666: THE NUMBER OF A MAN: DIDN’T YOU HEAR THE WARNING?!

The Heralds of Salvation

 What do Noah, Lot and Jesus Christ have in common?
 They were heralds of salvation who were mocked, scorned, despised and rejected to the point of bodily harm - and Jesus Christ, with His messengers, is still being scorned and rejected today by those people who have independently made up their minds to be destroyed in what the Book of Revelations called the Winepress of GOD’s Fierceness and Wrath, which the wicked people of the earth shall drink to the dregs! “And as it was in the days of Noe (Noah), so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:26 – 30).

While warning His Disciples (and by extension, Christians across the ages), JESUS compared His Second Coming to:

-          The Days of Noah (Genesis Chapters 6 – 8) – the early world was so full of wickedness that GOD regretted creating Mankind. Despite several warnings by the Patriarch, Noah, no one listened to GOD; they mocked Noah and his Ark, hence GOD destroyed the world in the Great Flood – only Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives (eight souls) escaped in the Ark, with a male and female pair of every other living creature!

-          The Days of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis Chapters 18 -19) – these Prosperous Kingdoms were so perverse and full of wickedness that GOD destroyed them totally with fire and brimstone from Heaven – only Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and his two daughters escaped! His wife was drawn by the sinful lures of Sodom and Gomorrah – she looked back ad turned into a pillar of salt – a symbolic warning for coming generations of backsliders and doubters! (Luke 17:32-33; Luke 9:62)

-          The Coming of a Thief in the Night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Revelations 3:3; Revelations 16:15) -

“But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 24:43 – 44).

Christ used the symbolism of the “coming of the thief” so vividly to portray the suddenness and unexpectedness of His Second Coming (even as the Apostles Peter and Paul did too in the Bible references given above). His coming would definitely be unexpected. To paint a clear picture of the terrible tragedy that would befall the evil and unrepentant during his Second Coming, Christ, strategically drew our attention to the days of Noah and Lot – people were going about their normal carnal (fleshly, sensual, sinful, wicked, avaricious) deeds – eating, drinking, marrying wives, giving in marriage, buying, selling, planting, building, etc. - until sudden destruction came upon them because they refused to heed the warning of GOD through His Servants – the patriarchs. Rather, they mocked them, scorned them, criticized them and tried to do (even succeeded in some instances) them bodily harm!

By any chance, is this vivid scenery familiar to you in today’s 21^st Century ICT-driven age? People of today are just like people of those days in that they too eat, drink, marry wives, give in marriage, buy, sell, plant, build, destroy, lust, etc. We live in the Age of the Flesh – the number of Man (the flesh) is 666. Rather than celebrate the Awesome and Most Distinguished Immortal Personages of the Blessed Holy Trinity – GOD the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, they celebrate and reinforce the Unholy Trinity of the Flesh – Lust of the Eyes (6), Lust of the Flesh (6) and the Pride of Life (6) – the ultimate bane of unsaved, unredeemed mankind, beginning from the deception of Eve and Adam and the usurpation of their Principality of this World by Satan in the Garden of Eden!

GOD made man perfect (the Number 7 is the Spiritual Number for Perfection) because He created Him in His own image after His own likeness and granted him dominion, making him a god, a prince over the world He had made.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion… (Genesis 1:26) “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (Perfect). And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31).

Mankind was created from the dust of the earth on the Sixth Day, hence the Number 6 is the Number of Man or the Flesh. GOD created Man on the 6^th Day and He Rested on the 7^th Day, thereby drawing Mankind into His Perfection, into His Rest. Mankind rebelled against GOD by the Great Disobedience and he drew himself out of GOD’s Perfection (GOD’s Rest). Hence:

“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:22 – 24). The Cherubims and Seraphims are amongst the highest order of Angels. Satan himself was a cherub before his rebellion and fall.

“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” (Ezekiel 28:14).

GOD took pity on Mankind, the crown of all His Creation and sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ (the Messiah) that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life;; such a person would be allowed back into GOD’s Rest (GOD’s Perfection) which Adam lost when he was driven by GOD out of the Garden of Eden and kept out by Cherubims with the flaming sword. Hence, the writer of the Book of Hebrews wrote:

“For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Read Hebrews 4:1-16).

“And when the woman (Eve) saw that the tree was good for food [Lust of the Flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [Lust of the Eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [Pride of Life], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband (Adam) with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:6)

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (666).” (Revelations 13:11 – 18).

Wisdom is profitable to direct.

Peace and Love!