Peer-Reviewed Study provides Breakthrough on the Book of Revelation
For two millennia, Revelation 13:18 has puzzled Christian commentators: “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.” Theories abound—some view “666” symbolically, representing the imperfection of man (six) falling short of divine perfection (seven). Others believe it represents the numerical value of the letters in the name of the Antichrist. Despite extensive debate, no consensus has emerged.
In the early eighth century, Saint Bede the Venerable proposed that “666” refers to the notice in 1 Kings 10:14 of Solomon’s annual gold intake, immediately preceding his idolatrous downfall. While Bede’s theory highlights a strong intra-Biblical correlation, it does not fulfill the instruction in John’s Apocalypse to “calculate the number of the beast.”
A recent peer-reviewed article published in De Gruyter’s Open Theology journal (Volume 10, Issue 1) presents a groundbreaking harmonization of the “intertextual” and “isopsephic” approaches. The intertextual approach views words and numbers in one passage as “hyperlinks” to another, while the isopsephic approach uses numerical calculations, akin to Jewish gematria.
The study reveals that calculating the value of Solomon’s name (as written in the New Testament) leads to another crucially important number explicitly highlighted within the context of Revelation 13. This discovery provides a new clue in unlocking the intended meaning of the text, offering a significant advancement in Biblical scholarship.
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Contact:
Zachary Harris
Independent
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[email protected]
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