Bible Study Seattle

There are only two places in the bible that particularly note the number 666, and both have to do with money.

“The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.”  1 Kings 10:14-15

Apparently this was at the height of Solomon’s fame.  Roughly the first half of his reign was spent building the temple and royal palace, but thereafter, he slid into idolatry because of his many foreign wives.  The other scripture passage is more famous:  “Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.  And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.   Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.  It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.  This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.  That number is 666.”  Revelation 13:11-18

Is the placement of Solomon’s 666 passage hinting when the Revelation passage will occur?  It seems to occur right before his fall into idolotry.  Perhaps on completion of the heavenly temple, this earthly money system goes into operation?  Who knows?  It is likely that this Revelation passage covers a lot of ground, including Papacy from 539AD to 1799AD, but also times more contemporary.  It is very clear that the world is headed toward a cashless society in the next couple decades.  Might this coincide with the completion of the Bride?  Organized religion is in great decline in the Western world, and it’s hard to see much revival.  The powers-that-be seem to be promoting spiritism or environmentalism.  Concentration of all money into centralized computers is probably not a good thing.  It may be that the internet’s growth may shine enough light on crime to forestall some things for a while.  Time will tell.