:6-9

Men constantly try to demonstrate their own brilliance. But nothing comes close to the truth of God.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! Romans 11:33

We must rely totally on God. We are compelled reject any understanding of scripture which does not reveal Him. God's purpose in inspiring the apocalypse was to highlight the great controversy. A focus on reliance on man versus dependence on God clearly is part of that emphasis. A stress on specific persons who are elements of geopolitical fortune telling draws our view away from God. John points out in Revelation 13 that we will all decide for or against God. By using a specific example directed at the beliefs of his day, John shows us that being sealed by God means to be totally dependent on God's knowledge, rejecting the "knowledge" of men. Those who depend on their own knowledge are bound for destruction.  

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Prov 9:10 NAS

Double Application:

We should not exclude a secondary "double application" of 666. Interpretations such as Nero do not reveal Christ because they are primarily geopolitical fortune telling, and must be rejected as being contrary to God's purpose in giving us prophecy. After all, prophecy is designed to reveal God's purposes (Amos 3:7). On the other hand, a person or office identified by gematria that does illuminate the great controversy could constitute a legitimate double application.

In the exploration of gematria of John's day, we found some specific common threads. Foremost of these is sun worship. While most Sunday worshipers will deny that this constitutes sun worship, the history of the change from Sabbath to Sunday shows that it was in fact a specific application of solar imagery that led to the switch. And the Roman Catholic Church proudly appropriates this change to its own authority. Thus we may properly identify this body, which absolutely controlled religious observance in the western world for over a millennium as matching the specifications for the beast.

Next, the term "I am another God on earth" is a specific match for another of the claims of the Papacy. It not only makes this claim in nearly those exact words, it claims the authority to change divine law in its catechism. Again, this is a match for the identity of the beast revealed by gematria. When we see that the Papacy matches the other aspects of the beast, it becomes clear that it is the beast power envisioned in the prophecy.

666 = Nero?

A number of commentators take the reference to the number of the beast in Revelation 13:18 to be a reference to the Roman Emperor Nero. And this seems plausible at first glance, since Nero was the Roman Emperor who first severely persecuted the Christian church. It is also very likely that he is the one who sentenced John to exile on Patmos. But to fulfill this specification requires more than a casual similarity to the person in the apocalypse.

The identification of Nero depends on several points. (In this discussion, we will be following the arguments presented by Kenneth L. Gentry Ph.D., in his book The Beast of Revelation (American Vision, 2002)).

1. The book of Revelation was written during the time of Nero, who reigned from AD 54 - 68.
2. The first governmental persecution of the church occurred under Nero, who was an incredibly vile and contemptible man.
3. The Hebrew equivalent of "Nero Caesar" is "Nrwn Qsr" (pronounced Neron Kaiser). The Hebrew letters were nun/resh/waw/nun qoph/samek/resh. When these letters are added up according to the table above, they total 666. A variant of the name, Nrw Qsr, equals 616, which is the number of the beast found in certain ancient textual variants.
4. Nero was emperor of Rome, whose capital city is built on seven hills. These are identified as the seven mountains of Revelation 17:9.
5. The beast "was, is not, and is to come" (Rev 17:8). If written just after the death of Nero, this could suggest that Nero "was" the beast in individual identity, but during the chaos that followed his death was no longer. But since the Roman Empire recovered soon after, the beast was reborn in corporate form.
6. The persecution by Nero lasted almost exactly the 42 months (Rev 13:5).

A number of other detailed arguments have been presented, but these will be sufficient to consider the matter.

Date of Writing:

The first argument is that of the date of Revelation. Certainly if John wrote the book about AD94 as is commonly proposed, to identify as a current or future personality someone who had been dead for about thirty years would be nonsense. But Gentry argues quite persuasively that the only clear statement that can date the book to the last decade of the first century is in fact mistranslated. When translated in the form Gentry proposes, all support for a late date disappears. No other early source supports such a date, and several explicitly identify John's exile, during which he wrote the apocalypse, as being during the persecution of the Christians by Nero.

The language of the apocalypse, particularly the measuring of the temple (Rev 11), seems to indicate the current presence of the temple with its various courtyards. Since the temple was destroyed in August of AD 70, this suggests an early date for the book. A similar argument is commonly adduced for a date of Hebrews before the destruction of the temple.

Without expanding the discussion too far, we may accept the proposed early date of Revelation as having too much support to be easily rejected. Thus, the argument may proceed.

