Revelation 13:18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
This one cryptic verse of scripture has been the basis for more wild theories than almost any other sentence ever written. Some say its a bar code, others give letters a numeric value and find a way to add up almost anyone's name to 666. For some it's Monster energy drink, for others it is the pope, or the imam mahdi, or the president, or Prince Charles yada yada yada, you get the idea.
For some reason while driving the other day I thought about that number, and I thought about the only verse in the bible that is a 6:66 - John's gospel chapter 6, verse 66. I pondered and wondered if the two could be related, probably not, but then again...
John 6:66 From that [time] many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
John 6:66 is a verse that talks about people turning their back on God. So my thought very simply is this - the antichrist will be a fallen Christian leader, perhaps a very famous one.
I was recently in Ireland, and one evening my family and I had dinner at a restaurant in Dublin, where you not only get food, you get entertained with a couple of hours of Irish history and folk tales. One historical insight shared that evening has stuck with me. Many years ago most of the Irish lived in mud homes, and Ireland, as you may know, is famous for the amount of rainfall it gets. It is that rain that causes the grass to be so lush, splashing the landscape with beautiful shades of green. The problem with mud homes and rain, is water. Water could wash your home away, but as long as you kept a fire going on the inside, it would keep the rain from destroying your home. It would keep the rain from washing away your walls.
Historically walls keep enemies out. Biblically one of the ways of looking at walls is to understand them as standards, the code by which you live. A line in your heart and mind, that you will not cross. Behavior that you will not walk in. The rain of this world is always trying to wash your standards away, it is always trying to eat at your walls. The solution is the one found in Ireland keep the fire burning and your walls will stay true. Christians who lose the fire of passion and love for God invariable also let their standards slip. Keep the fire burning, and your standards won't slip, if you don't the wind and rain will knock your house down. Perhaps that is what will happen to the man whose number is 666.
Keep your fire burning.