First Persecution:

The historical evidence is quite clear. There was essentially no organized governmental persecution of the church outside Palestine until the time of Nero. Then when Rome burned on July 19, AD 64, Nero was accused of being behind the fire. To deflect criticism, he accused the Christians of setting the fire. In November, he embarked on one of the most depraved and cruel courses of persecution imaginable, including the famous acts of feeding Christians to lions and using them as human torches. Again, Gentry's identification fits the particulars.

Gematria:

Nero's name, when transliterated into Hebrew, is not nun/resh/waw/nun qoph/samek/resh (Nrwn Qsr) as Gentry proposes, giving a sum of 666. Rather, it is nun/resh/waw/nun-final qoph/samek/resh. This is because the letter nun at the end of any word is changed into its final form. And since that form has a value of 700 rather than 50, the Hebrew gematria value of Nero's name is 1316, not 666. But the book of Revelation was not written in Hebrew, it was written in Greek. Conversion into Hebrew is not in view. When John chose to bring the Hebrew language into view, he did so explicitly, as in the names "Har-Megidon" and "Abbadon."

Next, the ancient church father Irenaeus, in his work Against Heresies (5:30:1, ca. AD 180-190) states, "Now since this is so, and since this number is found in all the good and ancient copies, and since those who have seen John face to face testify, and reason teaches us that the number of the name of the beast occurs according to the numeration of the Greeks be the letters in it." Notice that he states that the method is according to the numeration of the Greeks, and has the reported blessing of the author of the apocalypse. This confirms what I have just said. The number is to be calculated in Greek, not in Hebrew. It should also be reiterated that the Hebrew use of Gematria did not become common until over a century later. The Greek value of Nero's name is NOT 666 in any of his various titles and assumed names. Therefore, Nero is NOT the beast.

An alternate form of the number of the beast is seen in some of the old manuscripts. There the number is stated to be 616. The Greek of this statement is substantially different from the Greek of 666, so there seems to be no possibility that this number appeared by accident. Its placement was deliberate. And when transliterated into Hebrew, the alternate form Nrw Qsr has the value 616. This fact that both forms in Hebrew match ancient manuscript forms is proposed to support the identification of Nero.

But, as we have noted, Hebrew transliteration is not proper. The method must apply to the name in its native form, and no Greek form of Nero adds up to 616 either. And the testimony of Irenaeus cited above tells us one other fact. The oldest manuscripts in his day did not have the alternate form. At some point after Irenaeus, but before the oldest manuscripts that we have today, someone changed the wording in the passage in his copy for unstated purposes. Because of the way that biblical manuscripts have been copied and lost, we now have old manuscripts with both wordings. Any reason proposed for the change must necessarily be speculative.

Seven Hills/Mountains:

A number of commentators have accepted the idea that the seven hills of Rome are the seven mountains of Revelation 17:9. Unfortunately, they neglect the next verse, which states that the mountains are "kings." Those who pay attention to that verse then go through the sequence of Roman Emperors to identify Nero as the sixth. That means that five before him have "fallen," he is the sixth, and a seventh is yet to come. But because there were succeeding emperors in Rome until 476 AD, the number is far larger than seven. This invalidates the identification of Nero by this method.

Gentry tries to get around this problem by counting the emperors up to Nero, making Galba the seventh, and the stable continuing empire under Vespasian as the eighth. But in his own book he points out that while Galba succeeded Nero, he was followed by Otho and Vitellius before Vespasian took the throne. If the imagery is to have any value, Vespasian is not number eight, but number ten. This again prevents the Nero thesis.

The proper way to interpret scripture is to use it as its own interpreter. And the scriptural use of "mountains" in prophecy is as a symbol of kingdoms. This is seen in number of OT prophetic passages.[1] Thus, the entire logical approach of choosing a single evil person as the beast is flawed. We should be looking for a kingdom that is the beast.

"was, is not, and is to come":

This has been covered to some degree above. The key concept here is that the beast kingdom is described by the angel at a moment when it does not exist. It had existed, and will exist again. For interpretive help we must look back to the book of Daniel.

The vision of the statue in Daniel 2 tells of a succession of kingdoms. Each one is followed by another, and does not resume its ascendancy. At the end of time, God's kingdom supplants all the others, which are blown away like dust. None of them come back into existence. But we should notice the time span in Daniel 2. This vision ends with the second coming of Christ.

Revelation 20 tells of a thousand years after the second coming. At the end of this period, Satan will be allowed to "tempt the nations." In other words, at the second resurrection, the wicked will again populate the earth, and Satan will be their leader. Kingdoms that had ceased to exist will again be seen. And this is the only time envisioned in prophecy that kingdoms that have been destroyed will be seen a second time. Since this is long after Nero, we can disregard him as a candidate for the identity of the beast.

42 Months of Persecution:

Nero's persecution is alleged to have lasted 42 months. It began in November of 64 AD and ended when he committed suicide on June 9, 68 AD. By modern accounting, this spans 42 months. But by Jewish inclusive methods of counting, this is 43 months. However, even this method is faulty since it fails to consider the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish luni-solar calendar differs from the Julian and Gregorian calendars in that months are of variable length, based on observation of the new moon. Since a lunar month is 29.5 days long, this period is a bit over 44 lunar months long. By Jewish inclusive counting this would be reckoned to be 45 months. Since divine prophecies are accurate, Nero is again excluded from candidacy for beasthood.

We must pursue the 42-month idea a bit further. The definition of 42 months for beastly persecution in Revelation 13:5 is an echo of the same prediction in 11:2. It is restated as 1,260 days in 11:3. This exactness is so specific as to completely deny Nero a place in this prophecy. The 1,260 days is repeated in 12:6, where it is stated to be "a time, times, and half a time" in 12:4. The Greek of this statement is an exact quotation from Daniel 7:25 in the Septuagint. And this brings us to a key fact.

This 3-½ year period is drawn from the career of the little horn of Daniel 7. That player arises among ten horns on the head of the Roman beast. This requires that, if we are counting emperors, he be at least number eleven. Since Nero was number six, this again disqualifies him from consideration. Further, the language of that prophecy requires that three others were torn up by the roots (Dan 7:8, 20, 24) because of the little horn. This again disqualifies Nero, since he did not cause the deaths of the three preceding emperors. Finally, the proper identification of the horns in Daniel 7 is that they represent kingdoms, not kings. This completely eliminates Nero from candidacy.

Time of Revelation:

John identifies his revelation as coming while imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos (Rev 1:9). Several ancient witnesses place John on Patmos during the time Nero was persecuting the church. They further suggest that the apocalypse was published to the church after his release, which came after Nero's death and the end of the persecution. (Of course, if the late date of Revelation is correct, this whole discussion becomes moot.)

It is generally stated that the apocalypse was intended to bring hope to the church as it underwent tribulation. The language of Revelation 13:8 clearly places the trials caused by the beast in the future, since "all who dwell on the earth will worship" him (emphasis added). We must ask just how it is that the book of Revelation was to encourage the church during the future persecution by the beast when the church did not receive the apocalypse until after the beast/Nero was dead? This again disqualifies Nero from being the beast.

John's Testimony:

Gentry paraphrases for us the statement of Irenaeus in Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 30, Paragraph 3 (re-translated by Gentry). "It is not important for us to know the name of the Beast (or Antichrist), which was hidden in the number 666. Were it important, why did John not tell us? After all, he lived almost to our own era, and spoke with some men that I have known."

The importance of this statement is hard to overemphasize. John the Revelator, long after the death of Nero, and now free of concern for persecution by him, did not think it important to tell anyone that Nero was the beast. This strongly suggests one of two things. Either Nero was not the beast, or John did not know who the beast was (or both).

As the recipient of the Revelation, it seems unlikely that John would not know that Nero was the beast if in fact he was. Of course, as we have shown, Nero was not the beast. This leaves the second possibility as the correct one. John did not identify the beast because he did not know its identity. He had been given a symbolic representation of this character, but had not been given the actual name, unlike Gabriel's explicit identification of Greece in Daniel 8. As we have found, the beast could not arise until after the breakup of Rome in 476 AD. John was as uninformed as any other interpreter.

Irenaeus reaches an incorrect conclusion as to the reason for John's silence because he does not consider the possibility of the beast being yet future. But because the beast is given so much attention in the apocalypse, his identity is in fact important. And that identity is not Nero.

Summary:

It may seem attractive to identify Nero as the beast at first glance. But a detailed evaluation of the many points that identify of this personage disqualifies him on every count. The beast is a kingdom that arises after the breakup of the Roman Empire into many smaller kingdoms. While the identification of this actor is beyond the scope of this essay, we may say with certainty that Nero is not the beast of Revelation.